Washington's Birthday at Mount Vernon

I admit that usually,holidays like Presidents Day just mean another day to do errands, watch a movie or vegetate at home. Today was the exception. A while ago, someone told me that Washington's Birthday is a really good day to go to Mount Vernon because admission is free and they have special events. Why not?

As you can see above, there were a lot of people who had the very same thought. This was just a small part of the line waiting to get in when we got there before they even opened.

Here is the great house itself. I took this picture standing on the bowling green. You can see the podium flanked by 2 flags at the end. A bit later in the day, there were reinactments on the green and the dignitaries (including Washington!) sat there to watch.

The forecast for the day was rain. We almost didn't go because of that but I'm so glad that I ignored my misgivings because the day was gorgeous. It did rain- but not until we were in the car heading home at about 2. This picture of the cupola on top of Mount Vernon shows the blue sky and puffy clouds.

Here's another perfect place to appreciate the day. This is the back porch of Mount Vernon. I can totally see why Washington called this place his paradise. Can't you feel the serenity?

Don't you wish that you had such sweeping views of the Potomac from your back yard? You can just barely see a few heads at the bottom left of this picture but, in reality, the lawn behind Mount Vernon was filled with people. Children were running around and everywhere you looked people were taking in the views. Not only was the day mostly sunny - it was warm as well. We walked the grounds jacketless and even ate lunch al fresco.

We finished our tour of the mansion just as the demonstrations were taking place. We found a great spot to observe. There were a bunch of other photographers there including one who used to cover this event for the Army. He was retired now and just taking pictures for his own pleasure (with a kick-butt Nikon) but he gave me a few pointers on what to shoot and where. It was so helpful and I had a great time.

Of course, the day wouldn't be complete without fibery stuff so here's the Spinning Room. Heh! This is still a knitting blog after all.