Mt Vernon

Today we spent the day at Mt. Vernon. We bought annual passes nearly a year ago and realized yesterday that they were going to expire in just a couple days, so we decided to go back. I love Mt. Vernon! It is one of my favorite places to go in this area. This time we took a garden tour. I love walking through George Washington's gardens, with the beautiful flowers, cool apple trees that wind around the fence and the amazing symmetry of it all.

This is the greenhouse. He grew palm trees, oranges, lemons and other exotic plants. The greenhouse was heated through ducts in the floor connected to a fireplace on the opposite side of the buildings.

After our garden tour and a picnic lunch, we took the National Treasure tour. We had to pay extra for this tour, but figured it was worth it to get to go places not open to the general public. It was pretty cool! We got to go in the basement

and see the ice house. They showed us where different parts of the movie were filmed, and how there was quite a bit of fact mixed with fiction. It was pretty interesting, and somehow our kids always pay attention better in a tour. There is something about a tour guide that keeps them focused.

The kids did a scavenger hunt by solving different puzzles at different stops around Mt. Vernon. They had a great time doing it and I thinked learned a thing or two. Last time we went they got a candy at the gift shop for correctly completing all the puzzles. However, we were sad to discover today that they stopped doing that, so the kids were pretty bummed to get to the end and not get a treat.

Mt. Vernon opened a new museum and discovery center in 2007. This time we spent more time in the museum and it was wonderful. They had a fun "Hands on History" section that they kids played in for a while.

They also had an amazing theater that showed a film on Washington's involvement in the Revolutionary war. During the war scenes, the seats actually shook when the cannon's fired, fog blew in the theater, and during the Crossing of the Delaware, it actually snowed on us. My kids thought that was the highlight of the day.

Here are a few more pictures:

Washington's tomb.

We loved watching this mule. He gave a big loud bray that the kids thought was hillarious. I didn't know until today that George Washington was the first person to breed mules in the United States.

I love sitting in these chairs and looking out over the Potomac River. It is such a peaceful, beautiful spot. I can see why Washington never wanted to leave.

After we left Mt. Vernon we stopped for dinner in Old Towne Alexandria. We wandered around a little after dinner and found this old church.

We think it is the church we George Washington attended. It was a cool old church and we wanted to go inside, but it was locked up for the night. What was also interesting is the headstone we found:

Notice the names: Dorothy and John Harper. Sound familiar to anyone?