Today is Keith's birthday! It's going to be a very full day!
Today, however, we were going to use the car and drive to Mt. Vernon. So we waited for Elise to come to the house, and then headed down the very scenic George Washington Parkway, which ran the whole way along the Potomac River. Soon we arrived at George Washington's estate, set on 8000 acres. It had been in his family since his great grandfather received it in a land trust from the King of England.
The grounds are amazing. They consist of the main mansion, of which we were given a nice tour, and the surrounding buildings and gardens. It sits on the banks of the Potomac with quite the impressive view. Of course, the highlight of any visit is seeing his dentures in the museum, which is also on the property. Spoiler alert - they are not made of wood, but instead, human teeth and ivory.
On the way back, we visited Old Town and walked around very little, because once again, our feet were so tired. It would be a full day trip itself because of all of the shops and historic homes. We found a great little restaurant, and once again had some great food. I lucked out because they had a gluten free hamburger bun. What a treat!
Next, we headed home, parked the car, and headed out to the metro to head to the Air Force Memorial for a free concert by the Air Force Band. It wasn't your typical military band. This was a small band, one which we had seen on TV on the Country Music Awards. They sang a nice mix of patriotic country (Toby Keith, etc.), Journey, and even a song from Les Miserables. The lead singer had a gorgeous voice, and we had a beautiful cool night for listening to music at the base of this amazing memorial. We were on a hill, so we also had a beautiful view of DC at night. On the way we had walked right past the Pentagon and the Arlington Cemetary, two places we hope to visit later.
After the concert, we headed to Elise and Daniel's place. He was just getting home from a Nationals game. The firm where he works gives them free box seats to the games. There had been birthday cards and a package mailed to their place, so we got to help Keith close out his birthday with them.
We left to head home on the metro, only to find that it was packed full of Nationals fans headed home from the game. We mashed in with everyone else, and seriously, for about 20 minutes we were just like sardines in a can. I'm NOT exaggerating.
They had closed the exit we were used to using because it was the weekend, and we ended up taking the wrong way home, and so ended up walking an extra six blocks more than required. Our feet were thrilled.
We reached home around midnight, tired, but totally happy with everything we had packed in. Our daughter, the tour guide, had done another outstanding job! Tomorrow, the zoo!
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