Mount Vernon and the ships in the field

When Andrew and I got married back in June and talked about some of our goals and what we wanted to do with our married life in DC.  One of our goals was to attend the temple twice a month (which wasn't possible this month due to bi-annual maintenance closure) and to attend a historical site of some kind twice a month. We went to Baltimore last week, so yesterday we ran off to Mount Vernon.  Ah yes, the wonderful home of our first president and one of the greatest leaders this country has ever known.  

Mount Vernon is in Alexandria about 30 minutes away from our apartment with traffic.  We ran over and first went to the cute little introduction movie.  During the wait to get in, there was a little Korean family that proved very distracting to me, as I kept eavesdropping on every conversation they had.  It was great.  In the lobby is this fantastic window which highlights some of George Washington's achievements/life milestones.  (The Koreans thought that the window was very fashionable and spent about 5 minutes talking about it and taking pictures.  It was great!)

Here is the gorgeous view of Mount Vernon from the front of the bowling green. Notice the perfect symmetry of the windows.  On the left side of the picture two of the windows are boarded up, because they are in fact false windows which have been included in the design only to provide that perfect symmetry.  George Washington really loved symmetry in his home, especially as you approach it.  There are two identical poplar trees on the right and left sides matched with several other trees which provide a perfect picture frame for the mansion.  He expanded the house over 30 years, including during the Revolutionary War.  Nothing like remodeling while you're out of town...

Here is the Necessary (aka fancy outhouse).  If you can read the sign you'll note that Washington maintained the same look throughout the entirety of his buildings. In all of his structures he maintained a slightly off-white exterior with a red roof.  He had one slave who's entire job was to run around painting all of the buildings.  Interestingly, all the paint came from England in powder form which was mixed on site.

 This sign outlines the design on the outside of Washington's buildings, including the mansion.  The mansion is made of wood which is then grooved, varnished, and painted to look like white stone.  Finally, fine sand is thrown onto the wet paint creating both the slightly off-white color to the mansion and the beautiful "stone-like" exterior.

 Here are some of the outbuildings as visible just in front of the servant's hall area of the mansion.  Also, just a little shout out.  While I know that the times are completely different, when we were in the servants hall, all I could think of was Downton Abbey.  Thank you PBS for creating a totally fictional history which is currently influencing actual history.

 No pictures are allowed inside the actual mansion, so if everyone would just come visit us we would love to take you out there so you can see some of the beautiful rooms, original mirrors, furniture, and the bed that Washington slept and died on.  Washington had over 600 visitors in just the year after he was president and scores of visitors a year before then.  As such, the Washingtons had a beautiful up-to-the-minute beautifully decorated home with wonderful colors and a classic sense of near minimalist decor.  It's really quite gorgeous. Added to that is the beautiful scenery surrounding the mansion and I can totally understand why George Washington wanted nothing more than to go home and gain the peace that only nature and God can bring.

On the tour of the mansion in each room a historical interpreter gives a little speech discussing some of the history and a run-down on any original artifacts or pieces of interest in each room.  It's really a very sweet little tour.

Also, after exiting the mansion you can walk down to see George and Martha Washington's family grave (including their own) and a memorial at the slave graveyard.  There is both an old tomb where they were all originally interred and a new tomb which was built according to George's wishes after his death where him and his family were re-interred much later.  The slave memorial is of note because George Washington is the ONLY founding father who freed all of his slaves at his death.  (Take that Thomas Jefferson!)

Mount Vernon is still a small working plantation- although not quite as plentiful as I'm sure it was in yester-year.  Historical interpreters continue to work the ground, raise animals, and participate in the workings of the plantation in order to educate millions of people each year.  Throughout Mount Vernon are a variety of animals including horses, mules, donkeys, sheep, and pigs.  We went and hung out with some really precious sheep for a little bit. Or should I say...we said hi to the ships in the field, the baa baa baas.  (Please go watch Zorro: the Gay Blade if you didn't understand that last sentence).

 This is a gorgeous view of a meadow disappearing into the forest.  Like I said before, the natural beauty around Mount Vernon is astounding.

 We're at Mount Vernon!

 Squinty/no eye-contact with the camera shot!

