Monday, November 1, 2010

Walk?

I spend so much time reading blogs from Brooklyn and England that I tend to think I'm hipper and or more British than I am. Actually I'm neither.

For those of you not familiar with the part of Virginia I live in ( or Virginia at all) here are a few pics from our hood. We are surrounded. Military to the left of us, military to the right of us.

When we take the lab for a walk we venture onto a property known as The Pentagon Reservation. It is another world from ours but easy to get to.

We leave our house and turn left, cut down the alley and take another left. We're walking down a hill between Arlington Cemetery and The Navy Annex.


Walk past the cemetery, down the hill and turn right. Next we climb up the hill up to the Air Force Memorial.

Standing under the arc we can see into Washington, D.C. The Washington Monument can be barely seen in the far distance.

Just down the hill from the Air Force Memorial is the Pentagon.



Then we go down the hill, take a right, go about a block and a half, turn right and we're home. Second house on the right.

You're welcome to join us next time you're in town. This walk is repeated 3 times a day. Just look for 2 blonds and a lab. We're hard to miss since we're not in uniform.

17 comments:

  1. hi jane,

    you told me a while back where you lived but i didn't know it was within walking distance. i remember going to arlington nat'l cememtary as a little girl to see jfk's grave. it's burned in my memory and i was about 8 yrs old.

    also, what was 9/11 like?

    ~janet

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  2. Janet, I actually closed on the house on September 10, 2001, so while not living here yet, I had the added selfish concern of wondering if I still had a house to process. The area was blocked off for days and we couldn't get into the neighborhood till that weekend. And then humvee after humvee of Marines drove down the street day after day. And the weather remained as beautiful as it was on that awful day. I still shudder.

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  3. 3 x a day, excellent. Walking is good for the bod and the soul.

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  4. what a wonderfully exciting and historical place to live. My cousin spent some years there when her husband was the Aussie man at the Pentagon. I was always going to visit but it didn't happen.
    I'll join you for the down hill bits!!!!

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  5. Devastated of course that you don't live near Waltons Mountain. I spent my whole 1970s childhood watching The Waltons, The Brady Bunch and Sesame Street and felt being British was sooo boring! See, its always greener!

    Pentagon will have to do instead! You are seriously close to the action, and 9/11 was my first thought too.xx

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  6. And I was wondering too what it was all like on 9/11...
    Your walk sounds good - would love to join you and as one of your other commenters said, (Belinda, I think) the grass always seems greener!! X

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  7. I'm glad you weren't there on 9/11. It might have been hard to feel safe again. But I know exactly where you are - used to drive by all the time when I lived on Braddock Rd.

    It's a lovely, (mostly) peaceful place. I've not been to the air force memorial - beautiful! Walk on!

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  8. You're the most charmingly well-adjusted person for someone who lives among so much military bombast...

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  9. How very informative, i always thought the US was NY on the right, LA on the left and Texas in between.

    When i come over for the tour, you are going to need to be Head of navigation. I will work out a unifrom for you
    xx

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  10. Denise, Sooo right. I'd be a mad woman without the walks.

    Julienne, As a former military brat I( don't) fit right in.

    Belinda, Waltons mountain just over the rise. We'll walk there next time!

    Webb, Yes, the neighbors say the plane flew right over our houses. We had a half dead tree in the back yard and every branch fell off and lay half buried in the ground. We had that removed immediately.

    Mise, Thank you. It's not where I imagined I'd settle down!

    Miss P.,Excited about potential uniform. Just don't make the heels too high or it will be a very brief tour.

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  11. Hi Jane,
    Wow! Lucky you and lucky dogs that you can do the walk 3xday! I and mine are grateful for the one, but I know we'd all be happy if we could do more. I will let you know next time I am in your 'hood, so I can do the walk with you!
    Karin

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  12. Just an aside, Jane. If you can walk to Walton's Mountain from your house, then I can see Russia from mine.

    Hope you voted, kiddo!

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  13. Karin, How fun would that be?!

    Karen, Ha,ha. no really,ha,ha,. yep, up at 6:00, at the polls by 6;30. we do what we can..

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  14. Interesting! But where does the lab go to get really wet and muddy?

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  15. I should walk Ben 3 times a day ... when do you go? Does he ever walk you? Ben may be tiny but when he sees a squirrel, I sometimes go airborne, lol!

    S
    xo

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  16. Thanks for the tour of your hood. You've inspired me, I might need to do a tour of my walk with Fifty too :-)

    And you may not be British but you're totally hip!

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  17. Hi Jane,
    thanks for being so lovely and thanks for that walk, gosh that is very different perspective to mine and fascinating that memorial is soaring isn't it?
    Mr.Boodle and I manage 2 walks a day and I wouldn't miss them whatever the weather!

    Love Sarah x

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