On July 21st, I checked into the Ontario Airport super early in the morning and began a journey that I will never forget! After a layover in Dallas, I landed in Richmond, Virginia, picked up my rental car, and drove to Laurel, Maryland, where I'd be staying for the next couple of days.
Hello Richmond!!!
The next morning I woke up pretty early and prepared for a day that was a little daunting because I would be navigating the Metro (subway) and Washington DC all by myself. If you know me well, you know that I get lost everywhere I go! Seriously, everywhere. So, as you can imagine, I was a little bit nervous. I made it to Greenbelt Station and, with my Metro card in hand, I dove in! I quickly learned that Metro "regulars" are the kindest, most helpful people ever! Before going to the trains, I stopped to check my map just to make sure I knew exactly where I was going and, as I did that, this man stopped and asked me if he could help me. I told I was new to the whole train station thing and where I was headed and he insisted upon walking me all the way to my train before heading over to his train. On the way, he gave me some helpful hints, like that people who want to stand on the escalator stay to the right, so the left is clear for people who are in a hurry and need to walk/run up the escalator; he told me that it's not a big deal, but that some people get pretty bent out of shape if someone's in their way. I'm glad I didn't have to find that out the hard way. He also pointed out the different lines and other things that helped me a ton during the trip! I'm so grateful for the kindness of strangers!
My first solo Metro ride ran seamlessly and, as I ascended the out of the Metro station and onto the streets of Washington DC, I remember getting this rush of excitement! I love it here and it had been so long since I'd been here last! 14 years, to be exact! I saw the Navy Memorial statue and knew I was in the right place. The first place on my itinerary was Ford's Theater and the Petersen House. How amazing to be in such an important historical place!
After that, I went to the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, among other documents.
As I was waiting to go through the metal detectors a news crew came up and started filming. Apparently, the little girl, two people ahead of me, was the millionth visitor to the Archives! I don't know if she was the millionth of this summer or if this year, but she was taken out of line and got to meet the National Archivist and be interviewed. If you know me well, you know that I do not enjoy being filmed and ending up on the news would be my worst nightmare, so I'm glad that I wasn't the one millionth visitor, but I'm glad I was there when it happened because it was kind of a cool thing to watch!
I waited in line for about 10 minutes, which was not bad at all, and then got to see those amazing documents! I love history and am particularly interested in the making of America, so this was a very inspiring and almost sacred experience for me. I thought of those brave men who pressed their hand to the parchment to sign a document that changed the world. A document that was inspired by God so that His children would have a land in which they could worship Him freely, according to the dictates of their conscience. It made me sad to think of how these freedoms are now being stolen from us, despite the efforts of those men, who risked everything and put their lives on the line to create and then preserve a land choice above all others, a land prophesied about! What an amazing experience!
Last time I was here, we spent a lot of time in the Smithsonian Museums and I loved it, but this time, there just wasn't enough time to see everything, so, before the trip, I did my research and narrowed it down to the things that I really wanted to see. In the Museum of Natural History, I really wanted to see the Hope Diamond! What a beautiful jewel! The fact that it's so old, and the history of it, makes it so fascinating!
Next up: the Smithsonian Museum of American History! There were tons of amazing things to see and I couldn't possibly include them all here, so I'll just share some highlights. This is George Washington's uniform! I seriously geeked out over this one, especially since there's a very famous painting of him wearing this very outfit!
Here it is!
And here's one of the sunstones from the original Nauvoo Temple!
The original Kermit!!!
These are just a few of the very cool things in the museum! Another highlight was one that isn't allowed to be photographed. It's the flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner, the one that was still there, flying proudly over Fort McHenry after the battle. It's huge, symbolic, and rich in history, and I love it!
My next stop was the Air and Space Museum! Since my grandpa Wheeler was a tail gunner in the Air Force, I've always been fascinated with aviation and old planes. This means that I've been to a ton of air museums and seen a lot of cool stuff, which also means that, with such a short amount of time, I would probably skip the Air and Space Museum. That was the plan until I did some research and discovered that the Spirit of St. Louis was sitting on the ground! It's usually one of the planes suspended in the air and you can't really get a great look at it, but it was having some restorations done to it and so they put it on the ground for a while. This immediately put the museum back on the itinerary. I have to admit that I was kinda starstruck when I saw it!
After wandering around the Mall for a while, I took a tour bus to the dock to take a river cruise of the Potomac. It's a very long story, but it took about two-hours to get across town on that thing (awful experience) and I missed the boat I wanted to take and had to take the next one. Then, I almost didn't make that one either, and it was the last cruise of the day. As the bus pulled up, I ran out and down the street to get to the boat just as it began to pull away. I screamed for them to wait and told them the bus took forever to get there. I was able to convince the guy to stop and come back (the boat had only pulled away a tiny bit). They did not, however, pull down the gangway and I had to make a little jump over the water into the boat. Fortunately, I made it! At first I was mad, but then I decided that the little unexpected things are what make life such a great adventure! Such beautiful views from the Potomac!
