Mom and I just returned from the
most fun trip EVER!!! Thank you, Mom and Dad, for making this trip possible for me. It was truly a dream come true to visit Washington D. C. and to see where so much of America's history has taken place.
On
Thursday, September 4, Mom and I left Salt Lake City, flew to Denver, and then on to the Reagan Washington National Airport in D. C. A shuttle from our hotel, the Old Colony Inn in Alexandria, Virginia, picked us up and took us to the hotel. We spent our first evening there walking around Old Town Alexandria. Our first stop was Robert E. Lee's Boyhood Home where Mom and I took this picture of ourselves at the front door. All of the row houses in Alexandria are so cool! After only a few minutes, I was
absolutely in love with Alexandria.
Our next stop was the historic
Gadsby's Tavern. The sign out front said: "George ate here." There is a lot more to the history of the building, but that sentence sums up the essence of it.
Gadsby's Tavern was built in 1785 and was a popular meeting place for political leaders. George and Martha Washington attended a ball there, George Washington would often stop and eat there when he was conducting business in town, John Adams frequented the tavern, and Thomas Jefferson held his
inaugural ball there. Mom and I decided that we needed to eat at such a historic establishment, so we had a candlelight dinner as we looked out over the streets of Alexandria.
Here is a view of the City Hall reflected in the window at
Gadsby's Tavern. For dinner, Mom and I had "Martha's Puff Pastry," a delectable pastry stuffed with crab and salmon; as well as some delightful mini
crab cakes. It was a delicious Colonial meal! We then headed back to our hotel for the night.
On
Friday, September 5, Mom and I got up bright and early and headed off to George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate!!!! It was totally a dream come true to visit Mount Vernon. I have learned so much about it over the years, and to see it in person was awesome.
George Washington inherited Mount Vernon from his brother and turned it into a stunning mansion on the bluffs overlooking the Potomac River. Mom and I began our day with a tour of the house. You can't take pictures inside, but George Washington had some sweet paint colors on the walls. My favorite was the green dining room. I bought a book of Mount Vernon paint hues so that someday I can recreate the Mount Vernon color scheme in a house of my own :-)
We walked around the estate grounds and visited George and Martha Washington's tomb before heading out on a Potomac River cruise! Our boat was called
Spirit of Mount Vernon.
The river cruise was really, really neat. The coolest part was enjoying the river view of Mount Vernon. The cruise also took us past Fort Washington. After the cruise, we enjoyed a Colonial lunch at the world-famous Mount Vernon Inn. Mom had some delicious rosemary chicken, and I had some salmon
corn cakes. We topped off our yummy lunch with some heavenly homemade bread pudding. They certainly know how to cook up a feast at Mount Vernon! After lunch we went on the National Treasure Tour of the estate! It was
soooooo cool! They showed us where all of the Mount Vernon scenes from "National Treasure 2" were filmed, and we even got to go into the basement of Mount Vernon!!! It was totally cool. In the basement you can see some of the original circa 1760 brick foundation placed by George Washington's dad. We also saw the famous "L W" cornerstone featured in the movie. Our tour guide also took us to George Washington's ice house that features a 25-foot tunnel that was used as the "secret passageway" in the movie. She then took us down by the river and told us some interesting facts about George Washington and Mount Vernon. It was
SOOOOOOO COOL!!! Mom and I were pretty worn out by the time we got back to the hotel, so we spent the evening hanging out there.
Saturday, September 6, was an exciting day to say the least. It was on this day that Tropical Storm Hanna arrived in town! It didn't seem to be raining too hard outside in the morning, so Mom and I donned our rain jackets, took our umbrellas, and ventured out into the streets of Alexandria. We hadn't gotten very far before we realized that a tropical storm is indeed very different from a regular rain storm. When you factor in the wind and the amount of rain that is falling, you can get soaked pretty quickly.
Nonetheless, we had no time to waste on our trip, so we held forth amidst the deteriorating weather situation! Our first stop was at Christ Church where both George Washington and Robert E. Lee went to church. As cool as it would be if this picture of the Christ Church Cemetery was full of orbs, those are actually rain drops. It was absolutely pouring by this point. Yet, we continued on! Our next stop was
Gadsby's Tavern again, where this time we went on a tour. The guy giving tours was rather surprised to see visitors on such a stormy day, but he gave us a very interesting tour of the two buildings that make up the tavern. It was definitely worth the trip out in the rain. Then we ventured over to Market Square and were hoping to visit some of the downtown Alexandria shops, but the storm increased in intensity. Mom and I were both soaked from head to foot, and it was getting a little chilly out, so we called the hotel shuttle and went back to dry off and get out of the rain.
Since the rain showed no signs of letting up, Mom and I decided to watch "National Treasure 2" at the hotel! It was fun to watch it after having visited Mount Vernon the day before. The rain finally let up at around 5:30 p.m., which was just in time for Mom and me to meet my grad school buddies Angie and Kristen for dinner. It was so fun to see them! Angie lives in Maryland, and Kristen is currently living in Alexandria working on her internship. We had dinner at a fun place called the Warehouse. Mom used to eat at the Warehouse with her friends and though it still bears the same name, it is very different than it used to be. The food was delicious though. Part of downtown Alexandria was closed due to flooding--and there were sandbags everywhere.
By
Sunday, September 7, all the storm clouds had departed and the weather was
beautiful. Mom and I took the metro to Arlington National Cemetery which is one of the neatest places I have ever visited. It is quite a stunning place with rows and rows of headstones surrounding Robert E. Lee's mansion, Arlington, up on the hill. The view across the Potomac River over to Washington from the front porch of Arlington is stunning. I couldn't believe how many people are buried there at the cemetery. It is a very hallowed and sacred place.
Mom and I went on a tour of the Arlington mansion, which looked quite different than all of the pictures I've seen of the house because the National Park Service is in the middle of a huge restoration project. Over 85% of the house has been kept in its original state over the years, so I guess it was time to update and repair some things. They are installing a fire
suppression system which requires that they clear pretty much everything out of the house. It was still really cool to see inside though.
Then we saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
After visiting Arlington, Mom and I walked across the bridge over the Potomac River and into Washington D. C. We began our tour of the National Mall at the place I have always wanted to visit: the Lincoln Memorial!!! It was an even cooler place than I had imagined. Visiting the memorial renewed my hope that people still care about our 16
th President. (By the way, thank you all for signing the
IHPA petition. In just one week, the number of signatures jumped up to 2,800!)
Mom and I were trying to take a picture of ourselves with the Washington Monument behind us, but it was kind of tricky, so luckily someone came along and took the picture for us :-)
As we walked towards the Washington Monument, we stopped at the war memorials that flank the reflecting pool. The Korean War Memorial is so neat! It was especially cool to see this man, a Korean War veteran, there at the memorial. The Vietnam Memorial is also a very touching place to visit. Mom had some friends who died in Vietnam, so it is an especially meaningful place for her. We then visited the new World War II Memorial, the Washington Monument, and then walked over to the Smithsonian. I was in heaven! We were pretty worn out by this time, so after a little while we headed back to the metro station and went to our hotel.
That evening, Mom's good friends Mary Lib and Rex invited us over for dinner! Mom met Mary Lib during the first summer that she worked in D. C. after high school, and lived with Mary Lib and her parents the next summer. I have heard many fun stories about Mary Lib, and it was fun to finally meet her and her very kind husband Rex. They are some of the nicest people I have ever met!
On
Monday, September 8, Mom and I caught the metro to Washington in the morning and made our first stop at the National Archives! It was
SOOOO COOL there!!! It is in the rotunda of the archives building where the original
Declaration of Independence,
Constitution, and
Bill of Rights are on display. They keep the lights down pretty low in the rotunda, and as you can see from this photo, the
Declaration is pretty faded, but I did the best I could with this picture in
Photoshop. It was amazing to see our country's founding documents in person! Word to the wise: if you ever sign an important document, make your signature really big and dark like John Hancock did--that way your signature will last longer than all of the others.
After the Archives, Mom and I ventured up the street to Ford's Theater! Unfortunately the theater itself is closed right now, as it is undergoing renovations, but it was still neat to see the building. And the Peterson House across the street, where President Lincoln actually died, is still open.
So Mom and I took a tour of the Peterson House. It is much smaller than I had imagined. It was a very neat experience to stand in the room where Abraham Lincoln died.
Here is the spot (though not the original bed) where Lincoln died on the morning of April 15, 1865.
