Mt. Vernon - Day 4

We woke up early this morning for our 2 hour drive to Mt. Vernon - home of our first president.

Here is Caleb and I outside the grounds - just thought it was too cute to not post!

This is the view out of the breezeway on the way to the tour of the house. We were not allowed to take pictures inside, so you will have to go on your own to see it for yourself!

This is the view from the back porch overlooking the Potomac River:

The kids on the grounds behind Mt. Vernon:

Mark and I behind Mt. Vernon:

Our tree pic. for Mt. Vernon:

That tree was found by Caleb in this cluster of bushy looking things behind the house!

After touring the property, we walked (and walked and walked...) the grounds. It is so beautiful here! I have truly decided beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am definitely a country mouse and not a city mouse!

This is the site where George and Martha Washington are buried:

I have to include some pictures of the trails that we walked along, because they were just so beautiful. We took the back trails and were basically alone the whole time - no one else was up for the challenge of the hikes, I guess!

Climbing the trail:

Another beautiful site:

Can you see the bridge through the trees:

Here is the same bridge - we walked across this to get back to the main area:

A photo op on these steps. BTW, almost all of the family pics are taken with the help of the timer on our camera. There were not many people around the areas we tended to be in during the whole trip - we like to go off the beaten path!

This is an interesting item for those of us who mill our own wheat. George Washington designed and invented this barn and the system in it to get the wheat separated from the chaff. There was still some grains on the site and Mark picked up some as we walked saying that I could make some bread from George W's grain!

OK, now it gets really neat. We went on a National Treasure 2 Tour - behind the scenes. We LOVE NT2, so this was a special treat! This is in the basement where Ben Gates takes the president in the movie.

This is the cornerstone that is the inspiration for the one in the movie that is used to get to the secret tunnel (which doesn't really exist!)

If you look across the picture along the wall, you can see a hole - that is where Ben Gates comes out of the water to enter the party at Mt. Vernon.

The tour guide had some great stories to tell about the whole process of making the movie there and how hard the directors all worked at preserving everything on the site.

I have to say that Mt. Vernon was our favorite place to visit so far! I hope you liked it too!