Mount Vernon

7-26-08

Today Bob and I went to Mount Vernon. We spent the whole day and had a wonderful time. We arrived about 9:30 am, got our tickets and went straight to the house. There was a line to get in. They only let about 25 people in at a time. We waited about 10 or 15 minutes.

First they take you through the servant quarters. This was for the servants and the "guest" servants when they arrived with their bosses--who, of course, were guests of George and Martha Washington. After a short talk in there by a guide, they send your group to the next stop, the large dining room. It is very well organized-with small groups in each section at a time, the guides can explain what you are seeing in that room and there aren't so many people that you can't see and you're not getting pushed and shoved.

After the tour of the house you can tour the grounds. It is beautiful. Of course it's right on the Potomac and you can see Maryland.

When we bought our tickets for Mount Vernon, we also bought tickets for the 1:00 "National Treasure 2" tour. We were able to see where they filmed the Mount Vernon parts of the movie.We also learned that Randy Travis wasn't originally meant to be in the movie. He just happened to be in DC at the time they were shooting at Mount Vernon and got hin to do the scene at the President's birthday.

We highly recommend seeing Mount Vernon for anyone who is planning a visit to the DC area. But--get there early! We only waited about 10 or 15 minutes to get into the house. By the time we went to the meeting spot at 1:00 for our tour the line was extremely long and the people must have waited in the heat for at least an hour.

We left around 3 and headed to the new National Harbor. It is an area in Oxon Hill, MD that is built up much like the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. It has a harbor, hotels, restaurants and shops. Or at least will have shops and supposedly more restaurants. They are still building it. What we saw of it was beautiful, though. I'd like to go back once it's complete. They do have a visitor's center that shows a model of what it will look like when finished.

They do have a big parking garage.

We were tired when we got home, but a good tired. It was a great day!

We decided to watch "National Treasure: Book of Secrets." We did that after going to Philadelphia--watched the first movie. It's fun to see the movie once you've been to a site they used for filming.

The road you take to get to Mount Vernon is a beautiful drive itself. It is a big park with a wonderful trail for bikers, walkers, runners, dog walkers and so on. They have parking lots at various locations along the way and lots of picnic tables. People were fishing, kayaking, canoeing. It looks like a wonderful place to live. Those people who live in that area are very lucky.

One note I'd like to add about Mount Vernon: For anyone who cannot walk a lot and especially for anyone who cannot do a lot of uphill walking, you may need to restrict yourself to just doing the main house, the nearby buildings and the gardens.