Day 6 - Home at Last

Our new home for the next 10-1/2 months that is. We left Charleston, WV and drove just about straight through to Arlington, VA. We wanted to make sure we got here before rush hour. I think we stopped for lunch but I can't even tell you where. It was another beautiful drive like yesterday's through tree-covered mountains, but I was kind of excited to get here and just didn't want to stop anywhere. I was getting a little tired of being on the road. I think a road trip would be more fun if you could occasionally stop and spend a day or two in the same place. But checking in and out of a new hotel every day was starting to get a little old.

Our apartment is furnished with two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The living room and bedrooms have windows that face DC and we can see the Washington Monument and the Capitol. I'll share pictures from the balcony in a future post. We are on the 5th of 17 floors. There's a nice outdoor observation deck up on the 16th floor next to the pool. (The 17th floor only covers about half the building, so the pool and observation deck are on the roof.) It was a little cloudy when I took these so they're not the best, but here are a couple of pics from the roof. You'll want to click on them to make them bigger.

This pic is from the same direction that my apartment faces. Because I'm on a lower floor I don't have quite this nice a view.

This pic faces north, slightly northeast actually. This is what I see when I'm on the treadmill at the Fitness Center on the 17th floor. I don't know what everything is yet, but I'm pretty sure those red brick buildings in the middle are Georgetown University.

The details are hard to see in this picture, but this is looking southeast. That long, flat building with the rows of windows is the Pentagon. Just behind the Pentagon (on top of the building in the picture), you can see just a little bit of Reagan National Airport. Behind that is the Potomac River. Airplanes follow the river right into the airport. I see a steady stream of them going by day and night. Surprisingly, I hardly ever hear any airplane noises.

This is a little more south than the previous picture. See those three spear-like things sticking up? I don't know what they are, but they sure have captured my attention. As soon as I get out that way I'll let you know. My guess is they are a sculpture, but I don't know what they represent.
[Update: Bob is right. It's The Air Force Memorial. I haven't been there yet, but had to look it up and find out about it after his comment.]


I think I'm going to like it here.