Happy Birthday America

PHOTO: Mount Vernon (c) Sery Kim

Little known fact, something I just discovered this year, is George Washington's famous home Mount Vernon holds an annual Fourth of July celebration. I suppose this shouldn't be surprising, however, I certainly did not expect it to be SO FUN!!

The weather on Saturday night was absolutely pitch perfect for being outside on the, normally, swampy hot Potomac River. D.C. was unseasonably in the midst of a spring wave of temperatures. Seriously, after a decade in-and-out of D.C., I can not recall it ever being 70 degrees the weekend of the Fourth of July. PERFECTION!

The gates opened at 630 pm for this sold-out event, with plenty of things to do. Everything from a big brass band to 18th century musical actors. The mansion was open, as were the host and hostess for an endless stream of pictures -- General and Mrs. Washington are always fabulous.

PHOTO: 18th century band (c) Sery Kim

I think the only downside was the super long line for concessions. One single tent held 4 or 5 cash registers. We queued for over an hour just to get 2 bottles of water, 1 Diet Coke, a sandwich and some cheese. Maybe a better formation for concessions would be to separate out, into three parts, a line for drinks, a line for pre-made snacks and then a line for hot snacks. Pure speculation from me, but someone gossiped that this was the first time Mount Vernon decided to do concessions for this party. Good to know! Beginner's trial-and-error!

Since the actual Fourth of July will have torrential amounts of rain, I am so glad we got a chance to see a brilliant fireworks display. It was a beautiful night.

Happy birthday America!!!