Jenny's outline of today


 Mount Vernon - home of George Washington - for a 9:30 National Treasure tour with Phantom Lake friend Riley Cooper . Parts of the movie National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets were filmed on location at Mount Vernon, which is why we watched the movie last night.

Then 11:05 tour of the George Washington Mansion with Tim and Charlotte added to the group. (Ruth and Grace are up at Princeton today.) Then a leisurely stroll around the grounds to where George and Martha are buried. Then lunch as a whole group at the cafeteria. Then Josh and I headed back to the house for a nap while Tim and Charlotte took the 1:00 National Treasure tour.
Then Arlington National Cemetery.
Then dinner and a movie again at the beautiful Brightbill Manor B&B!
.

The story of today by JOSH:
 
Today we went to Mount Vernon. We went on a tour. The tour first went to the basement. The basement was cool because in the movie "National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets" that was where the president got kidnapped. So that was fun.


Then after that we went to the ice house where they kept ice from the river in a deep hole .


After that we visited a family vault. At the vault we just got to take a peek in there and the guide told us a fact about how George Washington's coffin couldn't fit in the family vault because it was too big.


Then we took selfies by the mansion from the river side.


Then we met up with Tim and Charlotte. Then we went inside the mansion. There was a line but that shortened quickly. It was kind of boring because you couldn't even go into the rooms. The house was big, George Washington was kind of braggy (gloating) about his huge house. He had paint that cost $500 per gallon and had gemstones blended in it and was bright teal.


After the house tour we went to go get food in the restaurant . But there was a 45 minute to 2 hour wait, so we went back to the Food Court. We got pizza and a Sprite. No cherry pie. :(

Then we said our goodbye's and went to the gift shop. We bought a deck of cards. And that's all for today.
-Josh

But then....

(Jenny adds a few notes at the end of the day:)
 
We went home and took naps, played on the trampoline, and then Josh and I went to Arlington National Cemetery to see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at 7pm. Beautiful sunset and view of D.C. as the backdrop to this solemn ritual.

Tim made us a fabulous Blue Apron salmon dinner. Two home-cooked meals on this trip was really unexpected and lovely! We talked a bit about first jobs (Josh - refereeing; Charlotte - Master Collator (I'm getting this title wrong, Charlotte - what was it?); Tim and Jenny - Davis/Duehr file clerks). To top off the night we went to Del Ray's hottest night spot Dairy Godmother - a custard shop started just down the hill by a woman from Waukesha, WI. Literally the line is out the door all the time - and even President Obama and his family went there in 2009.  Josh and I both went for the special of the day: strawberry rhubarb crisp with vanilla custard. To. Die. For!!!!


We ended the day with a peek at the National Archives including the Declaration of Independence... by watching the ORIGINAL National Treasure movie. Oh yes we did. What a superb movie...and wow can that Nicholas Cage act!!!  History and artifacts come alive in the exciting tale of a modern treasure hunt. Always remember, "the secret lies with Charlotte!"