Washington D.C.

Today we covered a lot of territory in our Nations Capital.
Apparantly this is how you spell Capital when talking about the most
important city. And Capitol is specifically for the 'seat of the U.S.
Congress in Washington DC.' I learn something new every day.

Anyway, we returned our rental car this morning and were picked up by
a private driver for the day. His name was Wasi, and he drove us
around for most of the day. We visited Arlington National Cemetary
where we saw President Kennedy's grave, Arlington House and the
changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Our next
stop was the Jefferson Memorial and then the Memorial for FDR. I have
never visited FDR's memorial before and I was quite surprised by how
big it was. I can't say I was particularly pleased by this, as he was
definately not one of my favorite presidents. Where is the memorial
for Adams?

Our next stop was the Lincoln Memorial, as well as the Vietnam and
Korean War Memorials. This is where David got on the phone for over an
hour and a half. It was very crowded in the city with it being Easter
weekend and Cherry Blossom Festival time. Another thing I learned
today is that in 1912 the Japanese gifted us 3000 Cherry Blossom trees
as a gift of friendship, and that's why there are so many of these
trees here.

After our stop at these memorials our driver took us to Union Station
for lunch and then dropped us off at the National Museum of Natural
History, where he left us for the day. It was really nice having him
for the day. It saved a lot of time and energy.

It was bumper to bumper people in the museum, but we still managed to
see a lot, including an interesting exhibit on what they have learned
about the Jamestown settelers and other early immigrants by studying
their skeletons.

Our next stop (on foot this time) was the National Air and Space
Museum. By now Raven was feeling tired, so she and I went to see 'Sun
3D' in the Imax theater while the boys looked at the exhibits.

After a long day it was a long walk back to our hotel, but the White
House was on the way as was a nice restaurant where we had dinner.
The kids still had enough energy to go to the pool for a while, but
now it is time for baths and reading and bed! Only one more full day
on this trip!

Mount Vernon

We checked out of our condo today and started heading north. We had to
stop in Woodbridge at a Lego store. The kids had been looking forward
to that all week. Once they found their treasures we had lunch and
then headed to Mount Vernon. We waited in line fir over 2 hours to get
in to tour the house. The employees said it was a record setting day,
they have never had more visitors there in a single day. I hope that
means that more Americans are increasing their patriotism, and wanting
to learn more about the founding fathers and the principles they
beleived in. At least it was a beautiful day. At Monticello we had a
specific ticket time for our tour, so we didn't have to wait in line
until 5 minutes before our tour. David and I took turns waiting in
line while the other took the kids around the estate.
The house was impressive and very colorful, which I loved. I can see
why Washington said that no other house was more pleasantly situated
than Mount Vernon. There was a neat museum about Washington there
too. He definately sacrificed a lot in the service of our country.

Yorktown & Williamsburg

We got an early start, for us, today; and headed to Yorktown. We
started at the battlefield where we toured their small museum and
watched the video about the battle at Yorktown. Next we drove the
battlefield tour to see where each side was camped, the battle lines,
and the redoubts that the French and Americans captured that led to
the British surrender. We also went to the Yorktown Victory Center,
which is a larger museum, another video, and some costumed
interpreters who helped us learn more about Yorktown. At the end of
the day, I asked the kids what they learned and Nathan was able to
give me a very detailed account of the battle, including the troop
movements leading up to it and what came after, so that is the sign of
a good field trip. This battle was a lot of physical labor for our
troops, digging trenches and fascine and gabbions, and moving heavy
guns. With the French, we had about 17,000 troops, plus 23 French
ships in the river, to the British 5000 troops. They tried to bring in
reinforcements by sea, but they were unable to get passed the French
fleet, so they took their damages ships back to New York. Cornwallis
was too 'sick' to surrender in person, so he sent his 2nd in command.
In response, Washington had his 2nd in command accept the surrender.
This was essentially the end of the war, though it wouldn't be
official until the Treaty of Paris 2 years later. The picture below
was taken in a tent in a re-creation of the army camp at Yorktown.

After Yorktown we headed back to Williamsburg to see more there. We
only had a little over an hour before closing time, but we were able
to visit a few more of the craftsmen, including the jeweler, milliner,
wig maker, post office and book binder. Raven's favorite was the
milliner, where they also told us how they make gowns, by draping the
fabric directly on the person and cutting it out from there. While in
Williamsburg we ran into the Garff's, a family from our ward. Small
world! This is our last night in the Williamsburg area. Tomorrow we
head to D.C. I can't believe it has been a week already!

Williamsburg

We went to tour Colonial Williamsburg today. We had a late start
because David had a 2 hour phone interview with someone they are
considering for the VP of Engineering position. We were able to tour
the church before David got on the phone again. He and Nathan got
separated from us and missed the tour of George Wythe's house, where
this picture was taken. We saw where Thomas Jefferson would have
studied when he was studying law with Wythe. George and his wife
Elizabeth lived here for 30 years and they never had any children.
The Wythe's turned the house over to Washington and his men for about
3 weeks in September to plan for the battle at Yorktown the next
month, which would be the end of the war. After his wife died Wythe
moved to Richmond, which was the new Capitol. He never remarried.

After the Wythe home the kids and I toured the Governors Palace while
David was on the phone. Again. The palace was the home of the royal
governors until the revolution and then it became the home of the
Virginia governors, such as Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson, while
Williamsburg was the Capitol. The original building was destroyed in
the Civil War, but this reconstruction was built on the original
foundation from records of the building.

We ended up going back to our condo for lunch and stayed there because
Raven was feeling feverish. She wasn't feeling well all day and has
been napping this afternoon. Hopefully she will be better tomorrow.

David had more phone calls this afternoon. Fusion-io had a big press
release announcing their $47 m funding today, so he's had lots of
press calls and meetings today.

Monticello

We awoke to a Thunder Hail Storm today, wishing we had this weather
yesterday instead, when we stayed in anyway. We decided it was a good
day for a drive, so we headed to Monticello, which was two hours away.

We did the Mulberry Row tour, where we learned about Jeffersons
slaves. Our tour guide told many stories that made the tour very
interesting.

Next we took the tour if the house. It was fun to see his interesting
designs in the house, like the dumbwaiter in the fireplace mantle and
the closets above the beds. The views from Monticello are beautiful. I
can see how Jefferson could be so conflicted with wanting to get rid
of slavery and keeping his lifestyle at the same time.
Oh well, even though he didn't solve that problem, he was still an
amazing man who fullfilled his mission in life.

In the fort at Jamestown

Aboard the Susan Constant in Jamestown