Summer Vacation - Day 9

Did you think this vacation would ever end? 

Neither did I. 

But sadly it did. 

Our last day was spent at George Washington's Mount Vernon. It was a beautiful morning and we spent a good 3 hours touring the grounds and estate.

 

It is such an iconic home, and regonizable to everyone, that it was almost surreal walking through it. 

Washington could have easily become our Nation's first King if he wanted to. He was idolized. Instead, all he wanted was to return home. 

He intented for the mansion to be symetrical, you can tell that didn't happen.

Here I am, looking like a 10 year old.

We toured the gardens, the farm, the slave quarters, the stables, and more, but we spent most of our time at the blacksmith. If there is a blacksmith around, my boys are fixated. If I remember right, I had to bribe them to leave. Jefferson asked for blacksmithing tools for Christmas. It's becoming an obsession. 

Kennedy wasn't entertained by the 3000 degree fireplace, or the clanking of metal. She spent her time wandering the grounds and staring at a Martha Washington impersonator.

 

The back of the mansion, which I find more beautiful than the front

And the view. Now I understand why Washington couldn't wait to get home. 

Can you imagine if this were your backyard?

Yes mom, yes we can, and we wish we lived here too!

Washington and his wife, Martha, are buried on the grounds of Mount Vernon.

A glimpse of the tomb.

There is a museum dedicated to Washington at Mt. Vernon. We could have easily spent an entire day in there. I learned more about that great man than I ever knew. I have since forgotten all I learned, but I do remember it was fascinating. 

Ask Jefferson, I'm sure he remembers every fact. 

We're starting to look a little worn-out.

 Our last stop of the vacation was at Arlington National Cemetery. 

We took the bus tour through the grounds. The plus side was that we didn't have to walk miles and miles through the grounds. The down side was that it was difficult to take pictures or look closely at any of the grave stones.

The Eternal Flame

The amount of grave stones was overwhelming, and sombering. The cemetery covers 624 acres of land and there are an average of 30 funerals each day. There is really no suitable way to describe our visit without destroying its reverence. 

The most emotion could be felt while visiting the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. There are actually close to 5,000 unknown soldiers buried at the cemetery and this is a memorial to them.

The inscription reads: Here rests in honored glory An American Soldier Known but to God

The tomb is guarded 24 hours and day, 365 days a year.

 I wasn't sure we would make it through the changing of the guards, but Kennedy was surprisingly silent for a good 30 minutes while watching.  

The truly interesting part came when we visited the Arlington House. The house belonged to Robert E. Lee before it became a cemetery. 

Wait a second.... wasn't Robert E. Lee the general of the Confederate Army?

My thoughts exactly. 

Robert E. Lee was married to Mary Custis, the great-granddaughter of Martha Custis (the wife of George Washington). Did you get all that? I took this picture of the family tree because I found it too interesting to forget!

Mary and Robert lived in the house for 3 decades.

Here is where things got really good. 

President Lincoln offered Robert E. Lee command of the Union army. He needed to think about this decision when he heard that Virginia was succeeding. Virginia was his native home and he felt a duty to it. This is a picture of his bedroom where he paced back and forth, back and forth all night. The family sat downstairs listening to his footsteps pounding on the ceiling above them, unsure what his decision would be. 

On the morning of April 20, 1861 he wrote a letter of resignation to the US Army and left to join the Confederacy. He was quoted saying that he could not "raise my hand against my relatives, my children, my home."

To make sure the Lee family never returned, unknown soldiers were ordered to be buried on the property. Along the border of Mrs. Lee's rose garden in fact. They never did return, as we know, and the government continued to use it as a cemetery.

I find its history fascinating, and ironic. You can't tell from the picture, but the view from Robert's upstairs window looks out to the Lincoln Memorial, and thousands of soldiers who fought against him in the Civil War. 

The boys getting down and dirty with their Jr. Ranger books. 

My mom and Kennedy running through Mrs. Lee's garden. 

And that's all folks. The end of our vacation. Did you enjoy your mini history lesson?

It was 9 days of pure history excitement. We were in Heaven. There are a few things I wish we could have done, but I realize there was no way possible to squeeze them in. In fact today Jefferson said to me, "mom, we really should have gone to Ft. McHenry, we were so close." I know Jefferson. We drove right by it! And I had to cover my eyes and hum to distract myself from crying. 

We learned a heck of a lot too. Look at all these Jr. Ranger Badges. These suckers are time consuming and involve quite a bit of effort. I'm so proud of my kids for completing them all.

Where to next?

Summer Vacation–Day 8

Happy 4th of July!
We will never forget this day.
This is the day that we went completely insane. I was to blame, of course, for leading everyone to  believe spending July 4th in Washington DC was a good idea. 
The day itself was borderline hellish. But the beauty of memories is that over time you can shape them to be different than they actually were. 
Moments don’t necessary seem so awful anymore… and can actually become fun memories.