After the river cruise, I got back on the bus (ugh) and headed to Lafayette Square, which is right behind/in front of the White House. I had scheduled a DC ghost tour just for fun and Lafayette Square was our meeting place. The tour didn't end up being quite what I was looking for, but I did get to hear a lot of historical stories, which I love, so it all worked out! This picture was taken before the sun set, but the ghost tour did take place in the dark!
After the ghost tour, I made my way back to the Metro and then drove to the Baltimore Airport to pick up Diane. It was a late flight,so when we got back to our hotel in Laurel, we went right to bed to prepare for an early morning and a very full day!
The next morning, we woke up earlier than anyone should ever wake up while on vacation, but we had a ton of cool things planned, so we were up and out before the sun! We took the Metro to the Mall and visited Washington Monument, before heading to Union Station to check our bags in. Both the Capitol and the White House (especially the White House) limit what you can take in, so we checked our backpack/purses in and walked to Diane's Congressman's office.
We had scheduled a tour of the Capitol and we were the only two on the tour, so it was awesome! Our guide took us all over and told us a bunch of cool stories!
After the Capitol tour, we were able to tour the White House! I have ALWAYS wanted to do this!
The East Room!
So much amazing history in this room!
This is the painting of George Washington that Dolley Madison saved from the White House as the British set it on fire during the war of 1812. I'd heard that story all my life and was SO excited to see it in person!
The Green Room!
The Blue Room!
The Red Room!
Next, we went to Arlington National Cemetery. We took the tram around to the different stops and went up to the Lee Mansion/Arlington House, which is where Robert E. Lee wrote his letter declining the offer to lead the Union Army. There's a cool story associated with this event and I have always wanted to see it!
The view from the house is not too shabby!
In front of the Lee Mansion!
The desk in the corner is where General Lee wrote his resignation. He was asked to head up the Union Army in the Civil War and he was very conflicted about it. He was a Southerner and Virginia was his home. He shut himself in this room and paced, fasted, and prayed, and would not come out of the room until he had made the decision. When he emerged from the room, he had penned the letter that changed history! I'm a huge nerd and am a sucker for a good history story and feel it's so important to know the little stories behind big events and to actually come to know the people involved. I love history! Diane and I were a little bummed because we didn't have time to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and we didn't get to see the Iwo Jima monument, but we were really in a time crunch, so we just had to miss them. We headed back to our tour bus, where we embarked on a looooong journey around Washington DC, so that we could get back to Union Station to pick up our belongings and meet up for our Monuments at Night Tour.
We actually had a lot of fun hanging out on the bus ride together! We rode on the top of the double-decker bus so we could see more stuff!
DC's China Town
This is The Willard Hotel, where the terms "lobbyest" and "lobbying" became popular. Ulysses S. Grant used to hang out in the lobby drinking brandy and smoking a cigar and people would come and ask him for stuff. Hence the term LOBBYist.
We finally reached Union Station where Diane and I picked up our stuff, grabbed some dinner and then met up with our evening tour. We weren't especially fond of the hop on/hop off bus tour we had during the day, but we absolutely loved their Monuments at Night Tour. It was seriously one of the coolest things we did during the entire trip and that's saying something because we got to see/do a lot of cool things! It started off rocky when the microphone wasn't working and we couldn't hear the tour guide. So, we had to wait until someone brought a new mic. Then, we finally were able to get on our way. DC is beautiful at night with all of the brightly lit monuments and, of course, a beautiful sunset. The tour bus was a double-decker and everyone sat on the top so we could see everything. It was pretty hilarious because the streets are all tree-lined and, at times, we would have to duck down so the trees didn't hit us in the face! We had a couple of close calls and Diane and I got a good laugh about it. It really was just the perfect evening. Watch out because I'm about to blow up this blog with a million pictures!
Lincoln Memorial and WWII Memorial
Jefferson Memorial
FDR Memorial
MLK Memorial
Iwo Jima/Marine Corp. Monument
There's a cool story here. We desperately wanted to see this during our tour of Arlington National Cemetery (where the statue is located) and we just ran out of time. We were so bummed, but realized that we still got to see some pretty cool stuff and we knew we would have to make cuts someplace. Sadly, this was one of them, or so we thought! The tour guide told us that we would be getting on the freeway to see a monument in Arlington and Diane and I were hoping it was this one and it was!
Incredible!
We also saw the Vietnam Wall and other monuments, but these were the main highlights!
After walking around the last monuments of the evening, we all boarded the bus around 11 pm and were ready to get back to the hotel. Then, the tour guide came up to the top deck and told us that the bus wouldn't start and that we would need to wait for a replacement bus to come. It had been such a great evening that no one really cared and we all laughed it off.
