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Published: October 22nd 2014
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The sat nav had directed us to Mount Vernon, the housing estate, which worried us because we could have been anywhere in VA at this point. Luckily, when we reprogrammed the sat nav to take us to "Mount Vernon- George Washington's House" we realised it was just around the corner. We parked the car and headed into the visitor centre for some food. After tucking into a pizza, we made our way into the gardens of Mount Vernon.
The estate is huge, with gardens either side of the mansion, as well as a big bowling green out front. George Washington's tomb is also on the estate. We made our way up to the mansion, passed one of the gardens and also a privy. We arrived at the mansion grounds where a staff member offered us a tour of the mansion. Off we went, inside, to the "New Room". It was the most recently-built room in the house and it is where the Washington family entertained guests. Afterwards, we went out the other side of the house, the front, which overlooks the river. Its a spectacular view. We went in the main door and saw the entrance hall. Off the entrance
hall was a bedroom and a dining room. On the wall was a massive key, the key to the Bastille Prison which the French sent to Washington to symbolise independence and freedom.
We traipsed upstairs to see the guest bedrooms and George Washington's bedroom. The bed which he died in had been temporarily removed because the room was being painted. We went down another flight of stairs to the study, which contained lots of his possessions like pens, telescopes, and most importantly, his Presidential Chair which is considered a National Treasure. He made many decisions in that chair, including the decision to not be President till he died, making the country a democracy.
After the tour we headed down to the tomb of George Washington where we spent a moment and then walked up through the lovely grounds back to the car. We drove on up to Silver Spring, MA, where Emily and Antony now lived. They had moved in the time we were gone. We had a quick cuppa there and then drove on up to Frederick, where Emily's parents live. We were dangerously low on petrol and kept getting lost, so it wasn't exactly fun! We
eventually stopped to get petrol and stock up on booze before arriving at Katy and Steve's. Guinness the dog greeted us when we got out of the car. We went inside and tucked into dinner straight away, which was corn on the cob, chicken legs and wings, BBQ ribs and bean salad. We chatted and drank wine before retiring to the living room to watch the Washington Nationals play a game which lasted way longer than it should have! They lost in the end.
The next morning, we had eggs Benedict for breakfast, cooked by Steve, before taking a few photos and then heading down to Frederick town for a walk about. The town is very pretty and we took a walk along the canal. Afterwards, we drove back to Silver Spring and relaxed for the afternoon. We packed our bags and drank tea, we read our books and chatted, before getting ready to head out for dinner. This was our last night of our holiday. We found a great steakhouse which was also a butchers so it had all the meat hanging in the back, me, Dave, Emily and Antony had great food and drink. The waiter was
very friendly but insisted on telling us all about the menu; where the meat comes from, what are his favourite dishes etc. There's only so much nodding and smiling you can do before it gets awkward.
The next morning, we got up early, said our goodbyes and headed for the airport. We got there fine, but wound up driving around in circles to find the car rental place. Dave was driving and I was making a lame attempt at navigating which didn't go too well. Eventually we found the car rental place, dropped the car and headed to the departures area to check in. Once we got through security we had plenty of time to relax before our flight.
We were dreading going home, going back to reality and dealing with jet lag and a pile of washing.
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