I took Buuvei on a field trip to visit the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, VA. We went in the morning while Zorig was at pre-school.
When we got there it was not open yet. even though it was cold and windy Buuvei and I walked all the way around the memorial and went up and down the stairs and counted them.
We were let in five minutes late and the person that let us in said "wow you guys are early" I said that we got there when the website said that it opened.
The girl giving the tour that told me that she is not a Mason said that she was supposed to start the tour right then but since the only people there to take the tour were Buuvei and myself that she wanted me to wait 15 minutes just to see if anyone else would show up.
I went in the gift shop and bought a magnet and the lady in there told me part of her life story, she thought that Buuvei was very cute and asked me about his name origin I said that he is Mongolian and I am his nanny. she said that maybe her daughter should be a nanny ...because she doesn't really like her job but the only problem is that her daughter likes animals more than kids and then she was telling me all about her daughters pets................... I was enthralled...
somehow I was able to tear myself away from that and say to the girl that was supposed to be giving us a tour can we please start because the Internet said the tour was at this time and I need to pick his brother up from pre-school. She said that she guessed. I don't even know why I rely on what places websites say anymore.. because people just do whatever they want at these places...
The first room we went was a replica of what a Masonic lodge looked like in George Washington's time. She said that George Washington was a mason but that he was not super active in it..She said he was to busy running the country..I guess all those other presidents that WERE active Masons were not that busy?? Another couple on vacation from MI joined our tour then.. I bet that girl was happy.
We saw some interesting stuff in that room like the actual clock that was in the room when George Washington died and they stopped it at the EXACT time that he died... I don't know how they wrestled that out of the hands of the Mount Vernon ladies association..We also saw a chair that George Washington actually sat in and used when he was a Mason. There was an old Masonic lodge somewhere else in Alexandria and it burnt to the ground but they were able to rescue this whole room of furniture and set it up there exactly like it was at that other one ( which is the one George Washington attended) I am super confused by this?? like so was it a slow burning fire??if you could rescue a whole room of furniture maybe you should have put the fire OUT!!! They said that we could not sit in that chair that George Washington sat in because it is reserved for the Grand Dragon or something like that and one year a VERY FAT grand dragon sat in that chair and he BROKE it so they had to have it repaired and they reinforced the legs...
the next room we went into had some large paintings of George Washington and how he laid the cornerstone for the Washington Monument in a masonic ritual and the other one I forgot what it was. They also had a HUGE statue of George Washington that Buuvei was scared of at first I said that he did not need to be scared because it was George Washington and he was our president. The girl told us that they built this memorial to Masonery and George Washington entirely debt free and that they did not have enough money to get that statue in until after they had built the columns and it is a miracle that they got it in.
We then went up in an elevator that was very narrow because when you look at the building it gets narrow so the elevator shaft was accommodating.
We went into another room where they had all sorts of exhibits like there was not enough money to have a state funeral for George Washington when he died so he was just in his coffin for like 30 years and when they did have enough money and they chopped that coffin up and made another one and when they did that the guy that demolished the first coffin wanted to make some money so he sold off the wood and there were things like little pins that you could wear made of the coffin wood and other macabre things..While the girl was telling us about the things in that room Buuvei was running around and bumped his head on a display case and it started bleeding... I had nothing with me but a tissue that I had been using to wipe his nose earlier and had to use that I applied pressure and prayed and he was OK! and we continued the tour Buuvei is such a brave little boy!! There was another room where it was a little medieval looking chapel where they had a couple of knights and they were saying that you can rent that room out to have a wedding..it looks like where you would have a wedding if you were really goth or something.
we then went up to the top floor and looked around up there the tour guide girl did not want to go outside because she said that it was to cold and windy and that she "forgot her jacket" she later confided in me that she just liked to claim she forgot her jacket that is what she told people so she just didn't have to go outside. The other couple went outside and we did brave Buuvei ran all the way around that cold windy top..so I now know he has no fear of heights.
When the tour was done we were able to look around other rooms open to the public.
We looked in a concert hall, Buuvei plays the cello so he thought that was cool. We looked at an exhibit of different presidnts that were Masons the last one to be a Mason was Gerald Ford and Bil Clinton was as a kid but did not follow through as an adult. I asked if Barak Obama had been there. The girl said no but she would give him the tour if he came.. I doubt it I think they would get a Mason and try and convert him.. They also told me that Kramer from Seinfeld is a Mason and Brad Paisley is too..
We went into a room dedicated to the Shriners that Buuvei LOVED they had this little parade thing that you pushed a button and you got to see a diorama of a little parade go around and around. There was a little car that he could climb in and there was a wheel chair that you could get in and go over different kinds of terrain and go up a hill and knock on a door Buuvei loved that exhibit!
We left when we had to go pick up Zorig from pre-school.
here is the website http://gwmemorial.org/index.php it cost 5$ for me to go to the top, Buuvei was free. and because here is a Mason here is my favorite Brad Paisley songs.
http://youtu.be/RQ3bn7V0zdU
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