A Day Out - Mount Vernon

We've been super duper lame lately, so last weekend I suggested we go to Mount Vernon for the day. It's only about an hour from Baltimore and neither of us had ever been, so I thought it was a good choice. The weather was a little chilly, but it was a pretty gorgeous day.

The entrance fee for adults was $15 each. We both thought that was excellent value for money, especially since we ended up being there for 5 hours. Yeah, we got our money's worth. Apparently we were there on a good day because we heard a woman on the phone talking about how it was empty compared to the last time they visited. I guess in the summer it is just wall to wall people which would be pretty miserable. The entrance fee included two short films at the visitor's center, a guided tour of the house, and access to all of the outbuildings, grounds, museum and education center, and Washington's crypt. After April you can pay an extra $5 to tour the distillery, which we'll do when we go back next time. We also ate lunch at the Mount Vernon Inn Restaurant was nice and oldie worldie. You can't take pictures in the house, which is really a lot smaller in person than you'd imagine (even with 10 bedrooms). They have done a really beautiful job at restoring the property, but I think I was most enamoured with the red roofs against the views of the Potomac River. It's a really beautiful spot and you could see why Washington never wanted to leave!