Day 2 - Cruise to Mount Vernon!

OK, so today I went on a cruise to Mount Vernon from Washington, DC. Let's see how THIS day started out.

Had a terrible night once again, not sleeping. Was nervous about moving hotels, so that was kinda in the back of my mind. So, I get my stuff mostly packed up. This cruise is supposed to go until 3 and check-in at the new hotel is at 4. So plan - finish the cruise, come to my hotel, get my stuff, check out, go to new hotel.

So, getting to the cruise. I get a completely, completely incompetent cab driver. He had NO clue where we were going, even though I had a fucking map with me. I ended up DIRECTING him where to go...ME, who has never been to DC before. I'm like yelling at the dumbass. So, we FINALLY get where I need to be, just in time.

So, get on this ship...and I unfortunately didn't get a picture of the ship...darn :( Oh well. Anyway, it's 3 stories...the bottom deck is fully enclosed and air conditioned with a snack bar. The 2nd deck is fully enclosed but they didn't have it open for us. And then the top deck is all open with chairs and benches. So, we all headed up to the top deck and at that point I went "wow, I'm sure glad I have a visor with me." It was sunny and beautiful today. Crazy hot, but at least it wasn't like breathing water like the day before had been. So, we head out and the captain chat about some of the stuff along the way. Here are some pics from that...I'll try not to go too crazy with the pics.

OK, first one is hard to see. But it's where the Marine One helicopters are kept.


This was the bridge that we went under. It does go up and down, but never during rush hour. They have it all timed and stuff. It was also under construction.


This is Fort Washington. The river is at it's deepest in the middle, but only about one boat length towards the short, it's so shallow that you can walk to shore. So, they built the fort there b/c it was a big security problem. Anyway, it apparently has never been attacked. The walls are like 25 feet thick at the bottom.



So yeah, the pics were kinda hard to take b/c the river is HUGE. So, everything's a ways away. We also passed a tribute to the Titanic, the Military College, the Marine Research Center, the airport (lots of planes really close above us landing), and some parks and stuff.

So, we got to Mount Vernon. This is the estate of George Washington. Firstly, let me say...the outside historic stuff was cool...but was the kind of stuff you would expect. The inside...WOW. I was impressed. I went to see a 15-minute movie...it was in an IMAX. And IMAX for god's sake!! They had fog and it snowed on us and the chairs shook. It was crazy!!! So impressive.

I did see G. W.'s dentures and they weren't wood and they were gross. They didn't let you take pics of them...but that's cool with me...they're pretty ucky.

Anyway, here are some pics. I took lots b/c I was like "hey! This reminds me of this person!"

This first pic is of the Mansion. I didn't get to tour inside b/c the lines for the tour were insane. I'm not real disappointed though. Man


This was just a very cool old car. Yay old car!


Jeremy! It's a "dung receptable"! Even George Washington believe in compost/maneur use...more info below somewhere.

Dad! Cool old fire hydrant.

Dung Repository Information!!

Ooooo! I found something Canadian in this crazy country!!!!

Saielna/Sneak! It's your room! But in real life at a historical site!


Andrew! George Washington was a surveyor, just like you!!!

G. W. 's tomb. I wanted a cool pic beside it like my one of Diefenbaker, but I had this feeling that the Americans might take offense to that...

A tribute to G. W.'s slaves. He freed them all in his will when he died.


Sandy and Colleen! You want a donor wall...check OUT this donor wall!! It's two stories high and crazy nice. All marble.


Chris!! It's Rafiki's tree!! Speaking of which...we need to GET Rafiki...hmmm...


Anyway, those are the pics. Sorry some aren't up and down, I'm being lazy and not turning them, lol.

So, after that, being in the heat for so long, once everyone got back on the boat, they were mostly like sitting around doing nothing like me, haha. Very few people went up to the top deck in the open...it was just too hot.

So, then I got a taxi and it was time to get out of my one hotel and into another. Well, I got the BEST cab driver ever! He was just like "give me the street address and I go there". I didn't even have to show him my map or anything! He rocked!! It was quite impressed. Gave him a big tip b/c he rocked.

So then yeah. I'm now in my nice swanky hotel room (see below post for more info). And I think I'm just gonna enjoy it. I'll go check out the monuments when I'm staying in the Hilton. I have a number of free evenings during my conference. I figure if I'm paying this much for this suite, I might as well really enjoy it.

Anyway, this has taken forever, so I'm gonna stop typing now, hehe. More to come!