 One of the coolest pieces in the George Washington museum which accompanies Mount Vernon is Arnold Frieberg's original painting of the Prayer of Valley Forge...also viewable in almost any Mormon Military member's home...

The museum is interesting with lots of interesting artifacts including Martha's silver and china, several recipes for period food, George's dentures, and some very cool wax figures of George at different ages based on forensic data. The highlight for Andrew and I was the 4D theater.  The video approaches several key battles in Washington's career as General during the Revolutionary War. During the battle of Trenton portion, it started snowing in the theater.  Way cool. A lady who was around 55 behind us actually stood up and try and catch the snowflakes in her hands.  Very neat experience.

I would recommend Mount Vernon to anyone interested in George's history or to anyone who just wants to see some beautiful scenery and enjoy a nice walk.

Baltimore and Chap's Pit Beef

Welcome to Baltimore!!! Owen and I went and toured about last week.  Since Owen went there on his mission way back in the day he wanted to go back and visit his old stomping grounds.  First things first, we went to a place called Chap's Pit Beef.  It's a smallish, hole in the wall type joint that was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.  Now, it needs to be said that while it looks ugly on the outside it feels soo soo good on the inside.

To paraphrase Owen, this restaurant is everything Arby's wants and hopes to be, but never will become.  Both of us enjoyed a beef sandwich. Now, when I say a beef sandwich, you need to imagine a perfectly cooked-to-order sliced beef sandwich.  We both got medium-rare which had the most beautiful juicy flavor.  I topped mine off with hickory barbecue sauce and Owen had "Tiger blood" which is a mixture of some sort with a hint of horseradish.  I got regular fries, Owen got gravy fries and to top everything all off we both had 32 ounce cokes in styrofoam containers. (We're sticking it to you Michael Bloomberg!).

I ate till I was full and continued eating until about 20 minutes later.  It was so so so so so good.  Totally worth the hour drive up there.  I will go again.



While we were driving around I took some pictures of the sights and sounds of Baltimore.  We drove past Johns Hopkins Hospital about 15 times.  We didn't go inside, but the outside is beautiful.  Very classy looking. I would say, just based on the outside look, it appears much classier than even the Houston downtown hospital scene (which includes MD Anderson and some of the other best hospitals in the world).

This is totally random, but we saw this license plate driving around. Someone is driving a kia with a license plate that says "Poopies" hahahahahaha So childish, but so funny.  Do you think they meant it to be "puppies"? Cause to me they were way off. 








This is a picture of a graveyard, but it's kind of hard to see it beyond the barb-wire... Yeah, uh the graveyards there were beautiful.  Lots of gorgeous headstones, statues, etc. but every single one had barb-wire all around it.  It was a mix of really sad and just made me wonder what exactly they were keeping out...or in? (No ghosts were seen during the taking of this picture)

Also while driving around we saw 11 Emergency vehicles, lights on, sirens sounding.  Yes, 11 emergency vehicles doing their thing.  Interestingly enough, mostly ambulances, but also some firetrucks and police cars.  We also saw a plethora of emergency vehicles just chilling out.  Here is a picture of a fireman driving the back of the firetruck. Who knew they had to do that... it kind of brings new meaning to "Backseat driver."

Owen and I were driving toward the harbor to go hang out until time to meet up with Andrew and lo and behold, look what we got to see!!! Charm City Cakes.  Yup... Ever seen the show Ace of Cakes?  This is where the magic happens.  It's kind of a weird location in the middle of the ghetto and they don't have tours or anything.  You can only go in with an appointment.  Bummer, but it was still super cool to see the store front.  Now you all know that Ace of Cakes is really in the ghetto... It was cool that we stumbled on it though, we just turned down a road and there it was.
                 
Next we went down to the Baltimore harbor- the touristy area.  While walking around, waiting for Andrew to get there, we saw four crabs (one of which is visible on the pillar in the picture above), one fish, and the coolest looking Barnes and Nobles. 

This Barnes and Noble was 2 stories in the old Baltimore Power Plant.  It had huge metallic columns and stuff throughout it and was very industrial in design.   Once Andrew got into town we went to Cheesecake factory to have some dessert and then headed over to the airport to greet two guys from Andrew's squadron who just got home from Qatar.

