Sometimes you just have to GO FOR IT. Tell em all to go jump in a lake and just DO IT.
Yesterday we visited Mt Vernon and had a great time, but it almost didn't happen. The fact that we "fooled em" made it 10 times as much fun!
But first, let's review the first part of the day in Alexandria:
On a misty moisty morning after rain most of the night, we ventured out and visited Christ Church, where George Washington and Robert E. Lee attended and had their own pew boxes. It was built in 1773 and has been in use continuously since then. Most presidents have worshiped there, as well as Winston Churchill with the Roosevelts on World Day of Prayer for Peace on January 1, 1942. They added the upstairs gallery and choir in 1787, and built the bell tower with the stairs to reach it. To this day, when anyone wants to go to the gallery, they have to walk outside the church and use the stairs in the bell tower.
Here's a picture inside the church, which has looked the same for 230 yrs. It is Episcopal, which the guide called "Catholic Lite". lol
George prayed here, George slept here, George ate here. This house had a plaque that he used to live here for a short time early in his surveyor career. He actually laid out the town plan in his early 20s.
Janet and I then went to the city museum and saw lots of old photos and stories and artifacts they'd dug up from early Alexandria. The nation's first black sit-in occurred here at the city library in 1939 to protest racial injustices (only whites could visit the library then).
We then headed back to the boat to leave for Mt Vernon, but passed this ice cellar site they recently excavated next to Gadsby's Tavern (still there since mid 18th century). They stored ice here that they cut from the Potomac during the winters. Had to keep that beer cold in the summer!
George ate here!! We were cracking up at all the George signs in town. We rounded the corner from the previous ice cellar and there was Gadsby's entrance with this sign.
Okay, so we shoved off from the Alexandria dock at 12:30 headed to Mt Vernon. One of my older guide books said the boat dock there was free. My newer one from 2010 said the dock itself was free, but you now had to buy the $15 tickets to tour the mansion. No problem; we planned to tour it anyway. The tour book recommended you call ahead to make sure there would be dock space.
So I called, and first he mentioned that on Mondays they do not offer shuttle service from the dock up to the mansion and grounds. No problem, we can walk. Then he dropped the bomb -- they would CHARGE ME $80 TO DOCK (it was $2/foot) in addition to the $15 each to tour the mansion. WHAT??? $80 to dock for a couple hours? Most marinas during the trip, with water, electricity, showers, bathrooms, and loaner cars were half of that. So, Janet and I said the heck with them, we're not paying $110 to visit Mt Vernon.
But then we started making what at first was a joke, but it became serious -- why not anchor, use the dinghy, tie to something other than their hoity toity dock and do our visit? SO WE DID! This picture is from our landing spot, and off in the distance is Breaking Away at anchor. We landed at a wall near the dock (that had NO boats) and tied to a tree. It all worked perfectly!! Screw em!
We noticed right away that there were posters everywhere explaining things, for self-guided tours. We just fell in and toured and walked up the hill. We passed George and Martha's graves, farming sites, and finally up by the mansion, the out buildings with their explanatory signs. This picture is of the carriage house. Others explained how their 318 slaves worked and took care of everything. Basically, we got to see everything, except the mansion.
Should we pay to tour the mansion? That was the question we pondered as we sat on the front porch over-looking the Potomac River on a perfect day.
Those Washingtons had a spectacular view, didn't they? We actually sat in the chairs quite a long time relishing that we had pulled off an $80 savings. And we decided to make it a $90 saving by skipping the mansion tour and instead buying a $20 DVD (76 minutes long) about Mt Vernon. We'd take the mansion tour by video!
There's one more picture of the front of Mt Vernon that faces the river. We had finally gotten our butts out of the porch chairs to finish the walking tour and go buy the video. There was actually quite a bit to see, about their lives and the lives of the 318 slaves. George was first and foremost a farmer, on his 8000 acres there. He experimented with new plant species too, and had a greenhouse.
Eventually we finished and made our way back to the wharf. Notice how the dinghy is so hidden inside the tree branches. It makes it look like we were trying to hide. Actually, the current just moved the dinghy back into that spot. But it did look funny all hidden in there.
Here I am pulling the dinghy up to where we could board and return to the boat. It all worked fabulously, made better knowing that we'd shoved their $2/ft docking policy up their noses. (And still not one boat was using the dock.)
It remained a perfect day as we cruised downriver to the same creek where we anchored last Wednesday night (where we watched our two beavers). Now today we plan to visit Colonial Beach, VA, and then anchor in the same place we did a week ago, St
Clements Bay.
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