Well today began a two day whirlwind of tours of former President’s homes. Not in the RV, but we flew up to National Airport this morning, visited the Budget lot, and made our way to Mt. Vernon. This is the home of our first President and Father of the country: George Washington.

It was the first time the Little CurbCrusher has visited Mt. Vernon. Lady CurbCrusher and I visited back in 95 or 96. There were a number of changes that were evident. First was the big Ford Orientation Center.  There is a new 18 minute movie that discusses the events surrounding the crossing of the Delaware during the Revolutionary War, and an account of his actions at the rout of General Braddock’s force in the French-Indian war in 1755.

We followed this with a walk around the grounds. Once you view the movie, you are pretty much free to organize the rest of your day at Mt. Vernon. We worked our way around the grounds clockwise, visiting the Upper Gardens, the Greenhouse, the Slave Quarters and a visit with Mrs. Washington. One of the volunteers was playing Mrs. Washington in the Little Theater, and stayed in character as a 1780’s individual throughout the visit. At this point we we just about to the Mansion, and the line to get in was all the way back to the end of the Bowling Green. So we skipped and went on a looked at the Stables, the Original and New Tombs and the Pioneer Farm. When we got back after taking the Forest Trail about an hour of so later the line was practically gone. Part of the reason was that there were a number of school groups on the grounds that were trying to get everything done in time to go home. By waiting until after lunch, we were able to miss the congestion they caused at the Mansion.

We finished the trip with a visit to the new Musuem. The Musuem houses a number of artifacts that were used by the Washington’s at Mt. Vernon. In addition there is a clay bust of Washington, along with a video of how the bust was made
We left Mt. Vernon headed for Charlottesville so we could visit Monticello tomorrow. There is not anything pleasant to say about driving the 90 some miles from Mt. Vernon to Charlottesville. The drive took about three hours. The first half of the trip was the 30 miles on I-95 down to Fredricksburg. It was between 3 and 4 in the afternoon, and it was bumper to bumper averaging about 30 miles an hour. As we approached Charlottesville on US29 from North a little after 5 PM, the traffic headed north on US29 was backed up for miles. I’m definitely glad I’m just visiting.