Washington DC -- Arlington and Zoo

Day 2 began with a trip to Arlington National Cemetery, mainly to visit Eugene, my mom's husband, who is interred there. Euge, as we called him, had fought in WW2, and on a trip to DC had decided he wanted his ashes at Arlington. Euge was a true Yankee farmer, who despite having won Megabucks, never strayed from his country values and decency. It's funny that he chose the urban-like "apartment buildings" of Arlington as his final resting place, but it is very peaceful there.

We then ate burgers at a place called BGR -- had to go since that is Bangor's airport code. Yummy and lots of food for little cost.

After lunch, we met up with Cailin and headed for the National Zoo. It was Family Day, formerly African-American Family Day stemming back from when African-Americans weren't allowed to attend the Easter Egg Roll at the White House. Lots of people, cute animals, and police (see below).

Whole Foods sponsored the otter habitat, so all the babies had
vegie names, except for Kevin -- who was he?

Baby panda was the biggest attraction. We used Heard law to avoid the line
and stood in back just as the baby escaped its mother's cleaning and scampered about.

A trip to the big city is not complete without some brush with danger. We kept wondering why there was so much police presence, so we asked some cops at the Metro stop after we left the zoo. They cryptically answered, it's family day at the zoo. Although we could imagine the crowds at the Metro when everyone left at the same time, we couldn't figure out why there were probably more than 100 officers plus a command center trailer. Then, we googled and found out a group of boys had stabbed another boy there in 2011 and there was criticism that there wasn't enough security. So, safety first, but no big deal.

Until we are eating dinner across from a TV station which is broadcasting headlines and we see "Shooting at the National Zoo."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/neighbors-seek-answers-after-shooting-near-national-zoo/2014/04/23/0c9182f4-cafe-11e3-a75e-463587891b57_story.html
Luckily, we were long gone by the time this happened, but still a reminder of the perils of urban life.