Although the trip was mainly lighthearted, I really did enjoy learning more about our first President, and his wife. Martha was pretty incredible--did you know that she traveled to the battles to visit her husband, since he couldn't make it back to Mount Vernon to visit her? Apparently, she was a great morale booster. I learned much of this from the 20-minute video at the education center, which was introduced by none other than Pat Sajak! Sooo random (or so I thought--apparently, he maintains a residence in Maryland). Jess and I had to exercise incredible levels of self-control to not burst out laughing, especially when he strolled on screen in 17th-century attire.
The first thing we saw? Sheep! Adorable sheep.
Inside the education center, there was an opportunity to hold hands with Washington. In fact, the hand was worn down from so many tourists!
We weren't allowed to take photos inside the house, but here are some of the slaves' quarters. Wow. It was strange to be on an actual plantation, having only ever treated them as a part of American history.
The house looks grand from afar, but actually isn't that big up close. Also, although it looks like it is made of stone, Washington had the house made of wood, and then used a paint-and-sand method to make it look like stone. Apparently, he was quite frugal.
The view from the porch onto the Potomac is gorgeous. As you can see, the Maryland shore has been maintained as a state park.
Jess and I are going to frame this for our apartment.
Washington's tomb was impressive. We attended a wreath-laying ceremony. They invited members of the military, boy scouts, and girl scouts to participate, which I thought was cool.
Down at the wharf, there was a silly little owl hiding in a corner!
Jess is so cute.
Oh, trees... You're so lovely. The shade was very helpful, since it was really hot (and humid... always humid) in the afternoon.
This was not the answer that we expected as we pulled the lever.
Hee hee, an owl hand puppet in the gift shop. The head turned 360 degrees!
1 comment:
While reading this I started having flashbacks to fourth and fifth grade and hearing about Fort Duquesne, the inexperienced Washington, and the wet gunpowder.
I should also mention I attended school in Ohio so we went over the French and Indian War very carefully. That was our state history, so we never covered Fr. Serra and the missions.
It looks like you had fun.
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