Overall, it was a great day.  Good times with great family. 

National Mall and Ben's Chile Bowl

So, today Owen and I went out to DC to enjoy the sites and sounds of the national mall. We went to the Museum of Natural History and saw the Hope Diamond.

So that was pretty cool.  Then we went down to the National Gallery of Art and saw about 15 different representations of Satan and lots of people from the 1500s who had to wear those collar things cause they won't stop licking their stitches.

We also saw this picture of these people who blindfolded a kid and then plahed some sort of game...which I can only assume would be illegal now. It appears to be "watch the kid who can't see trip over the big giant pot thing."

After getting a gatorade and a water each and devouring them as we walked, we went through the main exhibit at the Holocaust museum.  That's another greag thing about Owen being active duty Army and me being Andrew's dependent...we got into the museum right away and didn't have to wait for a time slot.  Nice.
It was now almost 3 in the afternoon and Owen and I were starving.  On Owen's desire to visit some "Washington landmark" that has been featured on No Reservations and Diners, Drive-ins and Dives we went to U-Street-home of Duke Ellington and Ben's Chili Bowl. 
  
  
According to the sign, Ben's chili bowl has been Black owned and operated since 1958. If you are Bill Cosby or President Obama and his family, you can eat there free. If not, you get to pay.
I got a chili half smoke, french fries and a.coke. Owen got a chili half smoke, chili cheese fries and a coke.  I took one bite of the chili-dog-like sausage and I was kn heaven. Here's the thing...I don't even like chili. This was the perfect mix of spices which combined to create an explosive flavor. Sooooo good!!! The only thing thag could have made it any better is a side of sour kraut, although it also would have totally changed the overall direction of the meal. Delicious and highly recommended. I give it 4 gold stars.
  

House to home

Hello friends and neighbors!  How's life?  Well, we here in Virginia have been busy beavers.  Andrew and I have been unpacking like crazy and setting up the house.  Andrew got our lovely apartment in Alexandria right before we got married and my stuff was all shipped here via moving company in May.  When we came home from the honeymoon I hadn't seen the house, but I was very happily greeted by a very nice apartment and I was excited to set up housekeeping.  

We worked hard last Sunday to unpack all the boxes in the living room and kitchen so that we could properly entertain one of Andrew's friends from pilot training who was in the area so he could fly the president around (isn't that nice).  We cleaned and organized like crazy and got pictures hung and the main rooms figured out for the most part.  

This Sunday we worked like crazy to get our spare room cleaned out and unpacked so that my cousin Owen could come and stay with us for a week while he's on leave from the Army.  We're down to only a couple boxes of random stuff that Andrew needs to go through and we're pretty much completely unpacked and organized throughout the house.  We're still working on some more pictures for some picture frames and finishing a "Patriotic" wall in our hallway, but we're done for all intensive purposes.  

Let me take you on a tour of the house.  Here we have the left side of the hallway as seen from the living room.  Just beyond the folding door is our front door.  The folding door is our laundry area and across from it on the right side of the hallway is our hall closet.  (exciting!) This is a sweet picture of our "Family tree." It's one of our wedding pictures from some wonderful people in Hereford.  

 Next we come to the living room.  To the left is the hallway we just saw.  The pictures (as pointed out by Vandrew White) are all of Europe.  2 watercolors from Prague, 2 prints from Venice, an oil from Paris, and two Van Gogh prints.

 Here is Owen on the other side of the couch and behind him is our kitchen and dining area.

 Across from Owen is our fireplace.  Please note the awesomeness of my pinteresting.  Ok... So maybe the giant picture is called an "Engineer's Print" and is available for less than $4 at Staples.  I think they're only available in black and white... Anyway, I put it in a poster frame and then hung it from a curtain rod. I like it a lot.  It think it's pretty much the coolest thing ever.  I'm going to change the ribbon color to provide a little more dimension to the set up, but otherwise I'm pretty proud of myself.

Also notice the picture of Christ.

