Mount Vernon by ourselves!!

Okay, so after testing the waters on Wed, Chris and I were blessed with a sweet friend in Celeste and given the day to go off and do by ourselves (well, almost!) We took Lizzy with us since two infants plus four toddlers can make anyone a little nuts!

So on our way to visit places as cool as the Capitol and the Library of Congress and a host of other very inspiring DC locations, Chris decided that the sign to Mt. Vernon was what he wanted to do first. So we quickly took the exit off the freeway, in effect ditching all plans, and inputed the new address into his iPhone.

An overview of the property

Mt. Vernon from the beginning was so much bigger than we had anticipated! We got into the place with a President's package which included tickets to several things, an audio tour, and a host of information. We loved it.

Lizzy on board for the cruise

We began by taking the "cruise" up/down the Potomac and seeing our first glimpses of George Washington's home from the river. It was beautiful. We learned that it was orignally named for the "mountain" it sits on overlooking the river and a man his half-brother fought with in some war, "Vernon". So, since his brother inherited the place before him, he got to name it, and George kept it.

The next thing we did was slowly make our way to the main house by way of the tomb of George and Martha Washington, several of the main buildings like the wash house, the stables, the larder, and a couple more, then we moved on to the gardens which were beautiful, and finally got in the quickly moving line for the mansion tour.

The house was beautiful. I had forgotten that the early Revolutionaries had strong ties to Britain. Their homes almost exactly match in style and decoration the homes of their original country. The home is decorated with vivid colors like green, blue, yellow, and red. Thankfully the home is air conditioned so it was even nice to visit for us during our 95 degree weather. I especially liked the antique cradle in the mother's guest room and the view from their back porch. It is such a lovely home and the grounds are breathtaking both in their ingenuity for the time and their simplicity of structure. I love what's called the "bowling green" directly in front of the home. It's a huge expanse of rolling gree reaching from the front of the home all the way down to the visitor's centers.

With Lizzy like this, so many thought she was our first! How silly!

After visiting the home we wandered through one of the many gardens noting the fleur d' lis in the shrubbery and the exotic flowers and plants that his home was known for. We learned so much about George just by seeing what interested him and how he lived when he was leading the country or fighting a war.

The last stop on our visit to Mt. Vernon was the viewing of the film, "We fight to be free" which we both liked a lot and held more emotion after visiting the property where he lived, and finally the education center which was originally intended for children and teens, but which I loved more than any museum I've ever been in.

One of the many exhibits

We had so much fun and though we spent over 7hrs there, we still didn't see it all. If you ever get the chance, make this one a priority in your trip, but leave little ones at home.

My favorite fact of the whole thing: it was the Mt. Vernon Ladie's Assoc. that made it all possible. They bought the land and home and then put all their efforts into the creation and maintaining of the whole thing. Congrats to women who saw it's potential.