History Nerds UNITE! Mount Vernon Trip

OK, so yesterday we take a long anticipated trip to Mount Vernon--you know, George Washington's home. OK, George Washington was our nation's first president. Al, are you with me on this one? So far so good? OK. So, we went there--since we had nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon and it is only 15 minutes from our apartment. Actually we've been wanting to go see it since we got here...yeah, we're history nerds at heart. Did I mention that Holly is in the middle of reading the biographies of all the U.S. Presidents...in order?

So after we get there we get hit up with $38.00 for admissions. Now, I guess I've gotten a bit spoiled with all the free stuff in D.C. but $38.00 seemed a bit steep. And, that wasn't even the "go to the front of the line" gold Disney pass either...that was the "wait 35 minutes before you even go into the house line".

But, the grounds are beautiful, lots of fun things going on--like a whole tent village recreated with authentic "crafts people" selling their wares. There was one dude, had to be in his late 50's--almost Charley Hughes age--who was dressed up as a beggar...complete with real "rat in a cage". No kidding. The guy is so committed to his part that he went out and raised a rat to be comfortable in an iron-bar cage. THAT is the type of experience you get for $38.00.

They had all kinds of people who decided it would be fun to dress up in authentic period garb and parade around the grounds and do things. Here is a prime example of a couple that decided to be French foreign dignitaries who were there to see George Washington...again, I can't make this stuff up. Again, I'll make the connection to Walt Disney World...no Goofy, Daffy, Mickey, we had these two, and about 40-100 others just like them. Random guys who were playing "eligible bachelors" strolling around the grounds randomly. MY guess is that they aren't really married in real life either and are waiting for one day for a girl to tell them SHE'S always wanted to do something like that, especially with her doctoral degree in late 1700's U.S. History. Bachelor dudes...ZERO, reality...INFINITY.

There were other whole troops of guys playing solider too. That was kind of neat, I'll admit. Especially when they all got together and lowered their muskets and fired into the crowd of tourists. Seriously, they did. Sacred the living pa-doo-doo out of the kids. A day later, our daughter still just about shakes when we bring up the soldiers. FYI, muskets, not easy or fast to reload. Honestly, one guy with a MAC-11 could have taken out most of the Continental Army in the first battle. Man oh man, I'm glad the British didn't invent time travel.


Of course the wifey was there to see the gardens. Thankfully there were only about 150 acres of those to see. There was a lot of THIS going on with the kids (OK, so even I learned a thing or two about gardening--and the names of about 35 kinds of flowers, shrubs, etc.)








One of my favorite moments was when the grounds closed down (yes we were there till the bitter end--mostly because we were having such a good time--I was making fun of the costumed people for the most part). We spotted this fellow coming in to where I guess they all go to take off their "historical garments" and put on some real pants and shirts without lacey bits. Love this guy:
All in all $38.00 WELL SPENT!