Camel in Winter

We had never seen George Washington's Mt. Vernon mansion decked out for the holidays, and with it being only about a 20 minute drive from the house, we headed down there last Sunday to check it out.  

You might wonder about the relationship between camels and winter (other than the generally-held belief that the three wise men from the East rode camels on their journey to bring gifts to baby Jesus). 

Well, among the lesser known "fun facts" about George Washington is that he had a fondness for exotic animals, which is why there was a camel there to greet us as we made our way up the path from the visitor's center to the mansion. 

Aladdin was the modern-day equivalent of the camel George Washington brought to Mt. Vernon to entertain visiting children during the holidays in 1787. Aladdin was a gregarious and gentle beast who seemed to be posing and flashing a cheesy, toothy smile in every photo we took. And yes, he was even a good sport when we, and other passersby, yelled out "Mike . . . Mike . . . Mike . . . Mike . . . Mike!!" and "What day is it?!? (a la the Geico commercials).

By today's new construction "McMansion" standards, the Mt. Vernon mansion is smaller looking in real life than you would think.  In its day, though, it was considered to be huge.  The original structure (the center part of the mansion) dates back to 1735.  Under George Washington's stewardship, it underwent two significant expansions to ultimately become the three-story, 21-room edifice that still stands today, unchanged from how it looked in 1799 when George Washington died.

The sweeping views of the Potomac in winter from the back of the mansion were spectacular!

Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside the mansion, so you'll just have to check it out for yourself when you get a chance.  Or,  if you can't wait, you can catch the virtual tour at:  http://www.mountvernon.org/site/virtual-tour/.  

As a special treat for the holidays, we got to go up to the third floor and see the cupola and Mrs. Washington's bedroom and retreat where she spent her remaining years after George Washington died. 

We also enjoyed touring the grounds and seeing the outbuildings (the Blacksmith shop is pictured below) and taking in some of the exhibits and information in the Visitor's Center.

Merry Christmas to all, and hope this blog post finds you happier than a camel on "hump day" (woot, woot!).  Wishing you peace, joy and abundant blessings this Yuletide season!

Our National Treasure

One of the most impressive sights we saw on our East Coast trip last summer was the Washington National Cathedral.  Since we moved to the DC area, we had been watching for an opportunity to take in a musical performance there to see it again and experience its unusual acoustics first hand.

What better opportunity than the annual "Joy of Christmas" concert put on by the Cathedral Choral Society and featuring the Washington Symphonic Brass?

For you history buffs, the idea of having a national cathedral dates back to when George Washington was President, but it actually took over 100 years to get the project off the ground.  The first foundation stone was laid in 1907, and . . . believe it or not . . . it took 89 years to complete!   (Although by cathedral standards, that's actually not that long.)  It holds the distinction of being the longest running construction project in Washington, D.C.  Suffice it to say this limestone cathedral, replete with flying buttresses and an assortment of unusual gargoyles (including Darth Vader), rivals anything you will see in Europe.

"Fun facts" (as Owen is fond of saying):
-  It's the sixth largest cathedral in the world (and the second largest in the United States)
-  The cathedral's great organ has over 10,000 pipes
-  It has 231 stained glass windows
-  Its center tower is 30 stories tall
-  It measures almost two football fields in length

The choir music and brass ensemble were both lovely and festive.  Here's a sample of the Cathedral Choral Society performing at its 2011 Joy of Christmas concert to give you an idea of the sound.  The pictures below share some of the sights.  Definitely go see it if you get the chance.  It's really worth the trip!

Luminescent Good Cheer

We bundled up and ventured out in the cold last night to partake in the USO-sponsored Military Appreciation Night at "Zoolights" at the Washington National Zoo.

The event description promised free admission, free hot chocolate, free cookies, discounted parking, light shows set to music, pictures with Panda Claws and more than 500,000 environmentally-friendly LED lights and all we had to do is show up . . . who could pass that up?!?