Right next door to Ford's Theater is Hard Rock Cafe Washington D. C.! Mom and I had a yummy and fun lunch there. Our favorite things to get at Hard Rock Cafe are the Tupelo chicken strips.
After lunch we walked over to the Post Office Pavillion. The Old Post Office, completed in 1899, was Washington D. C.'s first skyscraper. The tower stands 270 feet above the street!
As you can see, the Old Post Office tower offers a great view of Washington. You could see everything from up there!
After our fun day in Washington, Mom and I took the metro back to Alexandria and caught a bus which took us to Mom's old neighborhood! Here Mom is in front of the cute house on Crown View Drive where the Farnsworth family lived while Grandpa was on sabbatical in D. C. It was during this time that Mom babysat Gerald and Betty Ford's kids. There is a funny plaque above the garage of Mom's old house that says, "Site of President Gerald Ford's First Press Conference."
Here is the Ford's house right across the street. It is currently for rent. If any of you want to live in Alexandria and pay $3,600 per month, you could live in a National Historic Landmark. And I can hook you up with the Realtor.
Mom and I were happy to see that a National Historic Landmark plaque has been placed on the front of the house. After visiting Crown View Drive, we spent the evening on King Street in Alexandria. We visited a museum at an old apothecary that was really neat. The apothecary started in the late 1700s but went bankrupt in the 1930s, and when the owners closed up shop, they left everything just as it was. So when the City of Alexandria acquired the building, it still had all of its original medicine bottles, cases, and everything! The site manager there told us that they have an off-site storage facility where they have all of the other unopened medicine bottles that are not on display. The "Things in Your Collection that Can Kill You" presentation that we had during my Collections Care class earlier this year kept running through my head :-) After the tour, Mom and I walked back to our hotel and started packing our suitcases.
On
Tuesday, September 9, Mom and I wanted to take one last walk into Old Town Alexandria before heading to the airport. We stopped at Christ Church one more time (since it was closed during the tropical storm) and walked through Alexandria's quaint neighborhoods. This was seriously one of the most fun trips I have ever had!!!! Mom and I had so much fun together, and I loved seeing all of the places where she lived, worked, and visited when she lived back in Alexandria. I also loved seeing where so much of our nation's history has taken place. The only bad part about the trip was that it had to end. We flew home last night and are now trying to get our biological clocks back on Mountain time. Thank you for the best week ever Mom!!!!!!!!!!
On Thursday, September 4, Mom and I left Salt Lake City, flew to Denver, and then on to the Reagan Washington National Airport in D. C. A shuttle from our hotel, the Old Colony Inn in Alexandria, Virginia, picked us up and took us to the hotel. We spent our first evening there walking around Old Town Alexandria. Our first stop was Robert E. Lee's Boyhood Home where Mom and I took this picture of ourselves at the front door. All of the row houses in Alexandria are so cool! After only a few minutes, I was absolutely in love with Alexandria.
Our next stop was the historic Gadsby's Tavern. The sign out front said: "George ate here." There is a lot more to the history of the building, but that sentence sums up the essence of it. Gadsby's Tavern was built in 1785 and was a popular meeting place for political leaders. George and Martha Washington attended a ball there, George Washington would often stop and eat there when he was conducting business in town, John Adams frequented the tavern, and Thomas Jefferson held his inaugural ball there. Mom and I decided that we needed to eat at such a historic establishment, so we had a candlelight dinner as we looked out over the streets of Alexandria.
Here is a view of the City Hall reflected in the window at Gadsby's Tavern. For dinner, Mom and I had "Martha's Puff Pastry," a delectable pastry stuffed with crab and salmon; as well as some delightful mini crab cakes. It was a delicious Colonial meal! We then headed back to our hotel for the night.
On Friday, September 5, Mom and I got up bright and early and headed off to George Washington's Mount Vernon Estate!!!! It was totally a dream come true to visit Mount Vernon. I have learned so much about it over the years, and to see it in person was awesome.
George Washington inherited Mount Vernon from his brother and turned it into a stunning mansion on the bluffs overlooking the Potomac River. Mom and I began our day with a tour of the house. You can't take pictures inside, but George Washington had some sweet paint colors on the walls. My favorite was the green dining room. I bought a book of Mount Vernon paint hues so that someday I can recreate the Mount Vernon color scheme in a house of my own :-)
We walked around the estate grounds and visited George and Martha Washington's tomb before heading out on a Potomac River cruise! Our boat was called Spirit of Mount Vernon.
