Washington and Arlington

For once, we didn't have far to drive today... unfortunately, being on the East Coast now we did have to share what little of the road we had to drive with a lot of people (who seem far less relaxed than their Western and Southern cousins).

The day kicked off at Mount Vernon - George Washington's plantation and family home. Our visit coincided with the visits of a few thousand other people, including a class of Amish kids (at first we thought they were taking part in some sort of reconstruction).

Mt Vernon looks across the Potomac River in Northern Virginia, just a few miles from Washington DC - the view actually made us think of the view from the flagpole at the Treaty grounds in Waitangi. It's a really beautiful site and we were lucky to have a warm, breezy day to wander around the plantation (everyone was complaining about yesterday - apparently it was in the hundreds and unbelievably humid).

Washington, amongst all the other remarkable things about him, seems also to have been a very practical man, who ran a very environmentally friendly and sustainable farm for the time. Unlike Monticello, which had to be sold because of the debt left behind by Thomas Jefferson, Washington left no debt and Mt Vernon was owned by the Washington family for 60 or so years after GW's death and then was sold to a preservation society. So, in comparison, it has fared pretty well and many of the outlying farm buildings have stood the test of time. It's a working farm - there's a full-time blacksmith who makes farm tools etc for the people who work the kitchen gardens, flower gardens and crops. There are also a few animals (all nicely tame), including a donkey.

The house itself was very pretty on the outside, but the 'tour' of the inside was a bit chaotic. Due to the massive crowds, we shuffled through in a claustrophobic line. We were mostly confined to the hallways, looking into the rooms and were in and out within about 25 minutes (but that's what you get when you're on holiday in June).  There were two particularly cool items at Mt Vernon - the first was the ACTUAL key to the Bastille in Paris - a gift to George Washington from the Marquis of Lafayette, who once he'd helped out with the American Revolution popped over to France to lend a hand with their one, and took the key as a trinket for George Washington (who was apparently very chuffed with it). The guide didn't know whether Lafayette left the gates locked or unlocked when he pilfered the key. The second was George Washington's very famous wooden dentures (lower jaw only). 

We liked George Washington - he quashed suggestions post-Revolution that he become King and took off home to Mt Vernon for a short-lived retirement before being called back into service and ultimately being elected President. I guess we like our leaders humble, like Washington, which is why we left with our regard for him in tact still (unlike Thomas Jefferson). We particularly liked that George Washington freed all of his slaves in his will, and also made provision for things like their ongoing education. Top marks - almost as good as not keeping them in the first place!

It was only twenty or so miles through dense DC-area Friday afternoon traffic to our next stop - Arlington Cemetery. Arlington is massive, full of beautiful trees and monuments and row upon row upon row of graves of soldiers and their families. Not all of those servicemen buried here died in battle, some died of old age, but it's still pretty haunting to see, albeit very pretty. Among those buried here are John. F. Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, President Taft, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Bobby Kennedy and (more recently) Teddy Kennedy.

Arlington and the stately home on it used to belong to Confederate General Robert E. Lee, who, when offered posts by both sides in the Civil War, picked the Southern States and went South (not without some misgivings on his part - he believed that the Union should remain in tact, but said he had to side with his family and his State and follow Virginia and the secession). The Feds claimed it in 1861 and buried their dead around it so that the Lees could never come back (a slightly sweeping summary, but that's pretty much the gist).

We somehow managed to get through Washington DC traffic to our (last) RV park in Maryland (our 19th state). We have four days here before we give Winston back and head off on the rest of our trip without him. The thought of saying goodbye to Winston is a bit upsetting.