The View

Today was a full day. We were gone from our house for about 16 hours, and here's how it was all spent:

* 3 hours touring the mansion and grounds at Mt. Vernon
* 1 hour eating lunch at the restaurant on the grounds of Mt. Vernon
* 1 hour looking through Mt. Vernon's enormous gift shop
* 2 hours at IKEA buying some new furniture for the baby's room
* 1 hour at Red Robin eating dinner
* 8 hours in the car battling horrific holiday traffic on the I-95

Despite the soul-crushing traffic, it was a nice day. The highlight of the trip -- and what made it all worth it -- was this view of the Potomac from George Washington's back porch.