The river cruise was really, really neat. The coolest part was enjoying the river view of Mount Vernon. The cruise also took us past Fort Washington. After the cruise, we enjoyed a Colonial lunch at the world-famous Mount Vernon Inn. Mom had some delicious rosemary chicken, and I had some salmon corn cakes. We topped off our yummy lunch with some heavenly homemade bread pudding. They certainly know how to cook up a feast at Mount Vernon! After lunch we went on the National Treasure Tour of the estate! It was soooooo cool! They showed us where all of the Mount Vernon scenes from "National Treasure 2" were filmed, and we even got to go into the basement of Mount Vernon!!! It was totally cool. In the basement you can see some of the original circa 1760 brick foundation placed by George Washington's dad. We also saw the famous "L W" cornerstone featured in the movie. Our tour guide also took us to George Washington's ice house that features a 25-foot tunnel that was used as the "secret passageway" in the movie. She then took us down by the river and told us some interesting facts about George Washington and Mount Vernon. It was SOOOOOOO COOL!!! Mom and I were pretty worn out by the time we got back to the hotel, so we spent the evening hanging out there.
Saturday, September 6, was an exciting day to say the least. It was on this day that Tropical Storm Hanna arrived in town! It didn't seem to be raining too hard outside in the morning, so Mom and I donned our rain jackets, took our umbrellas, and ventured out into the streets of Alexandria. We hadn't gotten very far before we realized that a tropical storm is indeed very different from a regular rain storm. When you factor in the wind and the amount of rain that is falling, you can get soaked pretty quickly.
Nonetheless, we had no time to waste on our trip, so we held forth amidst the deteriorating weather situation! Our first stop was at Christ Church where both George Washington and Robert E. Lee went to church. As cool as it would be if this picture of the Christ Church Cemetery was full of orbs, those are actually rain drops. It was absolutely pouring by this point. Yet, we continued on! Our next stop was Gadsby's Tavern again, where this time we went on a tour. The guy giving tours was rather surprised to see visitors on such a stormy day, but he gave us a very interesting tour of the two buildings that make up the tavern. It was definitely worth the trip out in the rain. Then we ventured over to Market Square and were hoping to visit some of the downtown Alexandria shops, but the storm increased in intensity. Mom and I were both soaked from head to foot, and it was getting a little chilly out, so we called the hotel shuttle and went back to dry off and get out of the rain.
Since the rain showed no signs of letting up, Mom and I decided to watch "National Treasure 2" at the hotel! It was fun to watch it after having visited Mount Vernon the day before. The rain finally let up at around 5:30 p.m., which was just in time for Mom and me to meet my grad school buddies Angie and Kristen for dinner. It was so fun to see them! Angie lives in Maryland, and Kristen is currently living in Alexandria working on her internship. We had dinner at a fun place called the Warehouse. Mom used to eat at the Warehouse with her friends and though it still bears the same name, it is very different than it used to be. The food was delicious though. Part of downtown Alexandria was closed due to flooding--and there were sandbags everywhere.
By Sunday, September 7, all the storm clouds had departed and the weather was beautiful. Mom and I took the metro to Arlington National Cemetery which is one of the neatest places I have ever visited. It is quite a stunning place with rows and rows of headstones surrounding Robert E. Lee's mansion, Arlington, up on the hill. The view across the Potomac River over to Washington from the front porch of Arlington is stunning. I couldn't believe how many people are buried there at the cemetery. It is a very hallowed and sacred place.
Mom and I went on a tour of the Arlington mansion, which looked quite different than all of the pictures I've seen of the house because the National Park Service is in the middle of a huge restoration project. Over 85% of the house has been kept in its original state over the years, so I guess it was time to update and repair some things. They are installing a fire suppression system which requires that they clear pretty much everything out of the house. It was still really cool to see inside though.
Then we saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
After visiting Arlington, Mom and I walked across the bridge over the Potomac River and into Washington D. C. We began our tour of the National Mall at the place I have always wanted to visit: the Lincoln Memorial!!! It was an even cooler place than I had imagined. Visiting the memorial renewed my hope that people still care about our 16th President. (By the way, thank you all for signing the IHPA petition. In just one week, the number of signatures jumped up to 2,800!)
