Adventures around Washington, DC.

Adventures have continued after the WomenRV get together in Pennsylvania. I travel down to the Cherry Hill RV Park that is located right outside the DC Beltway.  It definitely is designed to make visits to the Washington area easier for travelers with recreational vehicles.  They have a Metro stop right there near the front office that takes you right down to the Subway system and from there the whole of Washington is available by transferring at the appropriate stations.  

You will have to ask my daughter Kate about the pool, but it looked way too full of children for me.  Then again maybe the adults liked the idea of wearing the children out even further before taking them back into the RVs.   They have specific tenting areas for groups camping. The groups reminded me of the groups that we observed in Denali. They looked as if they were professional services provided to church or scout groups.  

The dogs survived some very long days sitting in the AC waiting for Kate and I to wander back to the rig in the evening.  Reminder to those not used to sight seeing with 30 somethings (used to hiking up and down mountains): be prepared to walk long distances.  She had faith in me being able to keep up but then she has never watched me go down with heat exhaustion....yet.

Kate having just finished up two days of museum viewing chose a trip to Mount Vernon on Monday afternoon after I picked her up at her Washington hotel.   After arrival we walked down to look at the barns and a replication of one of the tenant farm houses while waiting for our assigned house tour time.

From the front of the cabin you can look across to the barn complex. I liked the barn. It also was a rebuild of the original.  

The chicken coop.... complete with resident chickens.

Walking up to view inside the eight sided barn. 

This view looks familiar from historic pictures and paintings.  All it was missing was the clip clop of the carriage horses.

The women's slave quarters .

It was hot out and guests were asked to wait in the sun at several spots along the tour of the house.  The "guides/volunteers" were less than polite and welcoming. Maybe the heat made them crabby, too?

Te following day Kate was recovered enough to take the trip back into the city.  It was only my second time using the subway system. I think that I am sufficiently trained to manage on my own at this point but Kate had doubts at several earlier junctures.  These pictures are just enough to prove that I was there.   The city was gearing up for the parades, fireworks and celebrations to come on the 4th.  Somehow I was not tempted to try to come back down on Thursday to participate.

Our Tuesday itinerary included the Native American Museum, the Spy Museum, lunch and a trip down to the Vietnam Memorial and a walk back past the White House.  Considering that Kate has been to Washington three times now and had covered many of the museums we went to two that she had not seen and I was interested in.  The Native American Museum is so full of information. It involves a lot of reading and makes your mind go on its own to connect with all the previous "history" that you might have been exposed to.   Having been to Alaska prepared me for the diversity and the sense of history exposed for the first time.  The Spy Museum was interesting. Well the first half was. It did talk about actual history of spying and had examples of the technology used in the past.  Those of us who have lived through some of the spy drama of the 60's and 70's and the cold war years, saw it from another light.  At least half of the museum was dedicated to the Bond movies, gadgets and plots.  Neither of us were all that interested in reliving our James Bond experiences. Besides we were hungry!

From all her visits to Washington, Kate had never made it to the Vietnam Memorial.  There is a uniqueness to the Memorial experience.  Kate had also missed that the Memorial chosen had been designed by a 19 year old student with a pretty special creative vision.

On Wednesday we were ready to leave the city heat and congestions behind once again and made the drive to Monticello.   We both agreed that Jefferson's gardens were much better attended than Mount Vernon. We also found out that the guides were much nicer with smiles and polite directions.  The also have nice shady spots to line up for your scheduled tour times. 

Trees...no explanation needed.

There are definitely creatures of the imagination in there.

The ground crew were busy setting up for visitors who were expected the next day as about 100 individuals were expected to take their oath of citizenship.   The next day the local TV stations were showing the group that took their oaths at Mont Vernon but I was thinking that taking your oath at Jefferson's home has even more meaning.   And besides the volunteers are nicer!  (Word on the grounds was that Dave Matthews was expected to entertain the new Americans and their family and friends. Sigh, tickets were not readily available.)

More adventures for another post to come.