We got there around lunch time because we slept in and let Daddy get some work done that morning. I gave our friend Merrill about 12 hours notice that we would be there- I remembered she lived less than a mile away. She graciously agreed to meet us and have lunch and walk around with us for a while. Julia loved little Ruthie- I'm sure they'd be good friends if they lived closer.
The orientation center- getting our maps and making our plan-
Mt. Vernon still has beautiful gardens and animals- they kids loved to see the sheep-
The beautiful Mt. Vernon home- you can see how it began as an 8-room farmhouse and then George Washington himself had the wings added on. The house is made of wood, but they put sand in the paint and painted it to look like stone. The most amazing thing to me is that we were looking at the ORIGINAL home- it's never had a fire or been rebuilt- it's the real thing.
There were no lines anywhere- we went at the perfect time. We walked right through- the Washington's things are still inside- including the bed he died in. It was beautiful. No pictures allowed inside.
The view from the gracious porch- GORGEOUS!
George used one of these chair wagons to get around- he also had beautiful coaches-
We walked through the many small homes on the property (homes for the gardner, personal secretery, overseer,etc.), looked through the kitchen building, the smoke house, the weaving building, the laundry building, the stables, the upper and lower gardens and then went down to the wharf to sit by the Potomic and enjoy the gorgeous weather-
The old trees were beautiful-
A 120-year-old Cedar of Lebanon-
Then we visited George and Martha Washington's graves-
Several of the Washingtons relatives are buried there with beautiful tall, stone markers. This one for a wife and mother was especially touching-
If the possession of every Virtue that adorns and dignifies her sex could have warded off the stroke of death she would have been immortal. And those who mourn her untimely end are consoled in the reflection that those Virtues seemed better to fit her for the abode to which her Spirit has fled than for that which it has abandoned.
And-
As a judge he was Wise and Just. A man of Truth hating covetousness. Firm in every honorable purpose and pursuit. Yet gentle, humane and condescending. A sincere Christian. Doing in all things the will of his Master. And resting his hope of eternal happiness Alone on the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
We walked back and went into the working blacksmith shop- with no electricity-
We also looked in the slave quarters and the greenhouse. Then we made our way to the Museum and Activity center. You couldn't take pictures in the museum, but they had a lot of the personal effects of the Washingtons like their jewels, clothes, furniture, weapons, etc. The activity center was AWESOME- we saw several movies- including one where it snowed in the theater and your chair shook. They also had a hands on section-
After our long day it was dark and we were hungry so Jay and Merrill picked us up and took us to their local Mexican restaurant- such a fun time. :) Jay, Marc and our mess of children-
Merrill and I-
By the way- this is Sissy's souvenir from Mt. Vernon- she LOVES it and used it all day every day ever since-
The Hodges were nice enough to take us to the metro station. The kids thought riding the metro was awesome and they always wanted to stand-
We got home around 8:00 and let the kids watch Ice Age 3 on demand before hitting the hay. Another awesome day in DC!
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