York, PA to Harrisonburg, VA via Mt. Vernon

We awoke to rain and flood warnings in York and Lancaster County of Pennsylvania.  We wanted an early start to be at Mount Vernon as close as possible to the 9am opening.  Driving was difficult with heavy traffic and lousy visibility and it took 3 hours to drive 110 miles.

The route took me through Baltimore and due to accidents, we ended up going through downtown Baltimore.  We drove by Camden Yard and the Ravens stadium.  We eventually made it through Washington, D.C. and down to Alexandria, VA.

There was a nice crowd at Mount Vernon.  We had our boots and rain gear and made it just fine, but we felt for so many which were totally unprepared.  It is hard to be prepared if you flew into town or came in on a bus.

Mount Vernon is a place of history.  The home is at a beautiful location overlooking the Potomac River, but the home was built a long time ago and shows the time period it was constructed.  The home is constructed from pine boards which are grooved in the pattern of stone and painted. Sand is added while the paint is still wet.

George Washington's home looking from the Potomac River.  It is a beautiful view and the State of Maryland has protected 80 square miles across the river to prevent any development to spoil the view.

 

The side of the home in which visitors would have been received arriving by carriage.  Washington's log book showed that he had over 600 overnight guests in one year.  Mt. Vernon was one of four farms owned by Washington.  Martha was a widow at the age of 26 when they married and she had a farm of 11,000 acres also.  Washington had 300 slaves at the farm's height of production.  He freed all of his slaves in his will at his death.

This lady was in character as Martha Curtis Washington and was brilliant.  She entertained questions from the audience and responded with quotes from George Washington.  She scolded a group of young girls who came into the room and walked in front of some seated adults.  She told the girls they would have to hold their questions until the adults were finished with all questions.  "You must mind your manners."

The tomb.  George and Martha are actually behind the brick to the right.  There are a large number of family members entombed here.  Washington drew the plans for the structure, but died before it was completed.  It was finished 30 years later and when all were moved and entombed, the family threw the key in the Potomac River.

We left at 3:30 and had plans to drive well down into Virginia, but weather and traffic made that impossible.  The Beltway around D.C. is 6 lanes and Miss Garmin told me to exit left and the actual exit was to the right (across 6 lanes of rush hour traffic).  Didn't happen and so we took the scenic tour around the city until I finally made my way off thanks to some sympathetic drivers.

We are in northern Virginia for the night.  Tomorrow we plan to drive on toward home and possibly stop off in Cookeville for the night.

This will be my last post.  We have had a good trip (in spite of Acadia being closed) and seen many wonderful sights.  I have enjoyed sharing my thoughts and a sampling of photographs which I have made.  Most of all we have had a safe trip to this point with only three days of rain out of the seventeen days we have been on the road.

Good Night!