Mom and I were trying to take a picture of ourselves with the Washington Monument behind us, but it was kind of tricky, so luckily someone came along and took the picture for us :-)
As we walked towards the Washington Monument, we stopped at the war memorials that flank the reflecting pool. The Korean War Memorial is so neat! It was especially cool to see this man, a Korean War veteran, there at the memorial. The Vietnam Memorial is also a very touching place to visit. Mom had some friends who died in Vietnam, so it is an especially meaningful place for her. We then visited the new World War II Memorial, the Washington Monument, and then walked over to the Smithsonian. I was in heaven! We were pretty worn out by this time, so after a little while we headed back to the metro station and went to our hotel.
That evening, Mom's good friends Mary Lib and Rex invited us over for dinner! Mom met Mary Lib during the first summer that she worked in D. C. after high school, and lived with Mary Lib and her parents the next summer. I have heard many fun stories about Mary Lib, and it was fun to finally meet her and her very kind husband Rex. They are some of the nicest people I have ever met!
On Monday, September 8, Mom and I caught the metro to Washington in the morning and made our first stop at the National Archives! It was SOOOO COOL there!!! It is in the rotunda of the archives building where the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights are on display. They keep the lights down pretty low in the rotunda, and as you can see from this photo, the Declaration is pretty faded, but I did the best I could with this picture in Photoshop. It was amazing to see our country's founding documents in person! Word to the wise: if you ever sign an important document, make your signature really big and dark like John Hancock did--that way your signature will last longer than all of the others.
After the Archives, Mom and I ventured up the street to Ford's Theater! Unfortunately the theater itself is closed right now, as it is undergoing renovations, but it was still neat to see the building. And the Peterson House across the street, where President Lincoln actually died, is still open.
So Mom and I took a tour of the Peterson House. It is much smaller than I had imagined. It was a very neat experience to stand in the room where Abraham Lincoln died.
Here is the spot (though not the original bed) where Lincoln died on the morning of April 15, 1865.
Right next door to Ford's Theater is Hard Rock Cafe Washington D. C.! Mom and I had a yummy and fun lunch there. Our favorite things to get at Hard Rock Cafe are the Tupelo chicken strips.
After lunch we walked over to the Post Office Pavillion. The Old Post Office, completed in 1899, was Washington D. C.'s first skyscraper. The tower stands 270 feet above the street!
As you can see, the Old Post Office tower offers a great view of Washington. You could see everything from up there!
After our fun day in Washington, Mom and I took the metro back to Alexandria and caught a bus which took us to Mom's old neighborhood! Here Mom is in front of the cute house on Crown View Drive where the Farnsworth family lived while Grandpa was on sabbatical in D. C. It was during this time that Mom babysat Gerald and Betty Ford's kids. There is a funny plaque above the garage of Mom's old house that says, "Site of President Gerald Ford's First Press Conference."
Here is the Ford's house right across the street. It is currently for rent. If any of you want to live in Alexandria and pay $3,600 per month, you could live in a National Historic Landmark. And I can hook you up with the Realtor.
Mom and I were happy to see that a National Historic Landmark plaque has been placed on the front of the house. After visiting Crown View Drive, we spent the evening on King Street in Alexandria. We visited a museum at an old apothecary that was really neat. The apothecary started in the late 1700s but went bankrupt in the 1930s, and when the owners closed up shop, they left everything just as it was. So when the City of Alexandria acquired the building, it still had all of its original medicine bottles, cases, and everything! The site manager there told us that they have an off-site storage facility where they have all of the other unopened medicine bottles that are not on display. The "Things in Your Collection that Can Kill You" presentation that we had during my Collections Care class earlier this year kept running through my head :-) After the tour, Mom and I walked back to our hotel and started packing our suitcases.
On Tuesday, September 9, Mom and I wanted to take one last walk into Old Town Alexandria before heading to the airport. We stopped at Christ Church one more time (since it was closed during the tropical storm) and walked through Alexandria's quaint neighborhoods. This was seriously one of the most fun trips I have ever had!!!! Mom and I had so much fun together, and I loved seeing all of the places where she lived, worked, and visited when she lived back in Alexandria. I also loved seeing where so much of our nation's history has taken place. The only bad part about the trip was that it had to end. We flew home last night and are now trying to get our biological clocks back on Mountain time. Thank you for the best week ever Mom!!!!!!!!!!
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