We have found it. THE best deal in Washington

The house is on a hill, overlooking the potomac.  not a bad view...

This is what we were told last weekend when we bought our 'season passes' to mt. vernon.  They are good for 1 year.  This may seem ridiculous considering we will only live here at most, another 3 months but, it is a good deal! $15 for 1 visit or $25 for a season pass. Our 3rd visit will be free! (technically, the end of our 2nd visit was free but whose counting)

part of vegetable garden

There is so many things to see and do here that I am glad that we didn't pack it all into 1 day since it is getting rather warm here (I truly thought I was escaping the heat and humidity when we left florida but I was sadly mistaken).  There is the mansion tour,  garden tour (there are about 3 gardens in total- and they are BIG gardens), a pioneer farm,  museum, nature trail and of course, George and Martha's crypt.

pioneer farm

  At the crypt, Ed tried to ask the employee who was assumably standing there to answer questions, if the tomb had ever been vandalized or broken-in to or if there had ever been guards to watch over the tomb.  He proceeded to stare at Ed like he was trying to "get the scoop" on what the security was like at Mt. Vernon before telling Ed that he could wave hello to the security who were watching, at all times, via camera.  Seriously!  Is that such a crazy question to ask?? There was a civil war that was fought all around Mt. vernon after washington's death.  Isn't that what crazy people do? Break into famous people's crypts and steal from or vandalize them?  I think the guard probably should have been more worried about the women who came up after us and yelled into the crypt "Hi, martha, Hi george, How are ya'll doing in there?"  Crazy, I think yes.

We still haven't seen Washington's famous teeth...next time though.  Maybe next weekend...Ed? 

Are you in? 

Relaxing by the water

Ed and I on the Nature trail

my longest bike ride ever

which direction is mt. vernon?

 For the past month or so, we have been taking our bikes to school, weather permitting.  At first, it was terrible!  Dodging people on the sidewalks, riding between cars on the street, lack of bike riding muscles, big hills coming home from school during the hottest part of the day... Slowly, but surely though, it has been getting better.  Sooo, today, we set out on our greatest bike riding quest yet.

watching the jets land @ reagan

full bike rack at mt. vernon

 Between Arlington and Mt. Vernon, there is an 18 mile bike trail along the Potomac, called the Mt. Vernon trail. It goes past the foot of the Reagan National Airport runway, through Old Town Alexandria and ends at George Washington's home, Mt Vernon.  We left home at 8 am, so as to beat some of the 'traffic' and heat. It took about 2 hours to get down there and was around 19 miles total.  We had a snack with friendly squirrel who, oddly enough, had many of the same mannerisms as scout the beagle.  After spending about 2 hours seeing more of the sights at Mt. Vernon (more on this tomorrow), we hit the trail to finish our last 19 miles.  

Old Town Alexandria

mt vernon trail

The military community that Ed works in is a small, small world because when we were coming back through alexandria, Ed picked out an former colleague from eglin who was on the opposite side of the road, going the opposite direction. He did not even realize this guy was living in DC! So we chatted with him for a bit before continuing on our merry way.   Since getting home, I have been exhausted.  Too much sun, too little water.  I don't feel sore, but we will see about that tomorrow!  I guess I have proven myself to be an okay long distance biker because Ed is now planning our tour of Denmark, on bike. :)