I read a ridiculous amount of blogs, news articles, and comments about the best way to navigate DC on the 4th. The best time to arrive, things to do, where to sit, which Metro train to leave from, etc. I was totally prepared.

And yet, I wasn’t.
I shouldn’t have listened to any of the advice.

We woke up early and arrived at the National Mall 30 minutes early to wait for it to open. Once it opened, we headed to the Lincoln Memorial to plopped ourselves down under a nice shade tree. It was going to be a long day and we wanted to be comfortable. In hindsight, we should have saved sightseeing the monuments for this day. Because we had already seen them all, there wasn’t much for us to do except play games and run around on the grass.

At 11 we walked several blocks up the road to watch the Independence Day Parade.
Jefferson and Reagan waiting for it to begin
   

It started out exciting, with soldiers from every branch of the Government marching.
”What are those?” “What are those?” “What are those?” I would ask Shawn every time a new group walked by.
I think these are Marines? Am I right? 

They even had the Colonial soldiers.


From there the parade went down hill. It just wasn’t what I expected of an Independence parade at our Nations capital. Was I expecting a Macy’s day parade? No. But maybe something a bit more lively. But I kept a cheery smile and tried to enthuse the kids every time another car came by with a random logo on the side. We saw our fair share of high school bands. I think every state was represented.

My favorite was the bike riders.
Check out this 7-seater

I genuinely feel like I need one of these

and one of these

Spotting these guys made it all worth it for my boys! Tonto is walking next to the horse.

We headed back to our picnic blanket and had lunch.
Fireworks were beginning at 9:10pm…. we had a LONG wait ahead of us.

Our campsite (I’m going to call it that because we were there for 12 hours, which qualifies as ‘camping’), was near the base of Lincoln’s staircase. Which is also where a minister of some church propped his speaker system and proceeded to proselyte to the people ALL DAY LONG! I had sermons and scriptures ringing in my ears for hours. Once he would stop talking, his friend would pick up where he left off, so there was absolutely no break in the speaking. I was being driven mad.

My kids did surprisingly well. They ran around the Lincoln Memorial all day long, like they owned the place. We played games. And even took some naps.
 

And in the meantime, the crowds got bigger, and bigger, and BIGGER!
Maybe it was better we had been the 1st ones to arrive. If we had come later in the evening and seen this spectacle, I would have turned and run for the hills. Un-believable!

There were moments when I caught myself saying, “what the heck are we doing.” And my mom even suggested a few times that we just go home.

But we couldn’t. This was a once in a lifetime experience!
And by golly we were going to enjoy it.
Plus, once you invest 9+ hours into something, you just have to follow through.

And, who doesn’t love spending all day running around the National Mall? Kennedy sure did.

 

It was crowded everywhere. Check out the Washington monument across the water pool. The hillside was packed!


Here we are, being lunatics!
At this point my kids could no longer run around. We were trapped inside. No one was coming in, and no one was getting out!

Within moments, it got dark. The 12 hours seemed like it had been only 3 or 4.
People everywhere began to stand, and any empty cement area was filled in with more and more people.

It was almost silent.
And we waited.
And waited.
The sea of smartphones all pointed to the sky. 
Until BAM! 
There’s always a few seconds time between the first blast and the remaining show. I think they put that pause in there so that the spectators can shout and holler.
Everyone erupted.  
Then the show continued. BAM! BAM! BAM!

It was the most Patriotic moment of my life. Sitting there, silently, with thousands of other American’s, watching the 4th of July Fireworks at the base of the monuments representing the Presidents who made this Country successful.
The couple sitting right behind us had just recently been granted citizenship. This was their first 4th of July as American’s.
It had been a long day.
But this moment made it worth it. Grant was captivated. 
 

Sitting where we were, we were the closest people to the fireworks. We were being completely engulfed by them.
I only took a couple pictures, and they certainly don’t capture the moment well. I wasn’t about to spoil the experience by peering through my camera. I wanted to live it, so I sat like Grant, with my mouth gaping open.
 

Oh, I just got so carried away in re-shaping this memory that I neglected to mention where Shawn was.
That’s right. He wasn’t even with us to watch the show. Minutes…no seconds before the fireworks began, Kennedy woke up screaming. Bloody Murder! And she could not be consoled, and she was burning up. We considered all leaving. But that would have been a tragedy.
So Shawn offered to take her away from the crowds. Our plan was the leave during the finale, meet him, then head to the Metro.
So that’s what we did.
We saw only 12 minutes of the 17 minute show. We all stood up, held each other’s hands, and walked single-file out of the crowds. I made a LOT of people angry that night trying to maneuver through them.    
We high-tailed it out of the park and ran, literally RAN down the several blocks to the station. I had my kids run backwards while I held their hands so they could watch the finale. The show as over, and those thousands of people were heading to the station (and some faster than us).
Once we got there, we stood in line and waited. We were at the front, waiting to get on the next train that arrived.
The problem was that we were at a station further along the pathway home. Meaning that once it arrived at us, it was already PACKED with people who had gotten on before us.
As soon as the doors opened, the people said “we have no room.” But, I had to get my sick baby home, so I charged into the train (with Grant). There was no room to place my feet, let alone take a breath of fresh air.

