Day 3 Mt. Vernon and DC

We woke up knowing that the day was going to present us rain at some point and cooler weather. Due to this we made some itinerary decisions. We chose to head down to Mt. Vernon, George Washington's house today so weren't outside all day tomorrow. 

We started the morning with a quick stop at the Marine Corp War Memorial. More commonly known as the Iwo Jima Memorial. This memorial is dedicated to all marines who lost their lives in battle. 

We arrived at Mt. Vernon, George Washington's residence. At the entrance we were greeted by the Washingtons. 

 The entrance to the mansion was sorta ugly. One of those things that happens when the place is being renovated. We got in really quick and that allowed us to spend time walking around the plantation. This was also the first time ever we were allowed to take pictures inside the mansion!

The Social Room inside the mansion. 

Walking behind the mansion.

 Ascending the stairs inside.

 A dining room inside.

 A Couple bedrooms upstairs.

 The actual bed that George Washington died in on December 14, 1799.

 Desk Washington used while he was President. 

 The "fancy" kitchen at Mt. Vernon.

 The view from behind the mansion. Looking out over the Potomac River and Maryland.

 Looking at the Old Tomb where Washington, his wife, and many other family members were entombed.

 In his will, Washington instructed that a new tomb be built because the old one was small and needed repairs. 

George Washington

George and Martha weren't supposed to be out on display but when they completed the new tomb and built their marble sarcophagus they were too big to fit back inside. So outside they stay. 

 A neat thing to do at Mt. Vernon is walk down to the wharf. Here you can stand with your back foot in Maryland and your front foot is stepping in Virginia. Always fun.

 Relaxing at the Potomac.

Snowing in the 4K movie!

 George Washington's teeth!!!!! They are made of horse, human, and ivory.

The irony

A little lunch before continuing our day.

 On our way up to the Capitol Building, Aunty Fiona and Rochelle hitched a ride.

 The most popular statue in the Capitol is King Kamehameha's statue. Pretty cool!

 Just like senators, each state is allowed to have two statues to represent their state in the Capitol Building.

I love this part of the tour. Like clockwork we're told our other statue, Saint Damien, is in a part of the building that we don't normally go to. But our guide would see what he could do. And of course, we get to because the guide will "hook us up."

 Inside the rotunda

 We then walked under a tunnel over to the Library of Congress.

 Don't mess with her!

 Then it was on to the World War II Memorial. The Washington Monument is right next to it as well.

 Hawaii!

 Each star represents 100 American soldiers that were killed during the Second World War. There are 4,000 stars! Over 400,000 Americans were killed during the war. Crazy. 

 Then it was down to the Dr. Martin Luther King JR. Memorial. This is designed from his I Have a Dream speech. He said, "Out of a mountain of despair, a stone of hope." The back part is the mountain of despair. The part broken away with MLK on it is the stone of hope.

 Down to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. There are four rooms representing the four terms FDR was elected too. Below you see the Great Depression era. The students are in line for bread.

 At FDR it started to rain like we were assuming it was going to do earlier in the day. As you can see, some were more prepared than others! Smart move!

 The last memorial of the day was the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial. It was raining which kinda fits the mood when you go to a place like this. The memorial itself is beautifully designed. Each bench has a name on it representing that person that lost their life that day. If you see the name of the person, look up, and see the Pentagon, they were in the Pentagon. If you see the name, look up, and see the sky, that person was in the plane that day. The benches are also designed as flights that never landed, which is why they jut out and don't go back to the ground. 

And that was our day. We are fully expecting it to rain tomorrow with the highs most likely in the 50s! Tomorrow is our last day in Washington, D.C. Then, we are going to hop back in our bus with Jamal and head north to Philadelphia!

Best compliment we heard today was from somebody saying, "you were very good representatives of your community." Always so nice to hear these things. Kids are doing great, excited to learn from all of our experts, give good and funny answers, and are getting along quite well.