The Pentagon

Today I went to the Pentagon. But, before I go into that, let me tell you a little about what happened before I got there. It has been a rough couple of days, so today I decided that I was going to take it easy. The only thing on my schedule was a bowl of cheerios and an episode of "Covert Affairs" (which I have recently fallen in love with). It was about 10:54am when I decided that it might be time for a nap, after all, my morning had been very tiring thus far. So, I took my glasses off, crept into bed and as I was laying there in my pj's, thinking about what day of the week it was (because you rarely keep track during unemployment), I realized that there was something I planned on doing on Wednesday, August 25th 2010, what was it? Hmm, what could it be? After a few minutes, it dawned on me. I HAD MADE AN APPOINTMENT FOR A TOUR AT THE PENTAGON. How does one forget that?

Shoot!! I jumped out of bed and got into the shower. For those of you reading, you might think, it's not even 11:00am, her tour is not until 1:00pm, why is she stressing? Well, let me tell you, life in the city is not that simple, you have to account for your metro ride (walk to the metro, the actual ride, any transfers and the walk to your final destination)and in this particular case, finding a place to print off my Pentagon confirmation letter (which also clearly stated you need to arrive at least 30 mins early), without it, they apparently do not let you in. This may also sound simple to you, but it isn't. We no longer have a printer, it was sacrificed, "put down", killed, during our move. The concierge can typically print stuff for us, but of all days, her printer was not working, so long story short, I had to run to a Kinko's, aka printing paradise. After charging my credit card a small fortune, I had my two forms of ID and my letter in hand. I was ready to conquer the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense.

I am proud to tell you that I arrived at the Pentagon right on time. I think I was the only "party of one", there were all these families and tour groups, but I was all by my lonesome self. Unfortunately, they only offer tours during the week, no weekends or holidays, so Matt could not come. It was pretty cool to be inside the Pentagon. Until a few weeks ago, I had no idea they even gave tours, apparently they offer 5-7 a day, but you must reserve your spot in advance. The tour lasted about an hour and we walked about 2 miles. All the corridors total 17.5 miles, needless to say, it is enormous, to be exact 6,500,000 sq ft. They have a chocolate shop, a bank, dry cleaners, a ton of Redbox kiosks (to rent dvd's), a pharmacy, post office, 20 fast food restaurants....the list goes on. Oh, our tour guide told us that they have two floors below ground and even a swimming pool, skinny dipping anyone?

I took this picture on my way home, from my private, jobless jet: