I’m back. D.C. (and the surrounding area) was awesome and exhausting. We did so much in such a short amount of time, and yet we did not get to it all. It was a whirlwind tour of sights. We pounded the hot pavement every day in search of history, amazement and new buildings. We were an army. And our legs hurt. It did not help that we visited D.C. during a sweltering heat wave. We sweated, and walked, took the Metro, sweated some more and tried to find shade. If I swore, I would say that D.C. kicked our _____es.

I awoke this morning in a travel-induced fog. I am tired, groggy, and have a cold. Thus, the idea of accurately describing and photo-illustrating our trip seems altogether too overwhelming and exhausting. See how exhausted I am? I am so exhausted I can’t think of a synonym for exhausted.

However, I cannot bypass the trip altogether. That would be a shame. And there has to be photos (such as that of the Capitol Building above). So, I will compromise by gathering strength each day and posting a few photos, perhaps even with accompanying scant or detailed descriptions, depending on my energy and mood each day.

Here is what I think may be my favorite photo from the trip:

The box in Ford’s Theatre where Lincoln was fatally shot by his assassin, John Wilkes Booth.

Monticello!

Today we visited Jefferson’s plantation home, located near Charlottesville, Virginia. The neoclassical home was designed by Jefferson himself, the renaissance man. The Monticello (“little mountain” in Italian) mountain is at the center of the 5,000 acre plantation that Jefferson inherited from his father.

“…all my wishes end, where I hope my days will end, at Monticello,” Thomas Jefferson declared in 1787. He got his wish. We saw the very bed that Jefferson died in on July 4, 1826 — the 50 year anniversary of signing the Declaration of Independence, written by Jefferson.

Here is Jefferson’s gravesite:

“No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden,” — Thomas Jefferson, 1811

Here is a portion of Jefferson’s garden: