We had always planned to head out of D.C. and over to Thomas Jefferson's estate, Monticello. But Saturday night we didn't get to bed until late, and our feet were tried, so we started to rethink our plans. Ultimately though, we were changing hotels (to be in D.C. instead of across the river), and we decided to get up and make the trip.
Since we flew Southwest (yay free bags!) we had plenty of space to pack, so we brought the air mattress along, Calib slept on it the whole time in D.C.- which was nice, because all you had to do to make him get up was let the air out.
Since we were headed down to Monticello, we decided we should also make a stop at Montpelier, which is James Madison's estate. They aren't too far apart, and if you're making it to one, and going all that way, you might as well make it to the other.
Montpelier is in Orange, Virginia, about an hour and 45 minutes outside of D.C. The grounds our free, but tours of the house James shared with Dolly are kind of pricey (I think it's like $18). We didn't have a whole lot of time, and were mostly there to visit Madison's grave, so we didn't go into the house. Maybe next time.
But there is a nice visitors center, with a cute little store and restaurant. We checked in there to figure out exactly where Madison's grave is.
The estate is pretty massive, we didn't even see the half of it. But if you walk straight out from the visitors center, through the parking lot, and follow the trail along the fence, you find a nice path that will take you to the Madison family cemetery.
We did get a little sidetracked with the horses.
It's less than 5 minutes of walking from the visitors center, and you can't really miss it. It's at the end of the trail.
Madison's grave sits in the right hand corner of the cemetery, and it's actually pretty simple, considering this is the guy who wrote our Constitution.
Dolly's grave sits just behind is, and is equally as unimpressive.
The cemetery is full of Madison's family, some graves are marked, and some have completely fallen apart.
After our quick stop at Montpelier, we were off another 45 minutes or so to Monticello. The road is, less traveled, you're out in the middle of nowhere, but it is a really pretty ride (although, car sickness alert, it is full of twists and turns and hills).
On the way we passed vineyards (Thomas Jefferson's!) and awesome trails and places we would have loved to stop if we had a bit more time. Honestly, I could spend days in this area- and we just might- we ended up buying a pass to Monticello, so we can get in again anytime in the next year for free. It was only $10 more for the pass than the tickets- and we saved that much with our passholder discount in the gift shop. Anyway, you park at the visitors center at the bottom of the hill, and are given a ticket time for your house tour (we actually didn't have time to wait around for our tour time, so that contributed to our pass decision).
A shuttle bus takes you to the top of the hill, to TJ's house. He designed it, and it's every bit as awesome as you would expect.
Look at the boys sitting on TJ's front porch!
The back of the house is just as impressive.
And the grounds are just gorgeous, even without leaves on the trees, and on a cold sort of dreary day.
The pictures don't really do it justice.
The fish pond is still there too.
Like I said, our tour time was a few hours out, and we didn't have time to stick around for it- but we still got to go in the tunnels underneath the house, and in the stables. The bottom of the house is complete with a gift shop, and while the one at the visitors center is SUPER awesome, I couldn't resist getting my magnet from inside TJ's house!
And, Asa bought me the 'I cannot live without books' sign for the top of home school central. It's probably one of my favorite things I have. That quote is even in my president's book! And I got it at Monticello!
It was pretty busy there, even though it was Easter Sunday, so they had all kinds of hands on activities for kids.
Then we went walking through the part of his house you didn't have to take the tour to see.
We saw the stables.
And where they kept ice.
And where they used the bathroom.
And then down through the tunnels..
You can't really see but the original door is behind the glass.
There's lots of room for beer and wine.
And a section of artifacts found on the grounds.
Plus more stuff for the kids to play with. I think it's awesome when places like this have hands on activities!
We also got to check out the kitchen.
Outside there's a couple out buildings.
The whole place sits at the very top of a HUGE hill, and the sweeping views are nothing short of majestic. You can totally tell why he would build his house up there. I mean, it's gorgeous.
And then you have his garden.
The boys couldn't resit rolling down the hill.
You can follow the trail down to the cemetery where TJ is buried.
Remember on his birthday how we talked about how being president isn't even listed on his grave? Well, here's the proof!
You can't actually get into the cemetery, but his grave is just behind the gates.
The shuttle buses run really frequently, and are happy to take you back down the hill to the visitors center....
...where you're encouraged to take a self taken picture with TJ!
And then we made our way to the greatest gift shop ever known to mankind. You guys, this place was AH-mazing! There's chocolate and coffee, and things with awesome Jefferson quotes. There's seeds and oils and just amazingness.
They also have wine from the Jefferson vineyards, so we bought a bottle to bring home, and the boys ended up with rootbeer made there.
If you ever get the chance, go to Monticello. It's pricey, but it's also amazing. It's one of my favorite places I've ever been. I absolutely loved it.
It took us about 2 and a half hours to get back to D.C.
And then we went to our new hotel, the Hyatt on Capitol Hill.
Our room wasn't quite as nice as the one before, but we did have a sitting area, and two queen beds- plus Calib decided to sleep on the air mattress, so everyone got to sleep in their own bed, which was nice.
We ordered takeout from the hotel bar for dinner. It was like room service, but you could go down and get it yourself so you didn't have to pay all the ridiculous fees.
Asa went back and returned our car, and then rode the metro back. We didn't want to have to pay for parking, and we knew we were going to be staying in the city and could travel by metro for our last two days, so it seemed silly to keep paying for the car. We were all tucked in early because we had an early morning ahead of us.
Next Up: The Easter Egg Roll!
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