Monticello

After three days of gloomy weather, the sun finally came out today just as it was predicted.  We had been waiting for a nice day to come along when I was off so we could go to Monticello.  I have always admired Jefferson.  Heck, anyone on Mt. Rushmore really.  The chance to go visit the house he designed and lived in was just to awesome to pass up.  And it was yet another chance to try to sneak some actual knowledge into the heads of our children. 

It was only an hour or so driving, so we didn't even have to get up early.  The fall colors were amazing around here, but they grew just a little less spectacular as we went East and I think the altitude inched up a notch.

There was still some good fall color though. 

We got to the visitor's center and bought our tickets.  Then we made our way to the shuttle that takes you up to the house.  Prior to the shuttle arriving, we noticed a trail that walks up the mountain to the house.  Of course we took it.

A pretty walk through the woods or a shuttle van?  Not a real decision.

Midway up the trail is the Jefferson Family cemetery.  It was started when Jefferson and a friend decided they would be buried under a large oak tree.  It is still used by descendants today. 

He designed his own monument.  It lists the three things of which he was most proud.  There will be a test.

Continuing up the trail brings us to the grounds just below the house from teh West.  We can't see the house, but instead arrive in the gardens which makes Michael happy.  Like Jefferson, he enjoys studying plants.  When you buy your ticket, you are assigned a time to tour the home and so we can't stay and muck about in the garden as long as we might like.  The view down the hill and across the landscape is beautiful and it is easy to see why he chose this particular spot.

I believe that is Montalto in the background.

The garden pavilion. 

Michael like the snake gourds

Mulberry row, where the slave's shops were located. 

Then it was time to tour the house.  They gathered everyone together in a group and gave us a speech about preserving the place for future generations with the standard no eating, no drinking, no chewing gum stuff.  Then they dropped another hated little tidbit.  No photography inside the house. 






Sigh



So you will have to settle for some outside shots, internet research and a few descriptions. 

One of the ten seconds this view didn't have people in it all day.

Some of the coolest things are the little details.  If you get curious, you can Google most of these things to get more information.  In the picture above you can get a taste of what I am talking about.  The first shot is an elevation of the front of the house.  Note the weather vane.  It is connected to the compass that you see in the second picture.  That way, you can see the wind direction from inside the entrance or on the porch.  Neat, right?  The clock face is actually only a small part of the clock.  The inside has another face of the same clock.  It is powered by weighted balls hanging on a cable.  The cable also, as it descends to power the clock, marks the days of the week.  There are tons of ingenious gadgets and inventions, many of them invented by Jefferson, scattered through the house.  You could spend days just soaking in the details.  The tour is guided though and you only get a brief time in the designated tour rooms. 

The first stop is the entryway where Jefferson set up a museum of things that interested him.  He had fossils, Native American artifacts, maps (He loved maps) and various other artifacts.  One or two of the artifacts were even original to the place like moose antlers from the Lewis and Clark expedition.  We got to see the North square room, Jefferson's book room (with a small number of his original books), his bedroom/study which was filled with many of his inventions and gadgets. Then we went into the parlor, which was where the much entertaining was done.  It was filled with paintings, musical instruments and artifacts.  I was entranced with the mirrors as they were original to the room.  It was very cool to think of seeing my reflection in those mirrors and think about who else has been reflected there.  Pretty cool. 

The tour finished by taking us through the dining room that has a wine dumbwaiter and an octagonal bedroom where the Madison's stayed when they visited.  Then it took us out on the walkway toward the North pavilion.  The tour ended and we were again free to wander and take pictures. 


So we did. 

A globe type sundial.  Needs winding.

Tails!

C'mon, this is the Adventure Nickel...Get it?

Then we peeled around the side and checked out the dependencies.  These were the areas under the house where all of the work was done by the slaves.  And they go out of African American couples walking around on the tour and, after wondering if they were related to Jefferson, pondered how different their impression of the place was than mine. 

The corridor leading under the main house.

Apparently drinking was kind of a big deal.

The good stuff, no less.

Even beer. 

Needed something on your stomach after all that drinking.

This is where the Cook's room, Smokehouse and some other slave quarters were. 

Then we stopped learning for a minute and just enjoyed the beautiful grounds.  This place is really nice, well thought out and designed. 

By this time we were really hungry.  We went to the little cafe on site and expected the worst.  We were pleasantly surprised though at the good food and reasonable prices.  I even managed to have a Monticello Reserve Ale in a souvenir glass. 

Then it happened.

An attempted murder.

After lunch we went to the kid's discovery center where Michael and Max played and practiced their architecture. 

Then we made our way home.  It was beautiful, interesting and educational.  That is everything you ever want in a field trip.  Pretty great day over all.  If you are ever presented with the opportunity, I do highly recommend it.

