Pentagon and Air Force Memorial

Yesterday morning, Diggory and I had the pleasure of touring the Pentagon with our friend Julie, who had kindly invited us to tag along with some extra passes she had.  We got up early and drove to the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, where I've become accustomed to parking whenever I want to take the metro downtown.  The Pentagon metro station is only one stop away, so it's an easy commute.  Plus, the escalator out of the station shoots you out of the ground right in front of the visitor's entrance to the Pentagon.  You have to book tours in advance, and there's a whole list of things you can't bring with you (i.e. cameras, and hence, no pictures!), but the whole process seemed pretty straightforward.  And, always remember, if you follow the rules and are nice to the security personnel, they'll be nice to you, too.  It also helps to have a charming toddler with you!  I didn't take the stroller, and opted instead to wear Diggory in my backpack carrier.  It worked great and he was surprisingly well behaved on the hour long tour.  If you do take your stroller, the tour guides will gladly escort you via elevator.  

Once you get inside the Pentagon, you'll be directed to the tours waiting area before you check in at the tour window.  There are lots of chairs, restrooms (though no changing tables), and several displays (with interpretive panels!) about each of the military branches and the Department of Defense.  There's also a gift shop.  Yes, a gift shop.  Members of the military conduct the tours, and one of our tour guides was also a member of the Honor Guard, who conduct the ceremonies and funerals at Arlington National Cemetery, among other duties.  The tour route snakes through the five rings and the ten corridors of the Pentagon Building, a city in itself, with over 23,000 military and civilian personnel.  And it's very much an office building, but with a few perks...like its own floral shop, hair salon, Best Buy, food court, chocolate shop, jewelry store, luggage shop, toy store, etc.  Your tour guides will bombard you with random, though interesting, statistics, like...  Did you know that the Pentagon has six different zip codes?  And, did you know that the Pentagon has 691 drinking fountains?  

As you go along, you'll come upon display after display of historic photographs of foreign military campaigns, domestic assistance campaigns, like Hurricane Katrina, and military home life and families.  One of the more interesting installations were the historic reconstructions of the building and office space when the Pentagon was first constructed in the early 1940s and just before one of the more involved renovation projects in the early 1990s.  The most poignant moment, however, was definitely the brief visit to the memorial inside the building for the 184 people who lost their lives in the Pentagon and on board Flight 77 on September 11, 2001.  We did not visit the outdoor memorial, but I would very much like to see it one day.  Our last stop on the tour was in the main entrance lobby, where one of the three enormous and breathtaking September 11th Memorial Quilts and the Flag Quilt are displayed.  

After we completed the tour, we exited the building and got back on the metro.  Julie went off to work, and Diggory and I headed to the car.  Since we couldn't take pictures at the Pentagon, I knew just where to go to get a good photograph to document our trip.  The United States Air Force Memorial is just a short drive away, and up the hill on Columbia Pike overlooking the Pentagon.  There's onsite parking, bathrooms, and a small gift shop, but the best aspects of the memorial are, by far, the three stainless steel spires soaring skyward and the impressive views of the Washington, DC skyline, Arlington National Cemetery, and the Pentagon.  Our visit was short, but it was definitely worth it.

Diggory checking out the Washington, DC skyline from the Air Force Memorial.  Washington Monument on left, U.S. Capitol Building at center, Pentagon at right behind trees.

The three shining spires of the Air Force Memorial.