The George Washington Masonic Memorial

The George Washington Masonic Memorial was built in the 1920s by the more than two million American Freemasons who wished to "express in durability and beauty the undying esteem of the Freemasons of the United States for him in whose memory it shall stand throughout the coming years." It is a beautiful temple that included architecture from several places and periods. It was interesting to note some of the similarities among our own temples. It is a 10-story building and as you can see it gets narrower at the top so the elevators actually go up sideways. We got to go outside at the top and while the three of us were out taking pictures the rest of the group piled into the elevator and went back down. We came inside and noticed that everyone had left and we were stuck up there. You need a key to use the elevator because you are only allowed up there with an employee. We waited for about 10 minutes to see if they would come for us, but they didn't. Luckily Ashley had their phone number and so she called the front desk to let them know we were up there. Our tour-guide then came to save us and we didn't have to spend the night there-thankfully!

Since we were in Alexandria we decided to walk (in the cold) around Old Town a bit and get something to eat. We went to the 'Hard Times Cafe' for their world-famous chili. I got the 'Chili Bubba' which was two kinds of chili served over two pieces of cornbread with onions, tomatoes, cheese and sour cream...delicious! You just can't beat a day spent with good friends, seeing cool stuff and eating good food!!!