 When my birthday came around in April, Andrew asked what I wanted.  I told him the normal "a cool CD or a movie or something" answer and then really thought about it.  This Carl Bloch painting is my favorite picture of Christ.  It's taken from a verse in Luke discussing the atonement.  It says that "an angel appeared and comforted him." I find it amazing that Christ, the most powerful man of all time still required comfort as he went through the hardest time in his life. If God would do that to someone then how much more will God do for us in our trials.  Anyway, it's amazing.

I wanted to buy it after I graduated from BYU as a present for myself, but I was moving, etc so I didn't get around to it.  Then I went on my mission and when I came back I was poor, in grad school, and moving around a lot.  Long story short, Andrew got this picture for me as a birthday/graduation/wedding present.  It's lovely and I love getting to look at it in my living room every day.

This is taken standing in the dining area looking back toward the living room.  This framing of the Family Proclamation was done for Andrew and I by Brittany, my super cool former roommate and maid of honor.  She's so cool! 

 Behind the windows in the living room, or through the door in the kitchen is our balcony.  It's not super big, but it's a perfect size for our awesome free patio furniture.  I'm thinking about getting an ivy or something to put on the table.  It's so cute!  Also, funny story.

Owen and I picked up the patio furniture yesterday and set it up.  While Owen was putting the chair on the right down this crazy centipede thing crawled out from behind the cushion.  It was like the color of a scorpion plus the creepiness of a centipede.  It was just uber scary.  However, I'm sure it was not as scary after Owen kicked it off the balcony and following the 4 floor drop to the ground.  Needless to say as a barefoot individual I freaked out every time something moved out there for the next 10 minutes.

 Another view of the patio/awesome free patio furniture.

 Here is our little tv stand (which funnily enough houses CDs and has no tv on it...).  We've got a bunch of pictures of the Washer family and then on a side table about 3 feet to the right of it there are several pictures of the Moynihans.

 Here is one view of our kitchen.  Another funny story... I'm not sure if you can locate it in this picture, but Owen couldn't find the oven tonight.  Take a moment and play a little Where's Waldo and find the only oven-like thing in the kitchen.  He did find it, but said that it was tricky because the little window was covered by dish towels...Tricky dish towels.

 Here's the fridge.  I write the things I need in dry erase marker so I don't forget them when I go to the store.  It's so very effective.

 Here's a view from the living room at the top of the kitchen opening thing... I've got all my vases up there which is pretty cool and looks really pretty with light glinting off of them.

 There's Owen in the kitchen and a better view of the kitchen from the living room.  The War's End Kiss poster is actually in a different place now, but everything else is the same. That's a picture of the San Antonio Temple that the temple people gave us when we got married and a copy of The Living Christ and The Family Proclamation...We're so amazingly mormon now.  haha Also, to the right are pictures of Andrew and I's family.  Hooray for family!

 Inside the door on the right side of the above picture is the spare room.  To the right inside the door are these super awesome and amazing Ikea bookshelves that Andrew and I picked out the other day. Owen and I went and picked them up with his truck yesterday and built them and proceeded to put books on them.  Now they look like this.  Surprise! The bookshelves are the perfect size.  They go from the closet light switch on the left, part at the electrical plug in the middle and end precisely at the room light switch on the right.  Awesome.  Pure awesome is what that is.

 Here are the last 3 boxes that Andrew and I need to go through.  I'm pretty excited about the possibility of being totally unpacked.

 Following are two views of the guest bathroom from the door of it.  The entrance is to the immediate left of the fireplace or the immediate right of the spare room door.  We've chosen a "Texas" theme to decorate.  It's pretty easy to do as my last bathroom was Texas themed.  Also, I would just like to mention that I am totally in love with the shower curtain.  Andrew and I picked it out at Target last week when we got here.

The following two pictures are the view from our dining room window.  It's a nice pretty open view which is really nice because it lets me feel a little less claustrophobic.

Well... That's about it for right now.  Owen and I spent yesterday running errands-going to Ikea, to pick up patio furniture from moving ward member, going to the post office, etc.  Today Owen and I went to lunch with our friend Karin from the BYU days and then this afternoon after Andrew got home, she came over and we all played Skip-Bo.  Tomorrow it's to the sights of DC.  Hooray!!!  Good days!!!