Visiting the Lincoln Cottage

On our walk this morning, we visited a bird nest that we've been watching. Mama bird chose a fire extinguisher enclosure to build her nest, and we've been watching the eggs.  This time instead of eggs we found three vociferously hungry baby birds.

This afternoon we took advantage of our first Groupon deal, a tour of the Lincoln Cottage that Terri found offered on the Groupon DC site. We had a reservation for a 2:00 p.m. tour, but we arrived early and parked. Then we went hunting for the cottage, which is on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home (formerly known as the U.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Home, the U.S. Soldiers' Home, and the U.S. Military Asylum). We found the cottage, but it was locked. Then it took us a while to find the Visitor Center, where we spent a few minutes perusing the exhibits.

Our tour guide first took our group of about 30 to view an 8-minute orientation film. Then we walked over to the cottage. It has been restored, but mostly not furnished, except for a few pieces like the reproduction of the desk on which Lincoln composed the Emancipation Proclamation (original in the Lincoln Bedroom).

Our guide promised us a sense of walking in Lincoln's footsteps, getting to know something about him. It was an unusual tour--not mainly focused on period furnishings and history as much as evocations of the character and thinking of the president. We moved from room to room as the guide told anecdotes of Lincoln's time at the cottage and we heard recordings of some contemporaries describing their visits and their encounters with Lincoln.

As we came to the end of the tour, the sky opened up and a powerful thunderstorm kept most of us in the house for a while waiting for the storm to abate. Terri finally took her umbrella and brought the car around to pick us up, so we got wet but not completely soaked.

We went on to the Parkway Deli, one of the McBride family's favorites. It features Jewish menu items but also serves a variety of American cuisine. One unusual feature is a free pickle bar which also includes sauerkraut and carrot salad.

Ken and I shared the Reuben Grill and some onion rings, Molly had latkes with applesauce, Terri had an omelet special with lox, and Blake had Scotch kippers, all of which were tasty. Molly and I both had a small bowl of matzo ball soup (yummy!). On the way out we stopped at the deli counter and selected desserts to take home. Ken and I shared a chocolate eclair that was to die for!

In the evening we played games. Terri and Molly and I played Life, which Molly won. Then Terri and Molly and Ken and I played Ticket to Ride. It was a close game, and Molly got longest train, but Ken won.

We finally hugged everyone and said our goodbyes. Tomorrow morning we'll head towards Richmond.

This was our last night here, and we still hadn't used the hot tub. We got home at 9:00 and hurried over to the hot tub. It's small--only 8 person. Several tweener boys were there, so we got to hear their joking (repetitive, juvenile) and braggadocio. Two girls seemed to be French speakers.