D.C. Trip ~ Day 5...Mount Vernon

Day 5:

I love history. Especially early American history, and I've always wanted to visit Mount Vernon. Today was the day, and let me tell you there weren't enough hours in the day to enjoy the place. I want to go back!


Maybe you already knew this, but I didn't, and thougth I'd share the tidbit of info I learned. George Washington's formal education ended when he was just 11 years old. However, he went on to invent, design, build, formulate, plan, conquer...he was an amazing man with a genius mind.


Mount Vernon actually has a "National Treasure 2 Tour", where you can learn a bit about how they filmed on the grounds for that movie and all the ins and outs of how they did it without damanging anything or interrupting the normal run of business there. It was really quite interesting...and as to whether or not there is a "secret passage"...well, I think I'll leave you guessing on that one! LOL

I'm pretty sure I could live here....This home was originally built by Washington's father.  GW added on to it 3 or 4 times over something like 20 years to make it what it is today...

The grainery, busy grinding corn into cornmeal...

Our costumed tour guide at the Grainery explained how the stones (thus stoneground wheat/corn, etc...) worked together to grind the grain...

It doesn't matter how grow up he gets, he still looks like a little boy when he gets cheese cracker residue on his mouth edges....precious! :)

Me and George Washingtons cows...OK, maybe they aren't his ORIGINAL cows...but they live there now!

His gardens were ENORMOUS!  This was not an "eating" garden, but a seed bed...grown only for the purpose of making seed.  He believed firmly that a man should only have to buy seed the first year he starts a garden!

I don't know if you can make this out much, but it was quite a funny scene to see.  At the top of the hill is where the house sits, we are standing on the edge of the Potomac River...he had a fantastic view.  This huge turkey was go nutso and chasing this sheep around, as the sheep ran off, so did a beaver that came out of the trees,...it was a pretty funny sight.

On the National Treasure 2 Tour...

Yes,...I'm quite CERTAIN I could happily live here...wow!

Does this door ring a bell?  Hmmm, guess you'd have to go watch the movie again.  It is actually the door to GW's ice house.  He loved ice cream and had two ice cream makers in there as well.  The design of this ice house was so incredible that he was known to have ice well into June!

Oh how I would LOVE to be the Tender of this garden....sigh...Do you see me hiding in there?

This is what I get when I ask my hubby to pose for me in the garden...

After a stern look from the "Momma Eye"...he "posed" for me,...LOLOL...oh my...

After Mt. Vernon, we freshened up a bit and met for dinner at the Macaroni Grill.  I think at this point in our trip, I was still doing "pretty" well on the healthy eating side of things.  I ordered an appetizer (Bruschetta) and a side salad (Ceaser with the dressing on the side).  My personal opinion?  A pretty place to eat, but the bruschetta was too chunky (basically grape tomatoes cut in half), and it appeared to be served with small slices of toasted mini sandwich bread...not really what I consider "true" bruschetta.  The salad was good. :)  We were seriously jonesing for sweet tea though...we are from the South ya'll....and they just don't believe in drinking Sweet Tea up there in Maryland...ugh!  "I'll have water with lemon, thank you"...


The next day would be our last day in D.C.  Cris begins his pre-deployment training, so Mike and will head downtown on our own to do some MORE sight-seeing...plus Arlington for the Changing of The Guards...

D.C. Trip ~ Day 4 ~ Crazy Apes!

If you missed Day 3, that's because I forgot to pre-post it!  Scroll down to check it out!

Day 4:   We had SO MUCH FUN today!


First we stopped by the Amish Market in town, which was bustling with people purchasing all sorts of items from Amish families, fresh baked breads (which they baked right there in the market), several cuts of meat, candies, nuts, fruit, etc...  I purchased some homemade jam for myself and Kim.


After that we headed to Old Navy, where it seems EVERYONE in Maryland decided they needed flip-flops.  There were hardly any left, but we each managed to find a couple of pair.  As we turned to get in line, we realized it was ALL THE WAY at the back of the store!  Oh my!  Not worth it for flippies!  So, we headed to Starbucks and grabbed some Java, then returned to the hotel.  We were to freshen up, and all meet for lunch...at the SAME place....right?


You see, the other night when we ate Japanese, I pointed a restaurant across from it in the plaza, Chipotle, noting that one of my sisters said it was really yummy.  Cris  said it was great, and that we would eat there for lunch on Saturday.  Fast forward to Saturday.


I say, "Ok, we'll meet you at Chipotle at 12:00, then we can get in one car and head to Rockville.".  We got there at 12:00.  So did he, only he went to a different location.  :)


Did I mention my son is brilliant?  Seriously.  It actually blows my mind, I mean, I was his teacher.  He shouldn't know more than me, right????  The other day he got 102 on a test in his pre-deployment class, the highest score in the class.  Not to mention he was selected for early promotion, making Senior Airman below the zone in less than 2 years in service!  Incredible!!!  HOWEVER, he failed to mention that we would be eating at a different Chipotle that was "on the way" to where we were going after lunch.  Um, we are from Florida...We have NO WAY of knowing this secret plan.  Yup.  That's all I have to say about that.  Yup.


Sooooo, we ate lunch separately and met at Rock Creek Regional Park, in Rockville, Maryland for the most FUN adult playground experience!!!........


The day before we left for our trip, I was still searching online for "things to do in Maryland"...and I stumbled upon something that looked like the kinda thing we would consider "fun".  Ziplining! 


When I was a little girl, we lived in England, and my Mom use to take my sister, Tina, and I to a certain park that was in the city.  It was a "homemade" park, and it was our favorite place to go.  I specifically remember the "zipline" I rode when I was just about 5 or 6 years old...You would climb a rough ladder up to a small platform in a tree only a few feet off the ground, hang on for dear life to a rope or something connected to a cable that ran on a downward slope toward another tree, where you would slam into a mattress that was tied securely to that tree!  It was SO fun...so when I found out that they now have "adult playgrounds" with sophisticated equipment, I jumped on the chance to fly through the trees!  We decided to go to ...GoApe...


Here are a few photos,  LOL...

Dinner was reheated leftover Japanese from last night, eaten in our hotel room. We were pretty exhausted from that day of swinging through the trees...tomorrow we go to Mt. Vernon...