Visit to Mt Vernon

The highlight of the weekend was our visit to Mt Vernon, home and final resting place of George Washington, the first president of the United States. The girls were quite intrigued by his elegant and refined home - as much by the lurid colours of some of the rooms (one was Canberra raiders green) as by the key to the Bastille which was on prominent display - a gift to Washington from the Marquis De Lafayette. The whole experience, of course, was awash in American national mythology - the girls sat through an 18 minute introductory film which showed Washington's leadership in the French/Indian war and then his famous crossing of the Delaware to surprise the English and their Hessian (German) recruits. Pia enjoyed most of all the scene in the film where Washington fell in love with Martha (more later on that) and when he returned home to the warm embrace of the children. Ella was not frightened by the sound of musket shots and the admittedly quite bloodthirsty scenes of battle. Both spent quite a bit of time in front of Washington's tomb,a place where Churchill, De Gaulle, Elizabeth 2 and other notables have paid their respects in the past. The night before we had read a kids version of Washington's life story: "Big George" so the girls were well prepared.

The girls were also interested in the idea of him as a father for the whole country - wow! That's a big daddy!! and they remembered his speech to his compatriots: 'We fight to be free'. And who was this other person called Cincinattus they wondered? After a visit to the mansion, which included an impressive study, complete with swivel chair (a true advance for the times) we looked around the rest of the estate - smokehouse, kitchen, orchard, veggie patch (enormous) laundry and sheep and cattle runs. In the veggie patch by the wharf Pia danced gaily through the fields trying to catch the crickets, but alas, much to her frustration, they proved elusive. From that field we took a nice, shaded walk through the forest trail back to the lunch.

Just before going in to lunch, however, (we had brought our own, since one cannot rely on American restaurants to have decent gluten free options) we noticed quite a sizeable and impressive painting of Washington on his knees, horse nearby, reciting the famous prayer for his country. My own contemplation of this artwork was interrupted by a nearby American tourist who bellowed: 'Aw heck I ain't going to do no more readin': Ah just wanna bowl of shrimp'. But in the cafeteria - the usual American theme-park cesspit of junk and culinary catastrophe - there was no shrimp: just loads of pizza and loads of truly criminal looking nachos.

Triumph, however, came in the gift shop for the girls - they found toy squirrels, and promptly called them George and Martha. Pia has now written a very cute little story about their adventure at Mt Vernon. Another 40 degree plus day however meant that we were all pooped by day's end. Next stop - Jefferson's Monticello, although this weekend we are hoping to get to nearby Annapolis.

George Washington's Pioneer farm.

Earlier in the week we also visited the Library of Congress. The girls went to story time there and spent some time in the Young Readers Centre, where you can sit and look at all the kids books, but borrowing is not allowed. Then we had a look around the Great Hall, which is very ornate and impressive. We had been wrongly told that there were images of squirrels on the ceiling so after much time spent looking for them we finally were told that no squirrels were on the walls or ceilings! We did find lizards though, so thank goodness for that!

The Great Hall inside the Library of Congress.

The girls have also been enjoying playing at the local parks and meeting American playmates. Ella has her technique for making new friends perfected. She goes up to whoever she would like to play with and says, "Hello, can I play with you? I am from Australia." Then she looks at them with her large eyes, and a sad and pleading expression on her face. So, how can anyone resist that! One little boy once tried to say no, but was quickly made to change his mind! Pia, on the other hand, loves chasing after squirrels, collecting acorns for them and trying to build them a home. The other day she said to me at the park, "Mummy, I've had the luckiest day today: I saw a hummingbird, a squirrel smiled at me, and I found 3 butterfly wings!" So that sums up Pia!