Virginia Day 5...

So, day five leaves us heading further north in Virginia (and a wee bit closer to home - see my plan here?) to Mount Vernon.  After of course, more bad GPS directions, we found ourselves at the home of George Washington himself.

After a quick walk through the visitor center....

....we headed outside to tour the grounds....

The greenery on the veranda looks painted, but I assure you it's very real, and historically correct. Most verandas at the time had archways only in the front, as to not see the servants walking back and forth to the main house.  But, Washington knew he had a beautiful view and opted to leave them open front to back.

Behind the kitchen workers were excavating the grounds to see how they would have used this area prior to the building being built. So far all they had discovered was a drainage pipe.

The stables were oddly enough, just as beautiful as the home...

Even the view from the manure shed was beautiful...

Eventually we headed down to the old vault, where I found this sign.  For days the last line bothered me, as I felt it should read "The Washingtons were moved to the new Tomb" but Janie Junebug (my personal queen of grammar) assures me it's correct.  So I let it go...

...and we made it to the New Tomb, where Washington and his wife lay in the marble coffins just behind the bars.  An additional 25 (?) relatives of the Washington family lay within the tomb behind them.

After the tomb, we headed down to the waterfront to the dock in which Washington would receive guests via ship...

From the waterfront we headed down past the gardens to the 16 sided barn where Washington had developed a process in which he could harvest and mill wheat for sale and trade.  The gardens are currently worked and grow vegetables known to have grown at the time Washington was alive.  The harvest then goes to the kitchen or is given to the employees to take home.  Oddly enough though, when I asked what happened to the tobacco being grown, and no one seemed to know what happened to it once it was harvested.

Now, even though Tony could have spent six more hours here, asking questions like what the box was in the corner of the dining room (Washington's traveling liqueur cabinet), and marveling at all the paintings (originals from Washington's time) and take a ferry ride on the Potomac, alas we had more places to be.

Back in the car we headed for Chantilly, VA and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.  We had been to the one in DC so I was interested in seeing the differences between the two.

For starters, they have an observation deck from which you can see for miles....

The view was quite amazing...

...and ironically of the real control tower at Dulles Airport.

The inside exhibits were amazing and featured planes, torpedoes, helicopters and air and space memorabilia from every decade....

But perhaps the most amazing display was the actual space shuttle Challenger....

The sheer size and my ability to get so close was amazing to me.  The kids were wowed by some of the exhibits, but particularly loved the 3-D motion rides and flight simulators.  This is also where my camera decided to die, so I have no more pictures.  But if you're ever in the area, I HIGHLY recommend this center, and you can't beat the price (FREE admission, but $14 to park)

So, with our day coming close to an end (and thunderclouds rolling in), we headed to the Marriott hotel in Sterling for our final night before heading home.  

The hotel was beautiful and clearly catered to business travelers, as the boys and I were the only ones in the pool. Had it not been raining outside, we'd have likely claimed territory fireside in the outdoor courtyard, but with heavy down pours, we decided to take over the round couches in the restaurant downstairs, and relax with a bite to eat and some good old fashioned Batman.

Our trip home began at 5 am.  We stopped around 9am for a real breakfast at an off highway diner.  Our stupid GPS took us through NYC via the George Washington Bridge (top level), only delaying our ETA 20 minutes which I was thrilled with, but Tony was less than enthralled.  We made a final pit stop in Providence at Dave and Busters for food and arcade fun, and then hit home around 3. 

And there you have it, MA to VA in 5 days.  I enjoyed it a lot, and loved that I could finally give the boys a real road trip experience with their grandparents, like I had with my grandparents when I was young.  But going forward, I think my maximum time in the car is 6 hours.

Which of course, my sister has already planned for next year.

Anyone want to join us in Lake George?