When we realized it was the same price to rent a car for 5 days as it was for the whole week, we decided it was the perfect opportunity to introduce the girls to Washington D.C. It was actually a great introduction for me too, because my experience is limited to work and the time I went the wrong way down a one way street a few blocks from the White House. Considering that we didn't make any reservations before arriving to D.C. and that things were still very masky and had COVID limitations, we actually saw a ton. We got as close as we could to the White House, which wasn't close at all. Carter particularly liked the Lincoln Memorial and asked us to take her picture and send it to her teacher because "that guy is on the penny!" Then we hoofed it to see the Martin Luther King, Jr. and Thomas Jefferson Memorials before it started to rain. Craig did a Maymester in D.C., and he loved showing us all of the things. The Thomas Jefferson Memorial is his favorite, and at a glance of the picture I took of the girls sitting on a bench in that memorial one would think they were mesmerized as well. As it turns out, they were actually just fascinated with a couple of birds flying in the rotunda.
We spent the rest of the afternoon at the International Spy Museum, which was so fun! Craig and I recently finished watching Turn, which is a series about Washington's spies from the Revolutionary War, and we especially loved the part about the Culper Spy Ring. When we left the museum it was raining, and the girls begged us to get an Uber back to the room. Our plan was to rest for a little while and head back out for dinner and to see the Capitol Building. They had different plans which included soaking up all the amenities our little Embassy Suite had to offer. We eventually made them walk a few blocks for dinner, and they were ecstatic when we settled in for the night.
Most of the Smithsonian's were still closed or booked because they were only open at very limited capacity, so we decided to spend our last day at Mount Vernon. We couldn't have picked a more perfect way to end our trip. Mount Vernon was awesome! The estate George Washington built at Mount Vernon was so impressive, and it's no wonder he wanted to be there as much as possible. Fun fact...Martha was actually a very sought after widow. Craig always thought Mount Vernon came from her first marriage because she was so wealthy, but actually, Mount Vernon was in his family. It wasn't until he married Martha that he had the money to purchase the property from his older brother.
We had the best time touring Mount Vernon, and the girls had so much fun filling out their interactive map of the grounds. We saw the slave quarters, the dock, tombs, gardens, and all the out buildings that housed the many working parts of the plantation. It had to be before it's time, and I'm convinced Washington was a genius! haha. One of our favorite parts was when we toured the home. Displayed inside is the key to the Bastille (prison in Paris) given to George Washington by Marquis de Lafayette (Hamilton reference) as a symbol of America's freedom from Britain. If that wasn't an impressive note to end on, we exited through Washington's study and saw his actual fan chair...a chair with a foot pedal attached to a fan over his head...from the 1700s....crazy!
I didn't think it was too much to ask for a few pictures on the front lawn, but Carter had different plans....yoga...in front of the home of the first president of the United States of America....namaste!
The girls spent the entire tour wondering about their special prize for correctly filling out their maps, and one of them was more excited than the other for that flat penny with Mount Vernon imprinted on the top. We had just enough time for a quick dinner at one of my favorite Baltimore spots, Nalley Fresh, before going to the airport. I can't say enough good things about this trip, and we all wish we could have stayed longer...except for missing baby sister!
No comments:
Post a Comment