Day 8: Mount Vernon, Washington D.C., Smithsonian

This morning we visited the beloved home of the 1st President of the United States, General George Washington, when we had time to explore his estate, Mount Vernon, and the beautiful plantation grounds he so adored. On the way there Wanda put in a DVD called The Crossing. It was about General Washington’s crossing of the Delaware River. I bought a copy in the gift shop.
Later, we arrived in D.C. to spend only 3 hours at the Smithsonian Institute which barely gave us time to scratch the surface of this incredible museum. In the 3 hours we had left to us we managed to see the Air and Space Museum only to discover that it wasn’t the one we wanted. The one we wanted to see housed the Space Shuttle, and the Enola Gay but it was 30 minutes away near Dulles Airport. So, we looked in on the Museum of Natural History and saw the Hope Diamond (we were not impressed), the jacket Harrison Ford wore in the Indiana Jones movies. We didn’t have time to stop and see the Library of Congress or the National Archives where the Declaration of Independence is kept. We hope we have enough time to come back and see some more tomorrow. Unfortunately, due to 9/11 the White House was not open for tours as was many of our nations’ famous buildings in D.C. We could however walk in front of it and view it from the street. Eric and I decided to sit on a park bench and eat hotdogs. Ironically our next tour stop was to get some lunch. Wanda took us to the Kennedy Theater where we ate a sandwich, salad, and drink for about $50. It was unimpressive and overly priced.
Tonight we went out to dinner and then took a twilight tour of Washington’s famous monuments and memorials including those dedicated to Jefferson, Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, and Iwo Jima and others.