Today was our last day in Washington, and we actually spent most of it in Virginia at Mount Vernon. We’d been there before, many years ago; it is a much more sophisticated enterprise these days!

We started at the Visitor Center and watched the orientation film, then we headed out to explore the grounds before our appointment to take the mansion tour.

We started by paying our respects to the President and his wife at their tomb.

The burial ground for enslaved people who had lived on the estate was not far away; there were two memorials there. The first was installed in 1929 (and was the first such monument in the country), and the second in 1983. Language has changed!

It seemed like a good idea to visit the necessary before taking the mansion tour.

One of these photos was taken in the 21st Century necessary; the other was in the reconstructed version of Washington’s necessary. Can you tell which was which?

We also took a look at Washington’s coach house and one of his coaches. I like our Prius better.

We started our mansion tour in the “New Room”, named because it was the last room added to Mount Vernon.

George Washington himself picked the paint in the dining room; the color is verdigris and was very expensive, so he was showing off his wealth. Good thing he didn’t think of gold toilets!

There were many guest bedrooms; one is called the “Chintz Bedroom” because of the drapes and bedspread. Chintz, too, was not cheap.

Washington had a very functional office; he even had a desk fan over one of his chairs, powered by a servant.

The mansion was warm, so we were happy to be outside again to enjoy the scenery.

Of course there were flowers to enjoy, too.

We got back to the ship and I took advantage of the last of the high-speed wifi from the Wharf; I had to be outside to get a good signal, which meant that the helicopters doing practice runs were very loud. One of the other guests said that they saw a Presidential copter at least once, but I don’t think I got a photo of that one.

This afternoon, the ship’s resident entertainer and expert, Robert Yonskie, gave us George III’s side of the Revolutionary story, complete with a rendition of “You’ll Be Back” from Hamilton. He’s going to be the entertainer and expert on the Fall Foliage tour this fall – we may be back!

We’re en route to Cambridge, Maryland for tomorrow’s tours; it will be a much quieter place than the Wharf. Internet connectivity may be limited tonight, so I’m posting now while we’re still very near DC.

While we slept, the ship sailed to DC and docked at the District Wharf, a new shopping and dining destination on the Potomac River a short walk from the Tidal Basin and National Mall. We didn’t go to either of those places – instead, we joined the morning tour to Arlington National Cemetery.

After clearing security, we got on a tram with our guide, Mike; our first stop was the John F. Kennedy gravesite.

Many Supreme Court justices are buried nearby, including, of course, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and her husband, Martin.

We then went to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to see the Changing of the Guard. There were many veterans at the ceremony who’d been brought in through Honor Flight, and I was moved to see them there.

We also saw the memorials to the Challenger and Columbia astronauts before going back to the bus.

We returned to the District Wharf – Diane and I had lunch at Chopsmith; it was quite enjoyable and a change of pace from eating on the ship. Our timing was good – the place was nearly empty when we arrived but there was a line when we left. And as we left, we saw a fireboat on the Potomac; it was saluting the Yacht Club at District Wharf on their 130th Anniversary.

We didn’t stay on the ship very long because we had another excursion this afternoon, this one a guided walk through Old Town Alexandria. It was raining when we started but cleared up by the end of the tour. We had the same guide as this morning, and he told us many stories of life in Alexandria during the Revolution – but I didn’t get many interesting photos, other than this pipe. It was cast and installed before 1847, so it shows “Alexandria DC” instead of “Alexandria VA”.

When we returned to the ship, we were greeted by a special guest, Ben Franklin, who gave a short talk about his favorite subject – himself. It was a lot of fun and somewhat educational, too.

We met our Rabbi Emerita, Melanie Aron, for dinner; she’s living in DC for the next year or two to be closer to her children and grandchild. It was good to see her again and we had a nice conversation. She gave us a copy of her husband’s new book, This Way to the Universe: A Theoretical Physicist’s Journey to the Edge of Reality; it’s intended to explain interesting aspects of theoretical physics to non-physicists and is guaranteed equation-free! I’m planning to read it on the way home.

We had to start early again today, but the view outside our stateroom was almost worth getting up for all by itself.

We arrived in Colonial Williamsburg about 9am, just as things were opening up for the day. Our guide took us to the blacksmith’s shop; they were getting the fire ready for the day’s activities. One interpreter talked to us while the other tended to the fire.

A few minutes later, the fire was hot enough for them to start making hardware.

The shoemaker’s was also open – he was training a new apprentice (or at least that’s what they told us), but he still had enough time and attention to sew up a shoe while he was talking.

Our next stop was at the textile shop (spinning, dyeing, and weaving). The interpreter there told us about how some of the dyes were made – urine was involved in the blue dyes, much to my surprise.

There was more than commerce, of course; we visited the courthouse (which remained in use well into the 19th Century), where the bailiff helped us with our manners – he explained court customs, contempt of court, and the difference between misdemeanors (which could get you flogged) and felonies (which could get you killed).

