As I belatedly write this blog and try to get caught up on it, now a month after this trip, I appreciate having seen Washington DC and Mount Vernon and other historic sites such as Gettysburg before the government "shutdown." What a nasty business that has become--with the National Park Service (under orders from the Obama administration) unnecessarily closing down open air monuments with barricades and even trying to close the parking lot at Mount Vernon, despite the fact that Mount Vernon is privately owned.
It wasn't very crowded at Mount Vernon on the day of our visit. We drove the George Washington Parkway to get there, toured the house without a wait, and then relaxed on the back porch, overlooking the Potomac. A different Martha Washington was in residence here, but there wasn't much time to listen in on her presentation, as I was anxious to be part of the tour on the topic of slavery at Mount Vernon. A lady in our group unfortunately felt compelled to give her two cents throughout the tour, including telling our tour guide that she should not use the word "slaves", but instead say "enslaved people." I asked the lady just what the distinction was, but didn't get a good answer.
Mount Vernon has an absolutely terrific visitors' center. It's a nice mix of displays and video presentations, including a clever one about George Washington and espionage in the days of the Revolution. There is even a film with shaking seats (during the battle scenes) and snow falling on the audience. We enjoyed that visitors' center so much that we ultimately were the last ones to leave at the end of the day.
 |
| George Washington's back yard with the Potomac River |
 |
| Mount Vernon |
After Mount Vernon, we went to check out Old Town Alexandria and ate at the Mai Thai restaurant there, where we could watch some sailboats from the second floor window. The menu was marked with little chili peppers to indicate how hot each dish was. I chose something called Ka-Pow with three chilis after asking our waitress, named Boom, if it would be terribly hot. She said it was hot, but "not crazy hot." Well, it WAS crazy hot, but I enjoyed it anyway, and plenty of ice water. Perhaps I should have known to be more cautious, considering that Boom was serving me Ka-Pow!
We walked around Alexandria after the sun went down, and tried to match the old buildings to their historic owners. We found the home of Henry (Lighthorse Harry) Lee, father of Robert E. Lee. Lighthorse Harry is famous in his own right for his role in the Revolutionary War, and also as the man who eulogized George Washington as being "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen."
No comments:
Post a Comment