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DC Trip Highlights – Mount Vernon

On our first day of being tourists, we visited one of the B Squad’s favorite places – George Washington’s home, Mount Vernon.

At the entrance to the visitor's center

The Webmaster had never been to Mount Vernon, but I had (it was one of the stops on the school trip I took in *cough* 1992).  The visitor’s center at the entrance had been greatly expanded, though.  Or, at least, I don’t remember it being this big and interesting.

With the George and Martha statues

Stained glass picture windows

We got our maps…

Tad has a map!

… and with Q-Bee as our tour guide, we were off!  Our good friend Juliet and her two kids joined us as well, which was so much fun!  Our first stop was some of the formal gardens.

Thumper and Mommy at the Mount Vernon gardens

As you can see, the day was nice, but breezy.  It had been 88 degrees the day before, and while it wasn’t that warm this day, it was plenty comfortable to be in shorts.  There was a lot of dust kicked up by the wind, though.

The blacksmith’s shop was on the way to the mansion, and was very popular with the kids.

At the blacksmith's

When we got to the mansion, Q-Bee took all the kids except Ane, and the Webmaster, Ane and I got in line to walk through the mansion.

Mount Vernon

Mom and Ane, waiting for the tour

There is no photography allowed in the house, unfortunately, but you can take pictures outside as much as you want.  Here is the view from the front of the house, looking across the Potomac River.

The view from the front

And here is the front of the house.

The front of Mount Vernon

We walked around the estate, and found the animals.  It’s spring, so there were lots of lambs among the sheep.

Baa!

This was Rerun’s favorite part, seeing the animals.

Getting a better look from the fence

We had lunch at the Mount Vernon Inn not long after this (which was fun, and a very nice place to eat!), and then Q-Bee took the younger kids while the Webmaster, Ane, Tad and I went to see Washington’s Tomb.

The Washington Tomb

George Washington is on the right, and Martha Washington is on the left.  We also visited the slave burial grounds and the memorials there.

We went back toward the mansion, where the kids ran into a re-enactor playing a fife!  It was so neat to see the kids so entranced, and then fall into line behind him.

Listening to the fife

Marching!

Then we tried to take some family pictures on the big field in front of the house.  It was pretty windy and the sun was in our eyes, but we tried!

Our family

The cousins!

That was the end of our day there – the kids were pretty beat!

Rerun and a bust of Washington

Next up – we actually go into the District!

3 Responses to “DC Trip Highlights – Mount Vernon”

  1. Nana
    April 24th, 2014 07:07
    1

    Thanks for taking us along on your tour! Especially loved the group pictures and the kids following the fifer –

  2. Aunt Lynda
    April 24th, 2014 11:40
    2

    I loved touring Mt. Vernon. I think I went in the ’80’s. Much smaller visitor’s center. In face, I don’ think there was one.

  3. Deanna's Corner » Blog Archive » O Christmas Tree 2014
    December 2nd, 2014 21:03
    3

    […] … and Ane, who had picked out her ornament months ago and forgotten all about it, finally got to hang up the teacup ornament that she chose at Mount Vernon last April. […]