The next morning we woke up super early and went to a session in the Washington DC Temple. It's such a pretty temple!
After that, we went to Mount Vernon, where George Washington lived.
It was under construction, so it didn't look as pretty as it normally would, but we still got to go inside and take the tour and it was still gorgeous inside! I love the bright colors used inside, especially the bright green rooms!
Next, we walked around his property for a while and got to see a demonstration of the horses working in his 16-sided barn.
Then, we got to meet one of the horses!
After this, the plan was to rush over to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. Instead, we got on the road and I realized that I could not stay awake behind the wheel. I got off the freeway and took a nap in a Subway parking lot while Diane had lunch inside. I slept for about an hour and then went in and had lunch before we got back on the road. We decided to try to still make it to Harpers Ferry and we got there just as it was supposed to close. Fortunately for us, the shopkeepers there weren't paying attention to the time and we got to go into some of the museums and shops. We both felt like we had seen everything that we would've seen if we had gotten there earlier. It was a miracle for us and we were very happy to be able to visit West Virginia for the first time.
The following morning, Diane and I headed to Monticello, where Thomas Jefferson lived. I love Thomas Jefferson! He really was an amazing man!
After touring the house, we had to go play in the kiddy section of the visitor center.
Then, I took Diane to the airport in Richmond and drove to Montpelier, James Madison's home, where I would be working/staying for the duration of the following week.
It was too early to check into the archaeologist housing, so I went to this little church in Orange, which is a teeny-tiny town right next to Somerset, where Arlington House is located. This church was of interest to me because it's where Robert E. Lee attended church during part of the Civil War. It was after hours, so I didn't get to go inside, but according to the website, the pew where he always sat is still there and now has a plaque commemorating his attendance there.
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
From there, I decided to go take a peek at Montpelier!
My first glimpse of Montpelier!
I was so excited!
After browsing around the visitor center and gift store for a bit, it was time to go check in at Arlington House.
Arlington House was built in 1850 and it's on the Montpelier property. It's old, but beautiful, and well-restored. A but of interesting history is that it was used as a recuperation hospital for WWI soldiers. There were about 20 people staying there, including the archaeology staff and interns, as well as volunteers like me!
When I first got there, I was shown to my room, which was right at the top of the stairs.
I thought it was cute how they put all of our names on the door! Catherine never showed up, so it was just the four of us. First, Cassie, who was from Kentucky and majored in Anthropology and Geology, so she had an interesting background. Next, Julie, who is a history teacher in Chicago (or right near Chicago). Then, Grace, who is a seventeen year old about to start her senior year and is from Virginia, near Montpelier. I am not used to having roommates, so I was pretty nervous about this whole situation, but my roommates were awesome and we all ended up getting along great and having a wonderful time together!
Julie, Cassie, Grace, and me on the last day of the dig
This was our room for the week!
My bed was right in front of the window (the bed with the bag in front of it), so I got to hear the rain and thunder storms and watch the lightning as I was falling asleep nearly every single night. It was amazing!
Right after everyone got there, we had a kick-off barbecue and just got to know each other. There were a lot of great people there and we all came from extremely different backgrounds, so it was really interesting! After the barbecue, we all hung out in the living room and had a brief orientation and went over the house rules and what to expect over the week.
The next morning, was nerve wracking and exciting. There was one thing that was for certain, however. This place was gorgeous, unlike anything I'd ever seen before in my whole life. This is what I walked outside to as I was heading to the dig site.
Green for days!
We went to the lab for another orientation and met with Terry Brock, who was the lead archaeologist for the week. Matt Reeves is usually the head guy, but was out of town, so we got Terry; he was awesome! We got our group and unit assignments and our schedule for the week. Then, we headed out to the field. It was seriously right next to Montpelier. It was the coolest thing to be able to work just beside James Madison's house and to be able to explore and roam the property. It was surreal! I love history and this was just too amazing for words! It was close to time for one of our tours, so we didn't start digging right away. We were taken on a tour of the grounds.
Montpelier
This is referred to as the Montpelier Temple. It sits over an ice house. James Madison used too sit under the canopy and read all the time. It was, basically, air conditioned because the vast amount of ice stored beneath it kept it nice and cool, so it was a comfy place for him to go and relax.
This statue of James and Dolley Madison was right behind the house and right beside our dig site. The grounds were beautiful!
After our tour we got to work!
You can see the dig site and Montpelier just beyond it!
Pretty soon, we found out a storm was coming. It's Virginia and the rain comes and goes as it pleases, so they were constantly using weather tracking apps. We had to hurry and get everything covered up and all of the dirt/artifacts sorted and sifted, so we took screens and through them over wheelbarrows so that we had extra places to get the screening done more quickly.
