Washington DC-Day 3

This day, we headed to Mt. Vernon to see the house of George Washington. It was neat to see firsthand, and a bit hard to believe that we were walking through the very house that George Washington lived in! We were also able to see George Washington's grave (which is above ground). After walking around Mt. Vernon, we headed to Annapolis to see the U.S. Naval Academy (Judah's request), then the Maryland State House. We ended our day with dinner on the Chesapeake Bay. The day started out nice, but ended colder and rainy, so it was a good day to do a little more driving around.

Mt. Vernon

I can't remember the exact percentage, but the vast majority of the mansion is still original!

This is something called "rustication". It's a technique designed to make a wooden house appear to be constructed from stone.The siding was painted and sand was thrown onto the wet paint, creating a rough sand-like texture. Here you can see the wood underneath.

View of the Potomac River behind the mansion.

This apparently is referred to as the "ha ha wall", which is a sunken stone wall where it's top is level with the garden and a deep ditch on the other side. We were told it was called a ha ha wall because kids would run, not see the drop off, and fall as a result (ha ha). 

There were baby sheep on the estate!

This was the original resting place (the Old Tomb) where George and Martha were buried. Judah was creeped out.

George and Martha now rest in the "New Tomb"

These rocks and little nature treasures were the bain of our existence while at Mt. Vernon. If one person found a "cool" rock, then the others were upset until they found a cool rock. And then if someone had more than one cool rock, there would be no rest until they all had more than one cool rock. You see where I'm going with this. And then it was utter tragedy when one child misplaced their "favorite" rock, and mommy had to search for a replacement favorite rock. I had no idea this would be such a problem, but I am happy to report that said rocks made it back home and have now been utterly forgotten.

Fort Washington-We didn't stop here, but we drove by.

This is the chapel where John Paul Jones is buried 

John Paul Jones' tomb

Maryland State House: This once served as the nation's Capitol. It was also here that George Washington resigned from his position as general from the Continental Army. 

This was the room where George Washington made his resignation speech. Asher gives it a thumbs up.

This is the Old House of Delegates chamber

Off to dinner and back to the apartment to rest up for another day of fun tomorrow. :)