Hanging out with the other George W.

I know I said a couple of days ago that you probably didn't want to hear about how I've spent my quiet (knocking on wood) week but too bad!! Yesterday was spent shopping and today was such a pretty day that I knew I had to do something outside. I thought about going to Harper's Ferry but I didn't want to deal with the traffic and I had to be back to town by 5:15pm for a meeting at church. So I decided to hit the attraction in my backyard (figuratively speaking), Mount Vernon. I had been there about 8 years ago during the Christmas season but it was cold. And today's weather was absolutely perfect!! Of course I had to dodge every 8th grader from the state of Nevada, a group of Mormon boys and an obnoxious guy who seemed to be alone but was telling the crowd that he was a self-taught expert on George Washington. He claimed to be a descendant of George's brother or something like that. But then after looking at George's family tree, I think I could make somewhat of the same argument. I saw a family name on my mom's side as the same as George's youngest brother's fifth wife! But whatever. It was an extremely enjoyable afternoon!!

They have done a fantastic job with the new museum and I highly recommend it! I learned more than I ever thought was possible about America's first George W. (as the President likes to joke EVERY time he mentions him) and was just impressed overall with the museum. They have created the most true-to-life looking version of the first president which is really cool and really does look real!! It was interesting when I thought about all the ways that Washington influenced the presidency. But my main reason for going was that I wanted to walk through the gardens and enjoy the outdoors. However, I also made the decision to break in a new pair of shoes from yesterday's shopping spree and after four hours, my feet were not cooperating for me to see all of the grounds. But there's good news. For only $5 more, I could purchase an annual pass so I only need to go to Mount Vernon one more time before I get my money's worth. So anyone coming to visit me in the next 365 days might be forced to go visit our founding father's home!

Random thoughts of my visit to George's home:

* The "necessary", which is Washington's version of a portapotty, was much much nicer than what we had in Jamestown. But who am I to complain. Our founding fathers really did have it pretty rough! That whole Revolutionary War thing kind of puts things into perspective!

*One of the best parts was watching one of the eighth graders from Nevada running into a glass display case sooo hard it knocked her out. I tried not to laugh but it WAS SOOOO funny!! I'm not that cruel- she was able to stand up and eventually walk away!

*I was only mistaken for an eighth grader twice and only found myself mixed up with an Asian tour group once. I was never, however, mistaken for a Morman (I didn't have a bike helmet or a white shirt with a nametag. That helped! :) )