Washington DC- Day 4

Mount Vernon-

"First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen"

Our last day in DC was spent in Mount Vernon.  What an awesome house and property!  It was fascinating  learning more about George Washington and seeing how much he was admired and revered as the founder of our country.  I loved the artifacts that his home has, everything from his original bed, wallpaper, to his dentures!  His home is not owned by the government but by the Mount Vernon Ladies Association who bought it back in the 1800's.  The security isn't as tight as a government owned property but still no pictures were allowed to be taken inside.

George and Martha's view of the Potomac River from their back porch

I really liked the weather vane that was on the house, it is called the Dove of Peace.

Tomb of George and Martha

Washington DC Temple-

After we were done visiting Mount Vernon we had some time.  I really wanted to see the DC temple but transportation to the temple without a car on a Saturday is very limited.  We found out that if we took the Metro to the very last stop that we would be about 1.75 miles from the temple.  We figured we could just walk the rest of the way.  On the way there, I found a form online saying, "Trying to walk to the DC temple from the Metro? Not a good idea."  My mom and Katie decided to heed that warning and turned around.  Laura and I decided we were up for the adventure.  True to the advice on that website, it is NOT a good idea to walk to the temple.  Our adventure took us through sketchy neighborhoods, no sidewalks, busy roads, and blind corners, but we did in fact make it!  It is so pretty and like most temples I am trying to see while on vacation, it was closed for cleaning.

Here I am sweating profusely from my walk.  We were afraid that it was going to get dark and the last thing we wanted was to be walking in an unfamiliar place in the dark, so we walked FAST!

Monuments at NIGHT!

Every tour book you read tells you that you need to see the monuments at night, all lit up.  After our "small walk" to the temple we decided to take yet another walking tour through the monuments at night and get our last minute souvenirs.  The weather was really nice the entire time we were in DC but right has we started our night walk it started raining.  A little rain couldn't scare us away!  There was an outdoor concert from a rapper taking place that night, we got a concert and a show all in one.

After our walking tour of the monuments Laura and I made it back to our hotel room late.  The monuments are really breath taking and beautiful.  I couldn't let my mom and Katie leave DC without seeing them. So I created some mandatory family fun.  Katie and Mom needed to at least see the WWII monument all lit up. They weren't sure that getting out of bed and going downtown was fun at 11 pm but I assured them, that it definitely was FUN and most importantly mandatory.

Mom enjoying the "Mandatory Family Fun" on the Metro at 1 am

Proof of the "fun"

The next morning we were up at 4 am to catch our flight home.  We were a "bit tired" but what an awesome time!! Our flight took us home by way of Wisconsin.  Mom was the only one who would put on the cheese hat.