This past weekend I went to visit Geroge Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate in Virginia. Despite my least favorite season starting early and blessing us with what was probably the coldest day… ever, I still went. Snow and wind aside, I was still determined to go to Mount Vernon because I’ve never been… and I heard there was a camel there for Christmas. :3

I really enjoyed the museum portions of the estate as well as the mansion. I was unable to take pictures inside, but their clever thinking made me buy a book with pictures in the gift shop.

There was this one exhibit which opened to remind me of something like “George Washington CSI.” There was a fake lab where they showed a video of how they re-created George Washington’s appearance at different ages in his life. Kind of freaky, as there were like miscellaneous legs and arms laying around… and kind of extra creepy when you turn the corner to see the 19 year old Washington at his first job as a surveyor. Weird. Cool, I guess, but still weird. XD Kinda too real.

Other exhibits included George Washington and His Generals which included pistols, cannon balls, swords and other artifacts. One of the items we stopped to look at for a long time was Washington’s Diamond Bald Eagle which the weirdo guard guy said was only on display to the public for the third time ever. Kinda neat. Don’t know when I’d see that again.

Despite being such a crappy day, weather-wise, it was still pretty busy there. I think I want to go back again in the spring or summer when the gardens aren’t so dead looking. The place is huge! When I managed to get my frozen claw of a hand out of my pocket, I took some terrible photos I’d like to share with you. You can see them after the cut. Just click the link ’cause I even put some good descriptions with each image and there are also some informative web links.

Learn Stuff:
Click the links below each image to learn more about the place or object.

Virtual Tour of the Mansion	The Smokehouse	18th Century Riding Chair
The Coach House	Gingerbread Mount Vernon	Miniature Mansion

The Mount Vernon website also has a lot of other information. I especially like the exhibit sections such as George Washington and His Generals. It gives a good idea of what was at the museum.