We paid a visit to the Congressional Cemetery on Sunday, not far from our house on Capitol Hill and where we hadn’t been for years, and never with Sahraa. It has always been a great place for dogs off-leash, although now one must pay $10 a visit with a dog if not a member of the K-9 Corps, which is almost impossible to join with a pay-for four year waiting list but which provides 20 percent of the cemetery’s operating income through membership dues and fees (plus free dog walking privileges).

There are 168 congressional cenotaphs in the cemetery, one for each US representative or senator who died in office from 1833 to 1876. Some mark actual graves, while some were erected in memory of a deceased legislator buried elsewhere.

“The Congressional Cemetery or Washington Parish Burial Ground is a historic and active cemetery located at 1801 E Street, SE, in Washington, D.C., on the west bank of the Anacostia River. It is the only American "cemetery of of national memory " founded before the Civil War. Over 65,000 individuals are buried or memorialized at the cemetery, including many who helped form the nation and the city of Washington in the early 19th century.” (Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Cemetery)

The valley, posted earlier: