DC – Day 7
I really wanted to just stay in bed this morning, but it wasn't in the cards. We had reservations to pick up the rental car at 9:00. Of course, it was closer to 9:20 before we picked it up – but it was still there, thankfully! Marcus ran downstairs, caught a cab, and brought the car back while the girls and I finished the packing and rolled the suitcases downstairs just as he was pulling up. Then the fun began. Let me clarify something – driving in downtown Washington DC is NOT easy. Our little tour book that we had on DC has an entire section titled, "Driving in DC – a very BAD idea." Because of this we just hit the Metro and cabs all week and had few problems, if any. But today we wanted to head out to Mount Vernon and we had to get to Baltimore, so we needed a car today. We hadn't had breakfast just yet, so we scooted back up Connecticut Avenue a few blocks to a McDonalds we had seen the day before. Kacy and I ran inside, got the food, while Marcus and Abby circled the block waiting on us. We handed the girls their breakfast items and then Marcus drove while I tried to navigate with the iPhone. We managed to get out of the city with very little confusion and no missed turns! We saw the Jefferson Monument (we didn't stop) as we drove over the 14th Street bridge. That's as close as we had been to it all week. I hate that we missed it but Mr. Jefferson is just out there by himself and any time that we were in the general area, we were still a long walk away and a long walk back… so we just didn't make it. Oh well, it will give us something to do if we come back again sometime!
NOTE: Day 7 photos start here.
We arrived at Mount Vernon a little after 10:00. The drive down was so pretty – right alongside the Potomac, through Alexandria, VA. We arrived, had no problems parking, and headed up to the estate. Unlike most everything in the DC area, Mount Vernon is not free. It cost us just over $40 to tour the estate, but it was worth it. We watched a short movie on Washington, and then headed out to the estate. I wish I could verbalize it, but I guess I am just "worded out" tonight. But it was amazing. George Washington gave so much for our freedom and our country. Everything that we have available in history tells us that he was an incredibly upstanding, honest, loyal, and just man. He was a great military man who made some risky and very rewarding moves while in command. I was honored to be able to visit the estate that he called home.
This is the house that he worked so hard to turn into the beautiful estate that it is... to think about him standing outside his house looking out across the river – wow. It was moving. The view across the river was amazing. Interestingly, all of the land on the other side of the river is protected to preserve the view from Mount Vernon. Here's one photo…
Inside we made our way through the mansion, both the first and second floors. Unfortunately, like the other presidential residence that we toured on our trip, we couldn't take pictures inside the house. But we were free to take pictures everywhere else. We made our way through the grounds to all of the additional buildings on the property. We made our way down to the tombs of George and Martha, then down to the wharf right on the Potomac. On our way back up the hill we stopped off at the site of the "Old Tomb," which is where George and Martha were originally laid to rest. In his final will, he stated that because the Old Tomb was "in disrepair" and required significant improvements, he requested that a new tomb be built in a specified location and that their bodies be moved at that time. This was done around the late 1830s. Another interesting item that we learned today – the last private owner of Mount Vernon was also a member of the Confederate Army and apparently died during the war, given the dates on his tomb. His epitaph also stated that he was a strong Republican – which was interesting given how much George Washington was against political parties. President Washington's comments about political parties were dead-on. How nice it would be to have leaders who were more interested in doing what was right for our country and not concerned or caught up in the political party nonsense. What kind of world would we live in?? Anyway – sorry about that tangent there – you know how I get on those from time to time… We wrapped up our tour with a trip through the museum, where we saw many items owned by the Washington family, and then a trip through the Learning Center, where we got to see the President's dentures. Oddly enough, they were set in lead! All in all, it was a great visit to our first President's home. The girls loved it. I would recommend it to anyone.
After we left Mount Vernon, it was back to navigating with the iPhone. We made our way up to Baltimore without any problems and no missed turns! We managed to drive right up to our hotel. We are at an Embassy Suites tonight, and we couldn't be happier. The girls have their room and their TV, we have our room and our TV. There is a pool at this hotel – since our hotel in DC was renovating the pool there, the girls couldn't swim. We had our girls in the pool shortly after we checked in this afternoon. We ran out to have some dinner where I had some yummy crab cakes. We made our regular evening stop for my Diet Dr. Pepper. I managed to clean out the Rite Aid by the hotel in DC. Our last night there I actually had to send a boy to the back of the store to find me a couple of 20 oz. bottles to purchase. Over my stay I had purchased their only 2 liter and all of their 20 oz. bottles. Then tonight, at the convenience store we stopped at, there was honestly a sign hanging on the shelf with the Diet Dr. Peppers that said, "New! Try me!" I had to Facebook about that one. How in the world can this be "new?" I even speculated that if Yankees drank more Dr. Pepper, that might take care of those horrid accents they have up here! Granted, the Baltimore accent is not ANYTHING like the New York or, God help us, Boston accents, but it is definitely pronounced. The girls and I got tickled at dinner tonight because our waiter has the same exact accent as our hair dresser in San Antonio, who happens to be from Baltimore.
So now we are in for the night. Our flight tomorrow does not leave until 3:00 tomorrow, so we are going to sleep in, enjoy our yummy Embassy Suites breakfast in the morning, let the girls swim again, then head to the airport. We have a direct flight to SAT, so we should be home around 6:00 PM CDT. It will be nice to be home, but we have enjoyed a wonderful family vacation. We have made some wonderful memories and we have been able to see some fascinating things. I have loved every minute of it. I hope you have enjoyed reading our updates.
Until next time – Hugs!
PS – did you know that Martha Washington was only 4'11"? We had no idea!