After 6 stops, we made it home.
The rest of the family arrived on the train right after. They were embarrassed to tell me that after Grant and I had shoved onto a full train, they breezily got onto the next. The Metro had supplied them with an empty train to ease the crowds. Well, weren’t they lucky.

What an ordeal!
Would I do it again. NO!

But we officially have bragging rights to have seen the 4th of July Fireworks at Lincoln’s feet.
And that alone made it worth it.

If you are ever crazy enough to go, do not do what we did. Spend a day in the city doing whatever it is you like. Then, around 8:45pm arrive at the Mall. This gives you just enough time to walk to a spot and stand through the show. Then, when it’s over, stick around. Go see the monuments in the dark, while everyone else flees towards the Metro.

Summer Vacation–Day 7

It’s been a month since I last posted, and 2 months since our vacation… the one I’m documenting.
This is a daunting task.
I’m loosing my enthusiasm.
But for the sake of my posterity, I will continue.

Day 7 we made our first stop at Ford’s Theater. This was the infamous place where Lincoln was shot.
Below the theater is a museum packed with information and artifacts. There was too much to see and read in the amount of time they give you. There is actually a countdown clock that limits your stay in the museum. They have to make room for the next group.
We raced around finding answers to the kids Jr. Ranger booklets, which by the way were the hardest we’ve ever had!

I need to see about getting a copy of this poster for Grant. It’s actually a song. I listened to it online and considered downloading it. It was too weird. 
 

Here is Lincoln. In his actual size… very tall. 

And here he is in the actual clothing he wore the night of April 14, 1865. It still has a blood stain on the collar too, which makes it seem so real. 
Obviously is was real, but it just hit me more when I saw the blood.  


The Philadelphia Deringer that John Wilkes Booth used to shoot Lincoln.

Booth was successful in killing the President in a well thought out attack. He worked in the theater and was familiar with the people there. No one thought twice about he walking right up to the box. He propped the door shut so no one could enter, then waited. He knew the performance being played that night, and knew the exact moment the punch-line would be delivered and the audience would be roaring with laughter. He took that exact moment to shoot the President.
He didn’t necessarily have a well thought out escape though. He figured he could run to the South and be welcomed as a hero. Instead he was found and burned.
 

This was the exact location of the theater, but not the furnishings. The theater eventually closed down and turned into office buildings. Finally someone got the great idea to turn it into a National Park and rebuild the theater.
Here are my kids receiving their Jr. Ranger badges. This Ranger drilled my kids. She wasn’t just giving these badges away.
“Who stabbed Secretary of State William Seard on the night of April 14, 1865”
”What is the name of the Doctor that cared for Booth’s broken leg as he fled through Southern Maryland”
”Name 3 people who aided Booth in his crime”

Those are actual questions she asked them!
And they answered right. Crazy kids. Do you know the answers?

Across the street was the Peterson house where Lincoln was laid to rest and eventually died.


The perfectly intact room where he died
 

We were starving by the time we finished our tour. Right across the street we spotted a Hard Rock Café.
One of the few pictures of ALL of us. 

Next stop… National Archives.

We put Shawn’s military ID to good use and were able to just walk in a side door, bypassing the huge line wrapping around the building in the front.
I felt so official.
There was no photography inside. But we took our time examining the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and the Constitution.
My favorite part was spotting the spelling errors in the documents.

This is the closest we got to the Capital. Shameful, I know. This means we didn’t even get to see General Grant’s memorial, which was a must-see stop for Grant.
They were setting up for the July 4th Concert and we didn’t even want to attempt walking nearby.

We spent some time in the Air and Space Museum.
It honestly didn’t interest my family. My mom was enthralled. So, we split up.  
 

Eventually we all ended up just sitting on the floor of the museum… arm wrestling.
I’m telling you, we found it boring. 

Smithsonian Castle


I sort of fell in love with this strange plant. I was hypnotized by its thorns. They were everywhere.

The museum of American History

I think we could have really enjoyed our visit here, if we hadn’t been dead tired!
They had the original Star Spangled Banner flag in the museum, but one look at the line and I turned away.
This was my highlight of the museum, an old 7eleven ad.
 

The kids liked the original Harry Potter costume worn in the movie.
True American History, right here.

After going home for dinner, and resting, Shawn and I took the boys out at night to visit the Jefferson Memorial.
We just drove right up and parked. There were hardly any people, the weather was cooler, and the lighted monuments were beautiful. Which made me regret not seeing all of DC after dark. Next trip.


Running around the pillars


On our way back to the car Grant spotted something glowing. Fireflies. We’ve never seen them before, so we were obviously excited. People walking by probably thought we were lunatics.
Which we are.