So, let me start off by saying that I did a thing... an Instagram thing... Yes, I finally caved to peer pressure and made an Instagram. Blame Whitney! She doesn't have time to Facebook message me but she does have the time to crop photos into little squares and upload them to social media and since I want to know what's going on in Israel, I needed to create an Instagram. I made my username thomson.was.here because if I ever do post anything, it will be photos of places I have been so there ya go.
We started off today with a lovely farewell breakfast with our homestay and then we drove to Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson. We couldn't have picked a more perfect time to visit, apparently, because today was the anniversary of when Thomas Jefferson presented the Declaration of Independence to be reviewed and signed 239 years ago.
Monticello was gorgeous! Absolutely incredible. Also, Thomas Jefferson definitely learned and forgot more things in a lifetime than I will ever know. He designed the house himself after teaching himself to be an architect because why not? Even though we managed to score an earlier tour than we'd originally booked, we still had some time to explore the gardens before we went into the house. Photography isn't allowed inside the house but that was pretty amazing too. One room was this ridiculous shade of yellow that was apparently historically accurate (historians spent a lot of time looking at paint chips to figure that out and now Ralph Lauren sells paint called Monticello Yellow in honor of this).
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| I'm so artistic. |
The best part of Monticello might have actually been their attempts at social media; they had pictures of Thomas Jefferson for kids to color and they were supposed to post these photos with #TJTravels. Well, I'm TJ and I travel, so this was pretty perfect. We sat down at the kids' station and started coloring. A security guard wasn't too pleased about this at first but once we explained that I, too, am TJ, he took a step back and realized that we're harmless -- idiots, maybe -- but totally harmless.
We took the scenic route from Monticello to Washington, DC, which is where we are spending the first few days of yet another unbooked week -- lots of time in the rolling slopes of Virginia.
We checked into our hostel (which is a thousand times better than the Econolodge in Atlanta... although a cardboard box is probably better than the Econolodge in Atlanta... being homeless might even be better than the Econolodge in Atlanta) and got to some exploring. We walked down to the Mall and worked on mapping out our next few days here while checking out the sights; the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial and of course, the White House.
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| This wasn't even all of them! |
My favorite part of DC was when I discovered how many Snapstickers there were! Practically a new one on every block. I got snapstickers that I didn't even understand and I'm sure there will be more to find tomorrow. My phone wasn't on for the first half of the outing either, so there will hopefully be many more to add to my collection! I was so excited that I pretty much annihilated my phone's battery as I walked around, taking continuous snaps just in case. (Mandy is very jealous, obviously, because we love snapstickers).
We started off today with a lovely farewell breakfast with our homestay and then we drove to Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson. We couldn't have picked a more perfect time to visit, apparently, because today was the anniversary of when Thomas Jefferson presented the Declaration of Independence to be reviewed and signed 239 years ago.
Monticello was gorgeous! Absolutely incredible. Also, Thomas Jefferson definitely learned and forgot more things in a lifetime than I will ever know. He designed the house himself after teaching himself to be an architect because why not? Even though we managed to score an earlier tour than we'd originally booked, we still had some time to explore the gardens before we went into the house. Photography isn't allowed inside the house but that was pretty amazing too. One room was this ridiculous shade of yellow that was apparently historically accurate (historians spent a lot of time looking at paint chips to figure that out and now Ralph Lauren sells paint called Monticello Yellow in honor of this).
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