Mount Vernon
Because David has to endure a root canal tomorrow and I still have boatloads of vacation time to burn, I took the day off to go be a tourist with him. We went to Alexandria and picked up a river cruise to Mount Vernon.
I am fond of tourist river cruises. They’re especially nice as a change of pace from tromping around on foot, David and I found in Montreal. The Potomac isn’t as pretty as the St. Lawrence, but it’s not bad. We also picked a picture-perfect day, not so hot that walking was unpleasant, but not so cold that the stiff breeze on the river didn’t feel good.
Before we entered the grounds, which are a no-food zone, we sat on a log bench by the river to munch up a couple of apples. A water-monster made his presence known, which made us feel right at home, and then a great blue heron hovered his way in and stalked the river-wall nearby looking for—well, more water-monsters, probably.
And then another one sailed in a little way away with the same aim in view. I happened to have the binoculars when they both took off, so for just a moment I had both of them in view—along with the third one. Wherever he came from.
The brown donkey in the Mount Vernon paddock didn’t mind us petting him, though the arrogant white rooster expressed considerable disapprobation. The gardens are neat as a pin and very flowery this time of year. They don’t seem to be having much luck with their fruit trees, though.
The house is a lesson in lack of ostentation that not a few folks could stand to learn from. I rather liked the dodge of putting sand in paint to create a faux-stone exterior. The view, of course, is quite magnificent.
And as we waited on the wharf to hop the boat back to Alexandria, we saw ospreys sailing overhead and cormorants swimming in the river. The boat passed a heron standing sentinel on a buoy, and another buoy sporting a rickety gulls-nest (complete with gull). We stopped for dinner in Old Town Alexandria, then walked back to the metro and came home, tired, happy, and full to the brim of quite good Indian food.
I am pondering the hypothesis that great blue herons do not actually have bodies, just wings and legs and long snaky neck somehow attached to each other. Because, really, how can they find room to fold up those immense wings and still have space for a body?