Day 5 Mount Vernon

I recognized Mount Vernon right away from a distance. I couldn't wait. When we got there I was amazed at the hills. I can't imagine what it took to farm that kind of land. We walked up the hill and came to the new tomb first. There were some monuments around the tomb of relatives but George and Martha's vaults were inside of a small building. After reading about their relatives and paying our respects at the grave we headed up to the mansion. We were distracted by many other buildings and signs. It was completely uphill climb but we finally reached the Mansion. It was after noon so we were going to eat but we looked at the line to tour the Mansion. It went from the Mansion down past the upper garden. We decided we should get in line for it first. The security guard told us that it would be about 45 minute wait. He kept stopping to talk to us as we moved throughout the line. We even ran into him later on our way to lunch and he talked to us some more. The mansion was definitely worth the wait. We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the house but there was something special about being in the house of this great believer, leader and farmer. His home was that of a wealthy man. My favorite part was standing on the porch of his home and looking out to the Potomac. I could imagine the peace and contentment he would feel standing in that same place.

We ate at the food court and it cost us $24 for cheeseburger, fry and drink. Unreal! In the bookstore we bought a guide book and a magnet for our refrigerator. After that we hit the museum. There was a movie from the History Channel about how the bust of Washington was made it was narrated by an actress playing his granddaughter. It was really neat. We then got to see many of the items that either belonged to the Washingtons or were from the same time period.

After that we took the forest trail so that we could see the 16-sided barn. It was about a mile long and a beautiful walk even with not much green and still lots of brown leaves still on the ground from fall. I was surprised to see many of the same wildflowers. There were Spring Beauties, Violets, May Apple, and Wild Geranium to name a few. At the end of the walk, we reached the 16-sided barn. After seeing all of his planting experiments and farming studies, I'm convinced the man was a genus. We always here about him being a great leader but he doesn't seem to get a lot of publicity for his innovated ideas.

I was disappointed that we didn't see any horses but we didn't make it to the Old Mill which probably had a lot of the animals. To be honest, I'm not even sure where the Old Mill was. I think you had to actually leave the park to get there. I know that it also cost extra money. We did see sheep, goats and cattle.

To see all of our pictures go to our Picasa link. http://picasaweb.google.com/asj693/MtVernon_OldAlexandria?authkey=ZrbRkODVujE

On the boat ride home. I talked to a retired couple from Alabama most of the way back. It was very enjoyable. We shared the same interests in supporting our military and conservatism opinions. They have done a lot of traveling. They were going to a cousins funeral at Arlington Cemetery tomorrow. At the end of the ride, I found out that he had been an Apple dealer for a number of years. Our last couple minutes off the boat we talked about that.

We decided since we were in Old Alexandria we should have dinner there before we went back. We rode the free trolley down King Street to check out all the restaurants. We decided on Bugsy's Pizzeria which was right by the waterfront. We had pizza and then grabbed an ice cream cone then decided to walk a little ways while we finished those. We ended up a few blocks up near the Visitor's Center only 6 blocks from Christ's church. (The church that both Washington and Robert E Lee both attended.) They were closed but I still wanted to see it. By the time we finished that we never could catch a trolley so we walked all the way back to the Metro again. My feet and legs are cramping as I lie here typing this. When we got back I took a swim and jumped in the hot tub hoping that would be therapeutic. I hope I can walk tomorrow as we head down Washington DC...