Monday, August 30, 2010

The Trip - Part 7 - Washington DC, Mt. Vernon & Arlington Cemetery

Day 8
We pretty much chose the worst day in history to see Washington DC. It was the day after the 4th of July celebration meaning it was extra packed. It also happened to be right in the middle of a huge heat wave meaning it was like a billion degrees plus humidity. Add a huge crowd to that kind of heat and I am sure you can start to imagine the misery we experienced that day.
We had only that day in the city to see all of the museums so we got a list, picked what we wanted to see the most, and started running. We were able to make it to; part of the holocaust museum, the Air and Space museum, the Native American museum, the Natural History museum, the American History museum, Ford's theatre, and the Portrait gallery featuring private collections of Norman Rockwell prints all in a matter of hours. It was exhausting to say the least but, again, so worth it.
In all the hustle and bustle I forgot to take pictures all day except for a couple on my cell phone - oops.
Day 9
After another early morning we started the drive to Mt. Vernon, the home of George Washington.
It was sweltering hot again but the house and gardens were wonderful and they also had a "learning center" on site with four short movies and loads of information about Washington's whole life from birth to death.

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(The house)

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(The garden house)

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(The kitchen - separated from the house so in case there's a fire it won't burn down. They would stand over the fire cooking most of the day and remember, there's no a/c - as hot as the day was, I about cried just thinking about having to deal with that - we're such wimps!)

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(Did you know Washington bred some of the first Mules in the US?)

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(Carriage House)

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(Garden Wagon)

After finishing at Washington's house and seeing his Grist meal (and eating the worst 'Mexican' food of my life) we drove back into the city to see Arlington cemetery and the monuments we were not able to get to the night before.

Benson's uncle's grandfather is buried in Arlington so we were able to drive around quite a bit of it.
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We were there right before closing time but we wanted to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier so we hurried over and magically made it right on time for the last public changing of the guards that day which was one of the greatest things I have seen. The precision and exactness of the soldiers movements left us in awe.


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Facts about the guards:

- The guards walk exactly 21 steps across the mat in front of the tomb (representing the 21 gun salute). On the 21st step the guard will turn and face the tomb for exactly 21 seconds, then turns to face the other way across the tomb, changes his weapon to the outside shoulder then repeats.

- They wear special shoes with metal in the sides to accentuate a clicking sound during certain maneuvers. They also wear sunglasses that specially form to their face as part of the uniform.

- While on duty, guards wear no medals or show of rank as to not out-rank the entombed soldiers.

It was getting dark so we hurried again over to see some of the monuments


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Washington

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Lincoln

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Korean War

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Jefferson

Next up: Gettysburg, my paparazzi skills and the celebrity we met

Friday, August 27, 2010

The Trip - Part 6 - 4th of July

Day 7
Benson and I spent most of the day driving to Philadelphia and back so we could visit some of the areas he served in on his Mission. We were able to visit with some of the families he worked with which was fun for both of us.
We met back up with his Aunt and Uncle at the hotel then headed out to get a spot for fireworks. On the plane ride over I sat next to a man who grew up in DC and he suggested we go to the Iwo Jima monument to watch the fireworks so we could drive there and back and avoid the bulk of the crowd down in the center of the city.
It was a great idea - that everyone seemed to have - there were TONS of people everywhere. We ended up just pulling off on the side of the freeway (with about 1,000 other people) and sat in the grass and watched from there. Although it was crowded it was only a fraction of what we hear it was downtown and we were able to get out quick and avoid a lot of traffic. We also had a great view!


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Up Next: Washington DC, Mt. Vernon & Arlington Cemetery

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

The Trip - Part 5 - Monticello

Day 6
We had a long night of driving from Philadelphia down to Virginia so we could make our tour of Monticello the next morning. We went quite a bit out of the way for this tour and were unsure what it would be like - it turned out to be well worth the trip.
We were unable to take pictures inside his home, however, it was absolutely amazing. He was a very quirky man which can be seen all over the house with little innovations including a closet with a rotating rack, a hidden kitchen doorway, and a dumbwaiter hidden in the fireplace mantle that transferred wine from the cellar to the dining room. Many of the items in his house are original including his presidential chair.
Thomas Jefferson rose every day "with the sun" and had many rituals which included making very detailed recordings of the weather, wind direction, and the status of his garden.
His garden and the grounds around his house were gorgeous - it was easy to see why he loved the area so much.


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This small fish pond was used to store fresh fish they caught in the river until they were ready to use it.
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The crab apples were used by Jefferson to make cider
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The vineyards & Orchards
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Giant cabbage from his vegetable garden
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There is a small cemetery, the Monticello Graveyard, on Jefferson's property where he is buried. The cemetery was started when Jefferson and his good friend Dabney Carr made an agreement as boys that they would be buried next to each other under the large oak tree that stood there. Dabney, who ended up marrying Jefferson's sister, died in 1773 and was the first grave at the site which is now the family burial ground.
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On our way out of town we stopped at a couple of little fireworks stands - the boys couldn't let that opportunity pass them by!

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Next up: The 4th of July in Washington DC!

Monday, August 23, 2010

The Trip - Part 4 - Philadelphia & Valley Forge

Day 5
As fast as we ran around the city the day before, we just couldn't get everything in, so we drove back into the city to finish up what we missed: the federal reserve, the mint, Benjamin Franklin's grave, Betsy Ross' house.
The Betsy Ross house was another one of my favorites from Philly. We take so much we have for granted and so easily forget the sacrifices made by those who founded America. We all know that Betsy Ross was the woman to sewed the American flag - but did you know that her sewing that flag was considered treason and she could have been imprisioned and even put to death had the British found out what she was doing? This made it very hard since British soldiers lived in the same house she did part of the time she was working on the flag.
We also walked down Elfreth's Alley the oldest street in America - which I fell in love with. All of the houses are adorable, and yes, you can live there if you want! There's even one for sale!

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Once we finished up there we were ready to drive to Valley Forge - where Washington and the continental army spent the winter of 1777-1778. While no battles were fought there, more than 2,000 soldiers died from starvation, illness, and the cold.

A home was built for Washington in Valley Forge so he could stay well, and warm.

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He, however, rarely used the home choosing instead to stay with his men in their barracks. The home was used when his wife Martha would come to visit, or when he had company.

Valley Forge is another gorgeous area and walking around the fields was a very reverent experience.



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There were a lot of Deer in Valley Forge, these little babies let us get close enough to hand feed them grass.

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Next up: Monticello - the home of Thomas Jefferson

Friday, August 20, 2010

The Trip - Part 3 - Philadelphia

Day 4
We started out in downtown Philadelphia with a tour of Independence Hall - we reserved tickets ahead of time and had to rush through the city to pick up the tickets then get to the Hall before our tour started - the streets and sidewalks were extra busy since it was so close to the 4th of July so we did lots of running to get there in time.

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(Independence Hall)

The tour was so worth it - we got to stand in the room the first congress sat in when they met and where they signed the Declaration of Independence, designed the American flag, adopted the articles of the confederation, and drafted the constitution. It gave me chills to think that all of these men put literall everything they had, including their lives, on the line to build the great nation that we are so blessed to live in today. The sacrifices our founding fathers, their families, the soliders and citizens that fought for our freedom at that time are un-imaginable.


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We then went next door to Congress Hall where the House of Representatives and the Senate met from 1790-1800. It was again incredible to see so many amazing things and stand in the rooms where our nation was founded. Much of the building, including the floors, stairs and hand railings original.
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Next - across the street to the Liberty Bell, which is the bell that was rung in the tower of Independence Hall on July 8, 1776 calling the local citizens to hear the first reading, in public, of the Declaration of Independence.
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After a long (and hot) walk across town we arrived at Penn's Tower - the capitol building of Philadelphia. The architecture on the east coast is awe inspiring - you never see anything like this out here in the west.
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Across the street from Penn's tower is a little park with giant board game pieces from Monopoly, Life, Sorry, Checkers and Chess...
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... and just a few steps down from that is Love park!
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It was starting to get dark and we had some more places to go so we started our long walk back to the Independence Hall area and our car. That area is full of more beautiful buildings and tons of history. On our walk we saw the first Library in the US...
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as well as the first bank...
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don't you wish our neighborhood banks looked like that?

Benson and Bill (his uncle) were so nice to the rest of us and let us rest while they went ahead and got the cars. While we waited I took pictures of the surrounding area...
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...played 'Ninja' with the cousins...
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...and, of course, took MORE pictures...
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Before we left the city we made one last stop at the art museum - better known as the location of the "Rocky stairs".
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Next up: Philadelphia day 2 & Valley Forge