Monday morning we again headed to the city. Our first stop was the Ford Theater and Peterson House where Lincoln was shot and then died the next morning. We especially enjoyed the Ranger's dramatic story telling of the event.
In the Peterson house we saw the clock that still is set at 7:22, the time that Lincoln died, and the bed on which Lincoln was laid diagonal, due to his height, for the nine hours before he died. Once again, it gave us the opportunity to discuss nationalism, the Civil War and sacrifices.
We stopped into the Hard Rock Cafe next door, which was our kids introduction to this Rock and Roll mecca. I am sure that as we get deeper into the teenage years, we will be searching for this chain in every big city we visit.
After vanilla bean shakes for everyone, we headed to Alexandria, Va. We all decided that at least one of our children should live in this town so that we can visit often. We fell in love with the Georgian and Federalist architecture, the cobble stone streets with gas lamps and the quaint town center. Our first stop was the Torpedo Factory Art Center. This WWI artillery factory has been transformed into one artist studio after another.
The girls could wander from artist to artist, observing statues being chiseled, glass for modern art pieces being cut and our favorite artist of the day, Sheep Jones, paint on her huge canvases. The girls were especially interested in her technique of painting real dresses onto her portraits.
Our last event of the day was dinner at the Gadsby Tavern, the most prestigious tavern in Alexandria during the early years of our country's history. Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe dined here frequently. In fact, Washington had two birthday parties at this tavern during his presidency and Jefferson's inaugural celebration occurred here. Our dinner included Sally Lunn bread, roasted duck (Washington's favorite), and bread pudding and a chocolate balloon for dessert. 
With satisfied children and full stomachs, we began our journey south for the next phase of our vacation in Williamsburg.Washington Favorites:
Ezra: watching one airplane after another all day long come in low into the city for a Reagan Airport landing
Sophia: definitely the duck couple on the paddle boats
Annelise:the Torpedo Art Factory where she could dream of her next art project to create at home.
Jonathan: the paddle boats
Emilie: Gadsby Tavern and the Portrait Museum where she could poke her head into different art galleries as we made out way through the museum
Camille: enjoying an elegant dinner at the Gadsby tavern with my older children
Steve: the Franklin D. Rosevelt Monument, where we could watch the kids run and play as well as reflect on the contributions made by FDR
2 comments:
I'm impressed that the children ate duck, especially after seeing the duck couple climb onto the back of the paddle boat! And how fun to be in a tavern with a history so full of important political figures! I love Arlington, too, and I'm so glad you had a change to enjoy it. Love, Mom
These destinations are new to us. It was fun to see them. So where's the pregnant belly?? Make sure you take a good side shot photo that shows you're expecting so baby has proof she wasn't adopted :)
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