DC day 2

The next morning we decided against the 0600 wake up and slept in an extra hour or so.  We had also decided, after a long and crowded ride on the train, to just drive into DC and park.  The multiple wrecks on I-95 though, got us back on the train. 

This time we got off at a different stop...

This is someplace I have wanted to visit for a long time.  There is so much going on here it is really hard to take in all at once.  We took a few minutes to explain to the kids what this place was and that it wasn't a good place for running around and screeching like the wild monkeys they are.  Somehow it seemed to take and they were really good kids for the whole time. 

One of the big draws for me was the Lee-Custis house, officially it is the Arlington House.  But on the way up we had a few things worth seeing. 

The first of many Medal of Honor awardees. 

With the Arlington House in the background.

The Eternal Flame was actually undergoing repairs.  They had a temporary one going off to the side.

Bobby Kennedy, probably the best of them all. 

The first of three panels with transcriptions of Bobby's speeches. 

Aside from the poignant and notable graves it is just a beautiful setting worthy of a much better photographer. 

Eventually we made it up the main hill to the Arlington House.  This house was the reason that Arlington National Cemetery was placed here.  The house belonged to Mary Custis, a descendant of George Washington.  She married an up and coming officer in the U.S. Army by the name of Robert E. Lee.  When the civil war broke out Lee was offered command of the Army of the Potomac for the Union side.  He reportedly paced about his house for three days considering what to do.  On the night before he had to have a decision, he reportedly sent his wife and daughters downstairs where they sat all night listening to him pace about the bedroom overhead.  In the end he felt more loyalty to his state of Virginia than to the country and resigned his commission to join the confederacy.  It is largely believed that it was his brilliance that gave the outmanned and outgunned Confederacy any chance at all.  One has to wonder what the war would have been like had Lee sided with the Union.  

So, during the war, a need arose with the mounting casualties, for a new national cemetery to bury the dead.  After much deliberation, the government essentially took the Custis-Lee property and made it into a cemetery so that Lee could never again reside there as it would be hallowed ground.  

Right outside the front door is the grave of the designer of D.C. 

What is the view from the steps of the Lee house?  The Lincoln Memorial of course. 

Mr and Mrs Lee were married under the middle arch. 

This is the room where Lee paced all night deliberating. 

What game is set up in the back room of a famous general?  Chess, of course. 

After touring the house, we had one more stop to make before we could leave.  On the way over though, we stumbled upon this. 

Surrounded by hedges, we ducked under and walked in.

Which was a fitting prelude to the next stop.  Again, we had a little talk with the boys prior to going up to watch and they seemed to get the gravity of it if not the meaning.  

You can see the wear marks on the concrete from the changing of the guard ceremonies.

Some Marines came by to pay their respects.

We arrived in time to see the changing of the guard.

We made our way out to the street.  Michael and Max had a ton of questions about what they had seen and why anyone would bother to guard a tomb anyway.  I did my best to explain things as I understand them.  It was difficult because I think everyone sees something like this through such a personal lens that there is so much more meaning than I can convey.  I did my best though. 

Then we walked across the bridge to the Lincoln Memorial. 

Along the way, there are some pretty cool statues.

The Hiker

DC after the zombie apocalypse. 

Title Sacrifice.  Presented to the US by the government of Italy.  A matched one was behind us.

We were tired from walking.  But we were finally there.  This was another of those places that I have always wanted to go and I think Nana did too. 

Nana said, "Take one from right here."  Good eye Nana.

We read the speeches on the wall, we wandered around like the tourists we were and we soaked in some more solemn gravitas.  Then we walked down the steps and started walking toward the White House. 

Speaking of solemn gravitas.  Along the way on that end of the mall...

On to the White House!

And that was as close as we got.  By this time everyone was starving and cranky again and we were only a block or two from the Ronald Reagan building where we knew of a delightful little food court.  So we packed it in to rest our weary legs and refuel.  While we finished our food, we planned the next move.  It was almost 4pm.  There wasn't just a ton of time left and some of that would be used to walk wherever we were going.  Oh yeah, and we weren't really enjoying all that walking too much either.  But, it is bucket list time, so...

'Of course we went.  We had to.  By the time we got there, there was only and hour left before closing.  So we skimmed and hit the high points.  I figure we might make it here again someday.  I hope we do, there is so much still to see. 

Exhausted, we made our way back to the train station.  We were done with DC for a little while. IT was back home for a day of rest before heading back to work for four days and Nana had to go back to the real world.  It was a real neat trip with some things that will stick with me for a long time. 




And here are a couple of pictures that I liked that didn't seem to fit in the narrative.