I flew a red-eye non-stop from Sacramento to Dulles on JetBlue. Wallen and I arrived at Dulles within minutes of each other, picked up our luggage and a rental car. We headed towards the Nooter's house in Falls Church. After a cup of coffee with Rob and Barb, Nooter, Wallen and I went out for a leisurely breakfast at the Pancake House.
After breakfast, Wallen and I headed to Mount Vernon. Both of us have read Washington's biography His Excellency in the last six months. We toured the mansion and wandered around the grounds seeing the gardens, the old tomb, the new tomb, the wharf, the Pioneer Farmer Site and the 16-sided barn.
As we were touring the mansion and coming down the back stairs into Washington's study, Wallen reminded me of the parts in the book talking about how Washington would retreat to his study to get away from all of the visitors. It was a neat connection between the book and the real world.
Wallen had suggested on the way to Mount Vernon that we stop at Arlington National Cemetery after Mount Vernon. I was a little skeptical of the idea, but it turned out to be a great stop. Walking through the grounds and looking at the rows of grave markers was more emotional than I had expected. We visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and watched the changing of the guard. We toured the Arlington House and stopped at John F. Kennedy's gravesite.
We met back up with the Nooter's for dinner. We went to Ireland's Four Provinces Restaurant & Pub. I had corn beef and cabbage which was no where as good as Sharon's! In the early years of our relationship, I took Sharon's cooking somewhat for granted. These types of incidents make me realize how good a cook she is.
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