So, here we are in the Virginia/Maryland/Washington DC area, so what should we do?? Well, my list of "have to"s is a mile long and would take every waking moment to complete. Well, maybe not every waking moment, but it will keep us busy for the next 2 weeks we are here. But, on to our lesson for Saturday. We spent one week riding around while Chris was at work. I needed to be familiar with my surroundings, after all. I followed the signs to Mount Vernon, because well honestly, I've always wanted to see it. After locating the property, parking, gift shopsfor my future reference, I continued on the road I was on. I passed park after park after park. Wow, I thought! It would take us days to just explore these parks/picnic areas. I just started turning off the main road just to see what these parks contained. First one was just picnic tables and a port-a-potty. Nope nothing to see there. Turned down the next one. Nothing major. Just picnic area, and real restrooms. Hmmm..... that's good to know for the "I have to go to the bathroom" screams I count on while exploring. Upon further inspection while on one of these "Have to" pit stops, I noticed an information board about Jones Point. It was informative; learned it was the oldest river lighthouse. Could see it from where I was but when taking a picture, it was just a white dot across the river. However, upon further research, I learned there was a way to get to it from the other side. That was my original plan for Saturday; I should know by now to never plan. Earlier in the week, we had turned down yet another "Blah, Blah Park" road. As we entered we saw this "structure" that appeared to be almost like a bomb shelter. I could see information boards in front of it, but could never get to them. We decided to make that one of our future excursions. Long story short, work for Chris got cancelled and he wanted to see the park I took the picture of the lighthouse from (you could see his job site from it). So, I do my "to Mount Vernon" trek. Then we decide to got to Fort Hunt Park (the aforementioned "Blah, Blah Park"). We learned ALOT, even Chris and I. We read each board and visited each battery thoroughly. It was educational in my book. We spent a few hours there, the kids asked questions, I read the information to them, we discussed the things that interested them, came up with ideas for lapbooks on the Fort. The kids climbed, looked around, wondered what it looked like in the old days. We speculated on "PO Box 1142", how they accomplished their missions, how they have been forever a great part of history. We learned about FDR, the Depression, the New Deal, the CCC camps President Roosevelt formed. They were amazed that during the depression while working at one of the CCC camps, $30 a month for work was considered alot of money. Ideas formed on ways to expand the lapbooks to other events that dealt with Camp Hunt history. The kids were cold, tired, and educated. We ended the day with a ride through Washington DC, looking for the places we hope to visit in the coming days.
Like I said, tired kids!
