How we spent our Saturday

 Mount Vernon, George Washington's home, on the Potomac.  Of all the places we went, this was probably the most disappointing.  There were crowds of people and the "tour" of the home was really just a walk-through without much interesting information. 

 This is the back of the house overlooking the Potomac River.  It's a beautiful setting.  We sat on the chairs on the porch and it was a little spine-tingling to imagine George and Martha sitting there with their guests.  We learned that Washington, Jefferson and Madison all married young widows.  Washington and Madison had no children of their own.

 This is the view from the back porch.  No pictures were allowed inside any of the homes.  We did see the actual beds upon which all three men (Washington, Jefferson and Madison) died.

 A woman dressed in period costume...  She sat on the porch and told stories of Washington's time to interested listeners.

 This is where George Washington rests.  His wife is to his left.  The doorway in back leads to a crypt where about 40 other Washington family members are buried.  Sometime, years ago, they removed George and Martha's casket to incase them in these vaults and then discovered that they couldn't get them back inside the crypt, so here they lie.  It was interesting to us to learn that most of the founding fathers really struggled with the issue of slavery, even though many of them were slave owners.  George Washington is the only one that freed all his slaves in his will.

 We visited the Pentagon Memorial to the victims of 9/11 on our way back from Mt. Vernon.  It's a series of benches, arranged by year of the victim's ages, going from youngest to oldest.  Their names are on metal plates at the end of each bench and the bench sits above a small reflecting pool.

 It is lit up at night and I'm sure is very beautiful.  The benches of those on the plane that crashed into the Pentagon face toward the building and the benches of those inside the Pentagon face away from the building.  There were 184 victims.

When we arrived there were lots of police around and we weren't allowed to go in.  A guard told us a suspicious package had been left there and he didn't know when the monument would reopen.  We were disappointed and got ready to walk back to the car when we heard an explosion.  They had one of those robots you've seen on the news and they had blown up the package.  A few minutes later they allowed us to go in.