Day 4 - It May Be Hot, But We Stayed Cool!

Our plan today is to go to the National Constitution Center. The heat today was 102 degrees with a heat index of 114 degrees. To say the least, it was hot! We were glad to know we were going to be inside for the majority of the day.

We first stopped at the Declaration House only to find it closed. No problem, we knew we could return after the NCC.  Thank goodness for air conditioning! We went to a lovely 360 degree theater where we watched a performance which was live narration and video.  A stirring show which made us excited to see the rest of the exhibit. Unfortunately, we could not take pictures of the exhibit which traveled from the very beginnings of the Constitution to today and how we use the Constitution.

The most fun we had, as you can see from the pictures is in the Signers Hall.  Large, lifelike bronze statues of the signers of the Constitution were placed in the hall in different poses. Mrs. Gibson and Mrs. Cochrane wove their way through the signers and posed with them. As the designated photographer, I got to record this momentous scene for all to see. Once we finished there we went to a special exhibit on George Washington.  No pictures were allowed, but we wandered through the exhibit and got to see three wax figures of George Washington throughout his life.  The first was him in his twenties when he was a surveyor.  The second figure was when he was a general on his horse.  The last figure was him in his fifties when he was sworn in as the first president of the United States.

An actress portraying a lady from the 1860s when a group of women purchased Mount Vernon in order to preserve it, discussed with us the importance of contributing funds to help rebuild the estate for all to see.  We felt like were there in the 1860s being convinced to give money to their cause.  Wouldn’t you want to give money to save George Washington’s house?

After we left that exhibit we went to another special exhibit called Spies, Traitors and Saboteurs – Fear and Freedom in America. This exhibit dealt with people who fought against the government in different ways – many of them in violent ways, although some were just outspoken and files were kept on them because of what they said.

Finally we returned to Declaration House and got to see the two rooms where Thomas Jefferson lived when he wrote the Declaration of Independence. The room where he wrote it included a slanted desk he created. The narrow building held only the two rooms upstairs which he rented from Mr. Graff, but the rest of the house was turned into a museum with copies of the Declaration of Independence as well as a small movie theater where we saw a 4 minute movie about Thomas Jefferson’s time in Philadelphia. While in Philadelphia he purchased items for his wife and wrote to her every day of his struggles.

Before long the day was done, the heat unbearable and we returned to our hotel to pack for the next day.  In the morning we will have breakfast with Ben Franklin before taking a train to Washington, DC where we can see where we are now as a nation!

Righty, American, and Lefty