The rest of the day was spent in the lab. I did something called picking, where you look for specific things in varying size categories, like charred wood, bone, brick, etc.
It all looks like pebbles, but there was actually a lot of "stuff" in here. At first, it was difficult to figure out which stuff was important and which wasn't, but as the week progressed, it became much easier. That night I slept pretty well! It was exhausting, but so much fun!
The next day as we got to the dig site, this is what we were greeted by!
You just don't find stuff like this in California! So pretty!
This day, I actually found something! I found the bottom of a very, very old wine bottle. It was pretty cool to get to pull it out of the ground!
It was also this day that the stone path began to appear!
Around 1850, the stone smokehouses with brick foundations were leveled and, rather than move the debris off the property, they just spread it out to make a pathway. This pathway has been covered up for a long time, and I got to be one of the people to find and uncover it! It was awesome! They're actually going to use the stone we pulled out of the ground to reconstruct the smokehouses, which means that when I go back to visit, I'll be able to see them! I can't wait for that to happen!
Though I was excited to find the pathway, it turned out that it was A LOT of work to excavate it! Basically, the entire thing had to be cleaned out, so we spent hours upon hours cleaning the dirt out of the rock crevices. Then, once that was done, documentation was done, pictures were taken, and then we pulled the rocks out of the ground. It took hours to clean, but only minutes to pull them out of the ground. It was still worth it!
This is what it looked like when the path first began to emerge.
This is mid-process
Still cleaning!
The two units I worked on! Picture perfect!
(This day 4 of the dig, so I skipped a little ahead, I suppose.)
Yay! It took a ton of work, but it was worth it!
Day 3 was my day in the lab, but it started off with the archaeology staff having to bail water out of the excavation site because of the heavy rains the night before! We were also giving an extensive grounds tour, which was awesome!
We visited the Madison Family Cemetery.
In the lab, I started off cleaning artifacts. There were a lot of bones and teeth found because they were found at the smokehouse site, where animals would've been.
I had lunch at the visitor center.
Then, I went back to the lab and learned a new (to me) technique, called floating, to separate very small charred bone fragments, etc. from grass and other tiny materials.
Then, we toured the Gilmore Farm and a Confederate Civil War Encampment, which was on the site. It was pretty cool!
That evening, I decided to explore the property around Arlington House. I looked around the dilapidated slave quarters, the barn, chicken coop, and a few other buildings that had been abandoned for quite some time.
In the picture below, you can see the window that was right by my bed. On the side of the house with the chopped wood, my window is just above the pitch in the roof. I got to lie there and listen to thunderstorms as a fell asleep almost every night! It was so different from being in California and I loved it!
It was just gorgeous all around!
Here's a selfie. I just felt so happy here! I love being in nature and seeing all the beauty that was created for us! This was also the night I saw my very first real firefly! Up until this evening, the only fireflies I had seen were the fake ones at the beginning of Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland! They were pretty amazing and I was SO excited! I remember telling some of the people in the house that I was excited to have actually seen a real firefly and they were amazed. They're so common there that they never even imagined that some people had never seen them.
Also, this was the night that I invited my roommates to join me for dinner in Charlottesville. Grace was exhausted and stayed home to sleep. She was still knocked out in her bed when we got back!
The next day (day 4) was when we finished cleaning the path and all of that. Then, we had a monster thunder storm. It was supposed to be just drizzle, but all of a sudden, the skies opened up and we didn't even have time to cover up the site. As a result, we had to hold taps up to protect the site until the storm passed. First, it was just the archaeology staff holding up a tarp on one side. Then, the wind came and the rest of us had to hold up a tarp on the other side to shield the site from the horizontal rain! It was crazy because we had to hold those tarps up for a good half hour or so, until the storm finally passed. We were covered in mud! This is me after having cleaned up a bunch, but you can still see some of the red clay soil on my legs and on my face!
The last day of the dig was rough for me. I was starting to get a bad earache, so I went into town to get some meds to help me and, while I was gone, the photographer came to take the group picture. I missed it and I was SO sad! Life goes on, though, and I have all of my own pictures to document the experience, so it's all good!
After I got back from town, I worked in the lab. This day, I got to sort artifacts and it was pretty fun!
After work, we all went back to the house to pack up our stuff and take some pictures. I already posted the one of my roommates and me and here's one of the archaeologist I was paired with on the dig. We were each paired with someone and it was nice because David and I became friends over the week and he taught me how to do all of the archaeologist stuff!
Lastly, we had our farewell banquet and awards ceremony at the visitor center and then we all went our separate ways.
Me with Terry Brock, getting my certificate!
I flew home the next day and it was bittersweet! It was a trip full of amazing new discoveries and lots of hard work! Worth every moment and I'm SO grateful that I got to have this amazing experience!
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