It was time to head to Roanoke to visit Emma and Conrad.
Emma showed us around where she spends her time.
One of her classrooms.
Her rooms have a great view of Roanoke and beyond.
The Roanoke Star.
A visit to a farm-to-table restaurant.
Up on the Appalachian Trail.
Ending the weekend with a flight at Deschutes.
Today Claire drove us to Mt Vernon, about an hour or so south of Baltimore.
In front of the bowling green at Mt Vernon.
The mansion looks like it is made of brick walls and the roof looks like slate, but the house is actually constructed of wooden blocks coated with a yellow sandy coating and the roof is really wood shakes painted red.
The view out the back of the Potomac from the mansion.
George Washington is buried on the grounds.
Part of the 8,000 acre farm with eight miles of shoreline was a fishing operation. This is the wharf where activities centered.
Just a few feet out from the end of the wharf was an Osprey nest on some mooring pilings.
A view of the gardens near the nearly round barn.
Professional composter Claire excited to see the first known composting structure in the United States!
George designed this unique “threshing barn.” On the top floor is a raceway around the exterior of the inside of the structure with narrow slats on the floor. Wheat was harvested and thrown a few feet deep on top of the raceway and then a team of horses would run around and knock the wheat berries loose and fall to the bottom where it is collected.
The most profitable farm enterprise was the distilled spirits. This is the barrel used to ferment the mash before getting distilled.
Before the mash was fermented, there was an onsite gristmill to grind wheat, barley, corn, and rye.