We had a great time toasting the New Year with a couple of friends, and then spent the first day of 2013 at Mount Vernon. It was a great start to the new year. I’m back at work this morning, but it’s been a wonderfully slow day so far. I’m happy to ease my way back in after two 4-day weekends in a row!

Mount Vernon

Getting ready to go on an adventure with the Washingtons!

George Washington’s mansion:

Waiting in line for our house tour! During the holidays they open the third floor of the house, which is normally closed off during the rest of the year. The third floor has storage rooms, some guest bedrooms and the room where Martha Washington lived after the President died. She aslo died in this room.

Views of the Potomac River from the mansion. This view across the river has been preserved and looks basically like it did in the late 1700’s.

We also explored the plantation grounds. George Washington had over 300 slaves that ran his plantation. There is lots of farmland and animals.

A major highlight for me was seeing the turkeys pardoned by President Obama on Thanksgiving. Cobbler and Gobbler will live out their final days at Mount Vernon. Turns out, however, that turkeys are bred to be eaten, and will live less than a year after reaching full size. 

 Finally we saw George Washington’s tomb, and a slave memorial.

On our way home we stopped at Red Robin (we are perpetually on the hunt for Red Robin as there are none nearby) for dinner and then decided to see This is 40. It was hilarious and a totally awesome way to end the first day of 2013.

Well, enough slacking – back to work. My Dad is heading back from Kenya tomorrow and has a nearly 12 hour layover in DC. We are going to pick him and Coretta up from the airport at 7:30 tomorrow morning and spend a couple of hours with them before they head back to Seattle. I can’t wait to hear about their trip!