Only a Few Days Left!

After a good night's sleep and a hot shower, Chadd and I set off to cram as many of D.C.'s "points of interest" in as possible.
We visited George Washington's home and estate, Mount Vernon. It's a lovely place, I recommend anyone visit it when coming to Washington. His mansion has been kept in the exact way he left it when he died. All of the artifacts are his (or exact replacements). In fact, his bedroom is just as it was when he died...right down to Martha Washington's reading glasses resting on the bedside table. Martha made it easy for the preservationists, as she promptly closed the bedroom up and never used it again after his death. You can also tour Washington's office, where all of his original books and files are still kept in their rightful place.

Both George and Martha are buried at the estate. Even though a tomb was created for George under the rotunda of our Capitol building, George always considered himself a farmer before a statesman. Sort of an neat little side note: As we were looking off the porch of Washington's mansion--which has a million dollar view of the Potomac River by the way--a bald eagle went soaring by! I did not get a picture of it, but everyone was in such awe. Quite a majestic moment!
We also took in the best view of the White House we could get. (I guess you can't get too close to it thses days)
We also visited the Lincoln Memorial and took time to take photos with our "cardboard Chief of State."