Our first stop along the way was the civil war battlefield at Chancellorsville. You know, Chancellorsville, the place where Stonewall Jackson was shot. If you didn't know that, well, neither did I and I was a History major in college, so don't feel bad.
I'm sure you're really hoping that I have fascinating pictures of the battlefield. But, I don't. It was a field.... surrounded by trees. But, sarcasm aside, I've always been fascinated by being at places where history took place. The kids had a million questions about the Civil War and it was fun to finally have some answers about their questions. When you're a history guy and your boys are always asking you science questions about space and galaxies, or physics questions about how things work, it stinks to always have to respond with "I have no idea". So, I think my kids had some faith in their dad renewed today that I might actually know something about the world.
We drove on through Virginia until we reached Mount Vernon, George Washington's estate just outside of Washington DC on the banks of the Potomac River. Tiffany and I both remember being there as kids because it makes such a big impression on what life was like in the 1700's for both rich people like the Washingtons and also what life was like for their slaves.
So, touring the mansion was eye-opening, and the view off their back porch across the Potomac was unreal. The kids were impressed to see George Washington's office and bedroom, his tomb, the slave-quarters, and Brady was especially fascinated by the dung-repository for the animals to make compost.
Mount Vernon also has a Visitors Center that is so well done that it kept all four kids fascinated reading and watching about American history for over an hour. That's hard to do.
The day ended pretty early for our tourist standards as we checked into our hotel about 6pm. We ordered a pizza and watched a movie together as a family. "National Treasure" was a great way to get us ready for a big day in Washington DC tomorrow!
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