Washington DC - Days 1 and 2

I'm finally able to start getting up some of my photos from my trip to Washington DC earlier this summer! Washington DC was an amazing week-long trip that I took with my family. There is so much about DC that I absolutely loved and some things I did not. I hope to share some of my adventures and discoveries with you through both photos and stories. Since the trip was a week long, I took so many pictures and saw so many things that I have to break up my posts by days. So today, I bring to you days one and two of my trip.

Day One - Fort McHenry

On the first day of my trip to D.C., I stopped at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland. Fort McHenry is the fort where Francis Scott Key penned the words of The Star Spangled Banner - then called The Defence of Fort M'Henry - during the War of 1812.

The flag that stands at Fort McHenry. During the day, the flag that flies is a replica of the flag that stood during the war: 15 stars and 15 stripes.

The Patapsco River near Fort McHenry.

One of the walls on the outside of the fort.

At 5 o'clock, the 15 stars, 15 stripes flag is taken down and replaced with the current American flag. What's really neat is that the people visiting the fort are allowed to help take down the flag and replace it! I was able to help in this process, and it was neat to be able to hold and fold the flag at this historical site.

Another view of the Patapsco River. Along the bank of the river, you can see a couple cannons and how they were placed during the war.

A view of Fort McHenry from the outside.

Day Two - The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Mount Vernon

On the second day, I went to mass in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington D.C. It was one of the largest and most beautiful churches I have ever been in. I went to mass in the lower crypt chapel, and then after mass, I wandered the church looking at the different shrines of Mary. It was so beautiful! Unfortunately, I was unable to get pictures that turned out inside the church, but I encourage you to look up pictures of the inside because it is breath-taking!

The outside of the Basilica.

A side view of the Basilica from the parking lot.

Front view of the Basilica.

 After mass, I went to Mount Vernon in Virginia - the home of George Washington. It was a VERY hot day, and there was lots of walking on this day, but it was still lots of fun. I was able to go on three tours: the Garden Tour, the House Tour and the National Treasure Tour. All the tours were very exciting, but my favorite was the National Treasure Tour. During this tour, we got to see the areas that the cast and crew filmed at at Mount Vernon and learn facts about the movie. As a special part of this tour, we actually got to go into a restricted area of Washington's house: the basement! We got to walk through the basement and see the cornerstone that was actually in the movie. It was amazing! During the Garden Tour, we got to walk around the estate and see the gardens and flowers. All the gardens were gorgeous and it is clear that gardens were a big part of the Washington's lives. The House Tour was also very neat! During this tour, I got to walk through the Washington's house and see the rooms. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed to be taken inside, but I was able to get the outside of the house!

George Washington's house.

One of the gardens inside the estate.

I'm not sure what type of flower this is, but I thought it was pretty! Lots of the flowers were in full bloom.

More flowers.

One of the vegetable gardens.

The well in the kitchen garden.

 One of the outer buildings around the estate. There were many of these.

A far out view of George Washington's house. The grass field that can be seen used to have a trail for the carriages to ride down until Washington decided to cover it with grass. This grass was cut by a few slaves with scythes.

A view of one of the walkways between the servant's quarters and Washington's house. The other walkway connects the kitchen to the house.

Washingon's riding chair. (Read more below.)

Washington's carriage. 

(Goes with picture below.)

Currently, there is excavation for the bodies of Washington's slaves. This is the site where they are digging up the bodies and attempting to name them.

Yet another garden area.

A statue of George Washington inside one of the museums.

This is one of my souvenirs from Mount Vernon. According to the information on the card, this is a real rose picked from the Mount Vernon gardens that was covered in six layers of glass to preserve the color. They had a variety of colors of roses, but I decided on this bright red rose! 

And that concludes the first two days of my trip! I really hope to be able to get the rest up in the next few weeks before school starts, but between finishing summer homework, camping, school supply shopping and just life in general I may not get a chance. Hopefully I will though!

~Emily Silverwing