Although it was much smaller in scale than the Zoolights display we're fond of at the OREGON Zoo, this Zoolights was worth the trip.

Owen wished he could have seen more REAL animals, but the illuminated ones were pretty cute. 

Our first ever picture with a "Panda Claws."

The musical light show set to classical favorites was quite amazing.

It was an evening full of light, beauty, and joyful good cheer.  It doesn't get much better than that!

We have a few more Christmas-y events planned, so stay tuned for more posts on the lights, sights and sounds of the holiday season East Coast style!

In a New York Minute

Around the same time we learned that we were moving temporarily to the East Coast, we found out that Owen's rare genetic doctor in New York was planning to retire at the end of the year.  Yikes!

Despite our best intentions, we hadn't been back to New York since our initial visit to see her over four years ago, when she confirmed his diagnosis.  We have stayed connected with her periodically via email, but upon hearing news of her retirement, we knew we had to make a trip to NY to see her one more time.  We called in late August, and by some miracle, she had a mid-week slot open in early December, so we booked it and put it out of our minds for a few months.

I could feel my stress level rising as early December--and the appointment time--got closer, not so much because of the appointment itself but because of the time away from school AND the logistics of getting there and back again.  Nonetheless, during Owen's very first week at his new school, we absented ourselves from the new routine and pointed the car north to "the City that never sleeps."

New York looks pretty close to Northern Virginia (at least on a map, if you don't factor in traffic!), so we decided to drive the 250 miles by car.  Because this was going to be the first of what we hope are several trips to the Big Apple during our East Coast adventure, our plan was to make it a quick one-overnight trip . . . a few hours for the medical appointment and a half day of sightseeing.

In true Hobbit-like fashion, our trip was filled with minor mishaps and more adventure than we planned, but we made it there and back again!  The following are some observations from the trip:

-  The pace of things is definitely faster the farther north one goes.  It was a grueling, sleepless, stress-filled, 31-hour gauntlet, yet the trip was over in a blink, or as they say, in a "New York Minute."

-  I might be a Naval Officer's wife, but I can curse like a sailor when circumstances warrant (Owen reported that I said the 'f' word 17 times, and the 'mf' word 34 times).  I think he lost count of how many times I said the 's' word or he would have reported a total on that one, too.  Yes, the aggressive drivers and traffic were just a wee bit stressful for this Oregonian, and apparently I used my words as a way of coping.  Ha!

-  We should have heeded the advice of the DC-area friends who strongly urged us to get an "E-Z Pass" before the trip.  Who knew it was predominantly toll roads and bridges between DC and NY?   We lost track of how many times we had to stop to pay cash tolls and the exact amounts, but we estimate it was $60-70 each way in tolls alone.  An E-Z Pass would have saved us time AND money.

-  My youngest son is an awesome sport.  He endured innumerable tests that day and the medical visit lasted almost 7 hours instead of just a couple, but he was patient and cooperative and even entertaining, as is pretty typical of him.  Here's a pic of him taken when we arrived at the medical center:

-  My oldest son has some AMAZING navigation skills.  The "Maps" app on my iPhone led us astray more than once, but he was right there analyzing the map, expertly making executive decisions on our route and confidently calling out highways, roads and exit numbers.  Anyone contemplating "The Amazing Race" or any kind of urban orienteering would be lucky to have this kid by your side, and he doesn't even drive a car yet!

-  Rain can definitely put a damper on sightseeing in NYC.  The usual breathtaking views driving into Manhattan were obscured by fog and heavy rain that day that never let up, which caused us to cancel our planned afternoon adventure to the Empire State Building.  (You can barely see the Statue of Liberty off in the distance in the second photo.)

-  Try not to schedule a trip to New York City when there is a "gridlock alert" in the city.  The planned Christmas Tree Lighting in Rockefeller Center that afternoon, plus the additional folks that came out to protest the failure to indict the NYPD cop in the Eric Garner chokehold death case, gave new meaning to the term "gridlock."

