arlington, supreme court, and cupcakes

On Sunday, Drew and I went to Arlington National Cemetery, which is much, much bigger than I though it would be. It is a pretty elite cemetery, and the qualifications to get in seem pretty stringent. To gain admission, you must be a veteran, a former president, a Supreme Court Justice , or someone who made important contributions to science or even sports. (I'm not sure if just any veteran can be buried there, or how it is decided which scientists or sports stars get to be buried there) Anyway, Drew and I were on a pretty specific mission; I wanted to see where the Supreme Court Justices were buried.
So, there is really not a Supreme Court Justice section at the cemetery, but Blackmun, Marshall, Rehnquist, Douglas, Stewart, Rehnquist, Brennan, Burger, and Holmes were all in the same section. We went to another section to find Warren and Goldberg, and we didn't make to Hugo Black's site (that's okay, I think he was a segregationist anyway). I'm a big fan of Blackmun and Marshall.

Justice Blackmun is from Minnesota, and he served as legal counsel for the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN (my hometown!). In fact, he and Burger (also from MN) were old buddies and were the best men in each other's weddings. Burger was appointed to the SC first, and Blackmun shortly thereafter. They were dubbed the "Minnesota Twins." While they served on the Court, they grew more distant and weren't really friends anymore in the end. Anyway, Blackmun authored Roe v Wade, the decision that legalized abortion. More or less.

Justice Marshall was the first African American on the Court, and he used to be a lawyer for the NAACP. In fact, he was the one who argued Brown v Board of Education, the decision that desegregated schools. More or less.

After Drew and I found the Supreme Court Justices, we checked out the Kennedy sites and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Turns out that this division of the military keeps vigil 24 hours a day, marching back and forth. They do a changing of the guard every half hour, which is quite a production. (It doesn't involve something like "Hey, it's your turn now. Here you go. Don't sweat your ass off.")

After walking around the cemetery, Drew and I went to Sticky Fingers, this vegan bakery and coffee shop. I love this bakery, much better than Cake Love. The cupcakes are moist and the frosting is fluffy and not too dense. The cookies are simultaneously chewy and just a little bit crispy. Here is the coconut cupcake:

And there you have it. Washington, D.C., part 2. The trip was lots of fun, and productive (coffee shops and the George Washington Univ library were my offices away from my office). The summer, as usual, has passed by very quickly. We have only about a month before school starts up again. Well, that's all for now.