For the 2nd and last day with the car, we took on an ambitious agenda. We skipped going out for breakfast and quickly ate cereal with milk that we got from a Safeway on the way back from Gettysburg last night. This allowed us to get on the road early. Our first stop was the
National Arboretum which is clearly better visited in late spring or summer. Nothing much was blooming, but we enjoyed the open area and the Capitol Columns.
Our next stop was a good 45 minutes drive to the west to the Virginia side of
Great Falls National Park. The falls here may not look like much in the photographs compared to the great heights of other falls such as Multnomah, but the Potomac packs quite a punch here. We saw a lone kayaker (is that smart?) braving the rapids, and even getting out and hiking back up to try other more difficult routes.
For our final stop, we headed South to
Mt. Vernon, George Washington's residence. Before heading out, we bought tickets online for a "National Treasure" tour which offered behind-the-scenes looks at areas used or inspiring scenes from the movie, National Treasure 2. This included the creepy basement area and vaults, the ice-house, and an otherwise closed extent of the waterfront walkway. After the tour, we wandered the estate, visiting Mr. and Mrs. Washington's tomb, the memorial marking the graves of some 316 slaves that worked the estate, and then toured the mansion itself. The mansion is adorned with original artifacts where possible and other period era items to fill in the gaps.
We headed back to drop off the rental car in the nick of time. After dropping off our stuff at the hotel, we headed out to dinner at
Cafe Asia where we ate some sushi, tom ka soup, fried rice, and gyoza. The place was loud, loud as a high school cafeteria. We were glad to get out after less than an hour so we could hear ourselves think. One other very strange thing about this place, the men's and women's bathrooms are combined into one room where every other stall (completely enclosed) is girl/boy. The sink was a giant trough with strange faucets that blasted water out at the speed of gallons per second.
We walked back to the hotel via a loop around the white house, which is lit up very well and looks amazing at night. Tomorrow we plan to go to the zoo.
For the 2nd and last day with the car, we took on an ambitious agenda. We skipped going out for breakfast and quickly ate cereal with milk that we got from a Safeway on the way back from Gettysburg last night. This allowed us to get on the road early. Our first stop was the National Arboretum which is clearly better visited in late spring or summer. Nothing much was blooming, but we enjoyed the open area and the Capitol Columns.
Our next stop was a good 45 minutes drive to the west to the Virginia side of Great Falls National Park. The falls here may not look like much in the photographs compared to the great heights of other falls such as Multnomah, but the Potomac packs quite a punch here. We saw a lone kayaker (is that smart?) braving the rapids, and even getting out and hiking back up to try other more difficult routes.
For our final stop, we headed South to Mt. Vernon, George Washington's residence. Before heading out, we bought tickets online for a "National Treasure" tour which offered behind-the-scenes looks at areas used or inspiring scenes from the movie, National Treasure 2. This included the creepy basement area and vaults, the ice-house, and an otherwise closed extent of the waterfront walkway. After the tour, we wandered the estate, visiting Mr. and Mrs. Washington's tomb, the memorial marking the graves of some 316 slaves that worked the estate, and then toured the mansion itself. The mansion is adorned with original artifacts where possible and other period era items to fill in the gaps.
We headed back to drop off the rental car in the nick of time. After dropping off our stuff at the hotel, we headed out to dinner at Cafe Asia where we ate some sushi, tom ka soup, fried rice, and gyoza. The place was loud, loud as a high school cafeteria. We were glad to get out after less than an hour so we could hear ourselves think. One other very strange thing about this place, the men's and women's bathrooms are combined into one room where every other stall (completely enclosed) is girl/boy. The sink was a giant trough with strange faucets that blasted water out at the speed of gallons per second.
We walked back to the hotel via a loop around the white house, which is lit up very well and looks amazing at night. Tomorrow we plan to go to the zoo.
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