Being in a group with a guide was a mixed blessing – she took us to good spots and explained a lot to us, but we had to wait a lot for other members of the group, and she had to repeat things frequently. And she wanted to make sure everyone could find the meeting spot, so she took us there before letting us go – so we only had about half-an-hour to wander around on our own; we found a garden which was planted with various fruits, vegetables, and flowers. They try to use heritage varieties when they can like this China Rose.

Open pollination is important to them, so they encourage pollinators like bees. The interpreter told us that the Welsh Onion is mild-tasting, but we didn’t get to try it.

We didn’t have a chance to go into the Governor’s Palace, but we got close!

We sailed about an hour after we got back to the ship; the next stop is Washington, tomorrow morning.

I grew up in Richmond, Virginia, so I learned about Jamestown, Yorktown, and Williamsburg in school. We even took a field trip to Williamsburg in fourth grade, and I’ve been there many times since – but the closest I’d ever come to Jamestown or Yorktown was driving on the Colonial Parkway. Until today.

Our ship docked in Yorktown early this morning, and after breakfast, we boarded the bus for a visit to Jamestown Settlement, not to be confused with the actual site of Jamestown, which is an archeological dig. Jamestown Settlement is a reconstruction and a museum, and I enjoyed it immensely.

We began our visit by exploring the reconstructed Paspahegh town (the Paspahegh were the Powhatan tribal group living closest to Jamestown). We walked through a house that would have been occupied by an extended family.

Cooking didn’t happen in the houses – it was done outdoors, and we saw a demonstration of food preparation.

We also saw how the Paspahegh made rope from fibrous plants and from animal sinews; here’s an interpreter with a rope he’d spun from locally-grown yucca. The children learned to spin rope when they were 3 or 4; he learned much later, of course, but he can spin up to 10 feet an hour if he’s not being interrupted by tourists.

They’ve built reproductions of the ships that brought the colonists from England; the Susan Constant and the Discovery were in port (the Godspeed was away for maintenance). The Susan Constant was the larger of the two ships and sailed for Virginia with 71 passengers and crew; it was not exactly luxury travel.

We took a quick tour of Fort James, the reconstructed colony. The most impressive building was, unsurprisingly, the church.

We also visited the Governor’s House and met the surgeon, who explained his tools and procedures. Things have improved.

On our way back to the visitor’s center and museum, we saw a couple of bald eagles flying around.

We stayed in Yorktown for the rest of the day to visit the American Revolution Museum. Its chief feature was a reconstructed Continental Army camp, complete with a demonstration of firearms. First we learned about the way muskets, bayonets, and rifles were used – the objective wasn’t necessarily to kill the enemy; scaring them into abandoning territory was just as good. A musket capped with a bayonet was a scary device!

We also were treated to a firing of a six-pound gun; it was loud!

We made a brief stop in the reconstructed farm; they actually grow crops and raise chickens there. We visited the tobacco house where the settlers would dry tobacco in preparation for selling it.

This evening, the ship held the Eagle Society Reception at the Watermen’s Museum. We didn’t get to explore the museum (probably just as well!) but we were visited by two members of the Fife and Drum Corps of Yorktown who explained the role that fifers and drummers played in the war (sending signals, as well as keeping morale up) and played a few brief songs including “Yankee Doodle” and “The World Turned Upside Down”.

We returned to the ship for dinner.

Diane and I took separate excursions again today – she went to the Norfolk Botanical Gardens and Virginia Beach while I took the long bus ride to Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers National Memorial. The tour guide had to be brought in all the way from Williamsburg because the local guides are tied up by the Norfolk International Tattoo.

The drive down was so uneventful that we arrived half-an-hour before the Black Pelican restaurant where we were having lunch was open and we had to wait for them; I walked over to the beach for a quick look and was lucky that I didn’t lose my hat to the wind!

After lunch, we got back on the bus and drove a few minutes to the Wright Brothers National Memorial. Our visit started with a drive to the full-sized replica of the Wright Flyer and its crew as they might have looked just before the first flight.

Only a few of the people on the tour wanted to walk up Big Kill Devil Hill to see the Wright Memorial up close and personal; I was one of them. We waved goodbye to the bus and hiked up the hill (about 80 feet of vertical gain).

There’s an inscription running around the memorial:

In Commemoration of the Conquest of the Air
By
The Brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright. Conceived By
Genius
Achived by Dauntless Resolution and Unconquerable
Faith.

The Wright Brothers picked this area for their flight testing because of the steady high winds, soft sand, and isolation. Two out of the three are still present.

The actual site of the first flight was a few minutes’ walk away. There were four flights in all on that first day; the longest took nearly a minute and covered 852 feet.

From there, I walked to the Visitor Center which was interesting, but not terribly picturesque. I had wondered if our schedule gave us enough time at the Memorial, but everyone was back on the bus before the appointed time – and I wasn’t even the last one on.

It was a long bus ride for a fairly short visit, but I’m glad I went. And I was even able to cull and edit my photos and write this posting on the way back to the ship!