-  Don't be too busy to notice the guardian angels that are sent your way.  It wasn't lost on me that the name of the car driver that expertly chauffered us into the city from our hotel was named "Gabriel." I don't know why, but he willingly braved the gridlock to come back into the city to rescue us that afternoon when we were cold, wet from the rain, exhausted from the medical appointment, and desperate to get out of town.  I'm not sure how we would have gotten out of the city if he hadn't come and rescued us.  You can just catch a glimpse of him in the rear view mirror of the picture below.

-  Final observation:  Fridays are the BEST, and it really is always Friday at T.G.I. Friday's!  We broke up the drive home and recovered ourselves a bit by stopping for a bite in New Castle, Delaware.  From the minute we pulled into the parking lot ("shut . . . up"), we were cracking each other up with lines from one of our favorite movies, "Zookeeper," with Kevin James.  Our waitress had heard them all, but she was a sweetheart and laughed when Owen ordered "30 oranges." Turns out it was one of her favorite movies, too.  :)

Shenandoah

In the spirit of adventurers who have gone before, our Corp of Discovery's mantra for this year is "carpe diem."  We promised each other before we took on this opportunity that we would use every spare minute to see some historic site or take in a museum or artistic or cultural event.

Last Sunday we had our first chance to do just that.  We packed a picnic lunch and headed out the door!

Shenandoah National Park is only an hour and a half west of the DC-metro area.  It was a beautiful, sunny day, so we decided to drive a portion of Skyline Drive, a road that runs along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are part of the larger Appalachian mountain range.

We entered at the farthest north entry point at Front Royal.  The fall colors had probably peaked about a month before, but it was beautiful nonetheless.



There were overlooks around every corner, and we saw lots of deer.








The views looking down on the Shenandoah Valley to the west and the layers of mountains as far as the eye could see were breathtaking.



We reluctantly left Skyline Drive at Thornton's gap, one of the passages through the Blue Ridge mountains used by Confederate General Stonewall Jackson to move his troops during the Civil War.  There were many Civil War battles fought in and around the Shenandoah Valley from 1862-1864.  The Union ultimately took control of the Shenandoah Valley, but the Confederates had some successes and used it to screen their movements and make headway towards Gettysburg.

We look forward to seeing more of the Shenandoah Valley when the wildflowers are blooming in the Spring!

Vicksburg

Random post for those Civil War buffs out there . . . .

We weren't really planning on doing any sightseeing after leaving Louisiana.  We had some seriously long driving days ahead of us to make it to DC by November 11th.

However, we couldn't resist making an unscheduled stop when we were cruising along I-20 in Mississippi and saw the signs for Vicksburg, MS.  How could we pass by the hallowed ground of one of the most important strategic battles that proved to be a turning point in the Civil War?!?

We quickly downloaded the "app" and set a dest on the ol' map app for the Vicksburg National Military Park.  Thank goodness for smart phones, and the Battle Apps put out by the Civil War Trust are amazing!

In case your Civil War history is a little rusty, Owen's synopsis of the significance of Vicksburg during the Civil War is as follows:  "It was one of Grant's greatest career achievements during the Civil War.  By laying siege to and capturing Vicksburg, he had taken control of the key Confederate-held Mississippi River and split the Confederacy in two."

There's something about seeing the actual terrain on which a battle is fought that really brings history to life.  The views of the Mississippi River from the Confederate works on the top of the hill were spectacular.  Samuel was amazed at how many pieces of artillery they staged on these hilly positions because it had to be an arduous task trying to get the guns up the steep slopes.

We also saw the remains of the USS Cairo, a ironclad gunboat that was dredged up from the bottom of the Mississippi River about 50 years ago and was partially reconstructed for display in the park, and we paid our respects at the National Military Cemetery, where 17,000 Union souls were put to rest.

All-in-all, well worth the time and time well spent!