The next morning, on our way out of town, we went over to the Museum of Art to hit up the Rocky statue. We did jog up said steps and took some photos. I had chosen this day to drive because I’d originally seen that the time to Fort Washington, Maryland was only 3 hours. Well, the driving that day was much longer in the end. After the statue, we got back on those busy roads and went to the bridge we’d accidentally run into over the Delaware. They had a little park and visitor center for Washington’s crossing of said river. We didn’t spend too much time there, since we also wanted to go to Valley Forge. We also didn’t spend a ton of time there, but we did drive to see a couple of the recreated things in that valley, which was nice and scenic.

We stopped at a Giant grocery store for a couple things and went to a highly rated Mexican place. Everyone liked theirs but I personally thought the flavors melded together too much so no one thing was detectable. We did find some cool local beer at the grocery store but found out that you can’t buy more than two six packs on any one ID; something about grocery store being limited. Weird. Anyway, after much traffic, we made it to our next airbnb, which was much nicer! I was in the basement of a home in a little neighborhood across the water from Alexandria. It was a lot more comfy! Once we got in, we watched a little soccer then Ubered to the National Harbor to eat at a Brass Tap. But that was it for the day; back home to watch soccer.

The next day was our Mount Vernon tour. We went into town first and had breakfast at a hopping place (Homegrown Kitchen) and it took a long time for our food but the waitress comped one of our meals. I can’t remember the last time that happened! We then got onto our destination. Very cool to see Washington’s home. They preserved so much of it very well. Two of the neatest things: there is a key to the Bastille in a little case, given to Washington by a French king. The other thing was a room decorated in an now-defunct style called “chintz” and once it fell out of fashion due to its ostentatious pattern, we began calling gaudy things “chintzy”. Who knew!? After that, we went back into downtown Alexandria to a place called Atlas beer works and Andy’s pizza. We wanted to watch the US soccer game and that was definitely the place! They had a good deal – 2 slices and a pint for 14. We got a few of those! I don’t think we did much else that evening.

The next plan had been to meet up with an old friend of ours from college, since he lives in the area. We had slated less time in this place and the next, focusing primarily on the other history locations. So thatt morning, Dakota and I went to a local laundromat because it was indeed time for clean clothes but that airbnb didn’t offer laundry. We actually didn’t take as long there as I thought we would. We went to a couple places beforehand – Fair Winds brewing and Lost Dog Cafe and then met them. And you know? We took zero pictures! Aside from one of Dakota playing cards with their daughter, we were too busy catching up. He had recommended Pork barrel bbq, so we met there, ate, then went to Port City brewing. It was cool to talk to them after so many years. We ended the night, as per usual, back at the airbnb watching soccer!

The following day would be long – nearly nine hours of driving and then on to Savannah!. Stay tuned for the harrowing end of our trip.