Pictures

We are now in Winchester, Virginia. We will be staying here for the next couple days. Here are those pictures I said that I would post.

This is a picture of Wolf Creek Pass the day that we went over it.

Jacob and Alyssa took the pass very well however, usually Alyssa gets sick on the pass, but not this time because we were driving about 20 miles/hour.

Here is a picture of the scenery around the Richmond airport. It was so green and pretty that I just had to try and get some pictures of it.

Now we're caught up to yesterday. Yesterday, after we left the Myhrbergs' we drove to Mount Vernon. This is an amazing place. We spent about 5 hours there and could have easily spent 5 more. We saw so much while we were there. One of the first things was this building, a greenhouse and slave quarters.

Inside this building we saw the slave quarters, and a shoemaker's shop. Everything looked very authentic. We then went and saw Mrs. Washington. She was sitting telling stories and answering questions. The lady at the door said that the time period was after Washington's presidency. I thought that it would be a cheesy reanactment, but it was actually very fun. Mrs. Washington's voice made you just want to sit and listen to her for hours, and the stories she told were great. We then went and saw some of the buildings that had been restored. One of these buildings was a blacksmith shop with a blacksmith working in it. It was fun watching him work and as Dad pointed out, the bellows was huge!

Then we explored the outside of Washington's mansion, out on the grass on the Potomac side of the building. It was beautiful out there and the river was much wider than what I'm used to seeing for rivers. Here are some pictures from that side of the house.

Here is a picture of the house from the other side. We had to wait in line to go in, they sent everybody in in groups.

While we were waiting in line, Nelly Washington (Washington's granddaughter) came by. Jacob and Alyssa had their picture taken with her.

Unfortunately they didn't allow pictures inside the house. It was amazing though. The colors, the architecture, the rooms, everything was positively awe-inspiring. We saw the key to the Bastille which Lafayette gave to Washington, the bed on which Washington died, a huge collection of old books in Washington's study, an authentic harpsichord and so much more. Then we went down to see Washington's tomb. It was a very reverent place, with a few other pillars there for some of his descendents. Here is a picture of his tomb.

After the tomb we headed back to the entrance. There they had a museum and in the museum they had many artifacts from Washington's time. They had furniture, silverware, china, books, swords, the original wind vane, cloth fragments, letters, and the clay model for the bust made during his life that is said to be the most accurate representation of him ever made. That was about it for Mount Vernon. It was unforgettable and very inspiring.

Well, today we go to Harper's Ferry. It snowed overnight, but the roads are only wet.  We saw pictures on the hotel's TV news of the cherry blossoms in Washinton, DC.  They were covered with snow!  The news report indicated that the blossoms were not damaged by the weather and should be at their peak when we arrive there next week.  Hopefully I'll be more regular with pictures from now on.

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