Roadtrips

These past two weeks have been very full! Pam and the family went to Tennessee last weekend for Spring Break so I held down the fort at home and at work. Last weekend, Caitlin, Laura and I went to Arlington National Cemetery. It was beautiful there thanks to the off and on rain we had had the past couple of days. We saw the Kennedy graves, the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and took a tour of Lee's house. There were reenactors at Lee's house doing Civil War dances. It was really cool to visit with them and watch their performance.

Sunday, I drove up to Baltimore to visit Harry, who was in Baltimore doing interviews for a grad program. It was a really nice drive up, not a lot of traffic and some really nice scenery. It was so good to see him and catch up on what everyone's lives back at school. It was great to see a familiar face too after so long in the "big city"!! I can't wait to go back for graduation!

While Pam was out of the office, Matt and I were "in charge." The building is still standing, so we must not have done too bad of a job :)
I spent the week looking for housing. I'm hoping to find an affordable place within walking distance of work. I'm also hoping that that is realistic! So far I've not had any luck, so I will be continuing my search this week.
The weather here has been fantastic. We took advantage of sunny, warm days this week by eating outside whenever we could. We also spent an evening sitting on the grass by the Capitol taking in the sun and the scenery.
We had a half-day at work on Friday for Good Friday. We spent our free afternoon hiking in Maryland. I had a blast! We hiked along the C&O canal and the Potomac River. It was really pretty. The trail was called the Billy Goat Trail, and for good reason. Most of the trail was rock scrambling. It was a fantastic way to celebrate a free afternoon.

  On Saturday we went to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. It was by far my favorite place we have visited so far. It's out in rural Virginia, so Caitlin and I played horses and graveyards on the way. At Monticello we were able to go on three tours. One of the grounds, which were full of flowers and trees, some even planted by Jefferson. We also got to see the vegetable gardens Jefferson kept. Apparently 330 different types of vegetables were grown on the plantation! I guess then you would have lots of options on how you were going to get your five servings a day! Then we went on a tour of the first floor of Monticello (they wouldn't let us go up stairs to see the secret billiard room in the dome). It was full of artifacts from Louis and Clark's expedition, paintings and books owned by Jefferson and original furniture. It was really cool. We also got to look through the cellar portion of the house where the kitchen and wine and beer cellars were. We took a short break to practice our penmanship with a quill and ink and lounge on the huge lawn. Jefferson leveled the top of the mountain Monticello sits on to create the nice lawn we sat on. They removed 30 feet off the mountain to make it level! Quite a feat with no machines. Then we went on a tour of the slave quarters on Monticello and heard a little bit about the enigma of Jefferson's character, that he firmly believed in the equality of people, that they were endowed with inalienable rights and that slavery had the potential to wreck havoc on the nation if it was allowed to continue, yet kept slaves himself, only officially freeing two slaves, probably his own children, in his will. It was fascinating.

Jefferson's grave. He listed his accomplishments on it. It says, "Here was buried Thomas Jefferson Author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom and Father of the University of Virginia." What is interesting, though, is what it does not mention. Jefferson had a low opinion of his tenure as a statesman, so he purposely left out the fact that he was ambassador to France, the first Secretary of State and President for two terms.

 Nice seal

 The vegetable gardens and the view! You can see for more than 50 miles! Jefferson's plantation was 5,000 acres.

 Writing with a quill.

 Tulips are apparently a Mid-Atlantic staple.

 The tree on the left (not yet leafed out) was planted by Jefferson.

Someone wanted to build a development on the mountain opposite of Monticello. The group that runs Monticello wasn't a big fan of the idea, so they bought the mountain. Now they host 5k runs up the mountain. Not any 5ks running down though.

This week is going to be another busy one! Were going to Mt. Vernon, Washington's home, on Tuesday. Speakers this week include Condoleezza Rice and John Stossel. I will also be working on saving Medicare, advocating against debilitating regulations from the Labor Department and researching ways to fix the education system. So, you know, a light week :)

We are also planning a weekend camping trip to Assateague Island, where the wild ponies live, for later this month, so there will be lots of great stories to share in the days to come!