Whitman Mission National Historic Site

September 8, 2010
Uhhhhhh describes the day. I'm glad to be in the hotel laying in bed! This morning we finished some verifications on the truck. After a few hours of that we hit the road heading West to a small historic site just outside of Walla Walla, WA., Whitman Mission National Historic Site. http://www.nps.gov/whmi/ We didn't spend much time there, this park only has one route that is less than one mile long....although we did have to run it 3 times (part of the uhhhhh of the day). Here is some information from the website above about the park...

"In 1836, before the era of emigrant wagon trains, five Protestant missionaries decided to cross the continent to establish a mission in what was known then as the "Oregon Country." "

"The 1847 Whitman “Massacre” horrified Americans and impacted the lives of the peoples of the Columbia Plateau for decades afterwards. Was killing the Whitmans justified legal retribution, an act of revenge, or some combination of both? The circumstances that surround this tragic event resonate with modern issues of cultural interaction and differing perspectives."After a few minutes at the park we continued our journey West to Clarkston, WA, on the boarder with Idaho. During the drive we saw a really pretty rainbow.We also saw a semi that needed to use the run away ramp. That is not something you see very often. Unfortunately my photo did not capture the event, the semi tires were buried in sand. I guess someone else had a long day too.

West Again

September 7, 2010

Today started early, very early! I got a cab at 5:45am and headed to IAD for a 7:55am flight to the West coast. I had one short layover in Chicago and things went smooth. I arrived in Portland, OR and realized I didn't have the address to the Western FHWA office so I was hoping the cab driver knew how to get there. The cab driver was from Russia (I think) and wasn't sure where I needed to go so I told him "I need to go that way" and I pointed. It was an interesting cab ride but I was able to remember how to get to the office as we drove. Once at the office I met up with my traveling partner and we started to do verifications on the truck's equipment. Things we going pretty well until the weather turned cold and it started to rain. Our day ended "short". It was a long day but we didn't get to finish the verifications, which means tomorrow will be a bit longer work day.

Mount Vernon

September 4, 2010
Saturday we got up early and headed to the Southern DC area to Mount Vernon. George Washington's house and farm are pretty amazing. The way it has been kept up over the years is impressive. The house typically gets 1 million visitor each year! http://www.mountvernon.org/

We arrived around 9:30am, before the crowd. We were able to get tickets quickly and spent the first hour walking around part of the farm. We toured the house around 10:45 and after the house tour we finished walking around the farm.

We ate a quick lunch and then headed down the road 3 miles to the grist mill and distillery. The mill is operational and I heard it cost about 5 million to get it to operate the way it once did when George ran the mill. The mill was a big money maker for him. He would send out flour daily. The distillery was also impressive and built when George was in his 50s. He was the largest known producer of beer back in the day. A lot of his beer was shipped up the road to Alexandria.

Eisenhower National Historic Site

September 3, 2010

After departing the Farnsworth House we decided to visit the Eisenhower House/Farm. You have to hop on a bus from the Gettysburg visitor center and take that to the house. I have been to this small park before for work but never toured the inside of the house. I was excited to see what this place was all about. The Eisenhowers decided to retire here because a friend of theirs had a Angus farm down the road and when they were visiting their friend they loved the area and the view. They moved to the area and wrote out a check for the property. It was the biggest land deal in the state at that time. They had to tear down all but one wall of the original farm house. The house they built is pretty modest with belongings but is pretty good size. They also had a small guest house on the property.

Farnsworth House

September 2, 2010
I was able to talk my sister into coming out to visit me for the long weekend. After she arrived we immediately went North to Gettysburg. We stayed one night at one of the most haunted bed and breakfasts in the USA...The Farnsworth House. We stayed in the Sweeney room, which was a bit small but it was more about the atmosphere. We were told that a little (spirit) boy named Jeremy likes to move coins around in the room and he prefers "silver" over "copper" so we put out some coins on the lamp table. We were hoping the coins would be in different spots when we got back. We went to dinner and had a pretty good meal. It started out with pickled watermelon rinds...huh? I've never heard of that before but tried it and it wasn't bad. It tastes like a sweet pickle.

After dinner we took two ghost "tours". The first one was a story telling hour in the cellar of the Farnsworth House. The guide/story teller was really great. We found out a baby was still born in our room and the past lady of the house likes to come around (in spirit) to make sure people are OK while staying there. During the hour the guide looked behind us but didn't say anything. A few minutes later he looks behind us again and said "wow, what is that?" I said "what did you see?" He said he saw a orange color light move across the back of the room and he has never seen that before. He apologized later for being a little "on edge." It was exciting to think something was there but we didn't see anything since we were looking in the other direction. The second tour was a walking tour where we walked a few blocks to some old civil war hospitals and heard more stories. We found out on this tour that a murder that took place in the room we were staying in.

After the tours we went back up to our room for the night. None of the coins had moved, bummer. We didn't really talk to the spirits or do any provoking. The night was uneventful. We did sleep with the fan on high so I think it would have been hard for us to hear any ghostly footsteps in the middle of the night. Maybe we set ourselves up for nothing to happen? It was still fun to experience the house though. We woke up in the morning and had breakfast out on the porch.