Day 52, June 6, Monday on the Move

Today was a rather business-like day, light of events and special places. Doug slept in a bit later. When he awoke, we fixed breakfast of grits, toast, and eggs-over-medium for both of us. Then we got dressed for the day, pulled up stakes and headed out of the Washington-Baltimore KOA.

Our first stop was to retrace our steps north to go to the Best Buy in Glen Burnie. We needed to trade on of the item we purchased yesterday for the right device: either that our get a return on our money. Having been there the day before, we made better time getting back to the store.

Once we finished our business at Best Buy, we turned south again, made it to I-95 and stayed on the road until crossing into Virginia. We crossed the Potomac and headed into Alexandria, Virginia, eventually making our way to the George Washington Parkway that took is to Mt. Vernon. Mt Vernon is a large house and a large estate. The site you can visit today is only 500 acres of what was once an 8,000-acre estate. Years after Washington's death the house and grounds had gone into decline.

Then, beginning in 1853, a woman named Ann Pamela Cunningham gathered several women for the purpose of restoring the estate to its original condition. They established the Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union, a nonprofit 501ce, which raised the funds and to this day is responsible for 100% of the maintenance and operations of the Mt. Vernon site, including gift shops, dining establishments, and associated facilities (the original distillery and gristmill.) It was fascinating to see American ingenuity at work in the restoration and preservation of the place. It was disappointing to think realize that Americans as a nation had no sense of preserving their own heritage, such that it took the initiative of private individuals to make it happen. Nevertheless, once you see Mt. Vernon and particularly its view overlooking the Potomac River, you can begin to understand why George Washington treasured it all of his life.

Arriving at Mt. Vernon, we first ate lunch, then we toured the grounds -- we did not stay for a tour of the house itself -- purchased some souvenirs, then continued on to our campground outside of Richmond.

Tomorrow we will head to Fayetteville, NC for a one or two-night stay. We haven't decided yet, how long to linger there.