1) You can take as much time/little time as YOU want to explore Mt. Vernon
2) There are some cost savings that can add up if your party is large. In addition, the Tourmobile service is seasonal. When ready to leave, just pick up the no. 101 right in front of the gift shop and you will be back at the Metro Station again.

Weekends are busiest at Mt. Vernon. The Saturday we were there we arrived at 10:20am (opening is 9am) and spent over a half-hour in a slow-moving line that snaked its way around the ellipse outside the mansion, through a separate building that served as servant quarters, and then inside the home. About 6,000 are said to visit on weekends per day. Mt. Vernon is not owned or operated by the National Park Service. Instead, it's an association much like the group that also owns/runs the Alamo in Texas. Upkeep of the site mandates a fee to enter therefore. Adult tickets cost $11, and children, I recall, are $8. Naturally, credit cards are accepted.

Inside the mansion, guides will offer commentary on the rooms and furnishings. Most of the furnishings are Washington's. One ingenious item we saw was a "fan chair." Given that there was, of course, no electricity, if you wanted to cool down you sat in this chair and pumped your feet on some pedals. The pedals were connected to a fan above your head. Smart. Besides the home, there are stables, carriage houses, barns with animals, and a designated kid's area that the wee ones will like. I saw kids having a blast playing with Colonial games and toys and learning something despite themselves. Do not forget to visit Washington's tomb. He lies there with Martha.

If you want to take a load off your tired feet, there are chairs on the porch facing the Potomac. The view is unchanged from Washington's day, meaning no modern development within sight to spoil the view. It’s no doubt the work of the same association that manages the mansion. There are also museums with Washington artifacts, including (although I missed them) his dentures. If you get hungry, there are fast-food merchants or a colonial-style sit-down restaurant. Time was short, so we had burgers. If you desire a souvenir, consider a flag that has flown over Mt. Vernon. They are $25, of good quality, and in the gift shop. Allow 3 hours to tour the grounds.

After visiting Mount Vernon, I can now see why George Washington called this place home. An enchanting view of the Potomac River can be seen on the back porch or coming down the stairs in the house. Get there early as you can because there'll be lines that are as big as Mount Vernon, and looking at the map, it's the size of a Disney Land MGM or Adventureland. A major greenhouse was surrounded by vibrant, lush gardens. The garden offers a wide variety of flowers, and a few veggie gardens. Stables and slave quarters were behind the greenhouse. The line starts near the house and down a dirt path. When it's raining, the path becomes very muddy. When standing on the mucky path, you'll see a little house called an outhouse, or the loo.

Want to know why the gardens looked great as they did back then? You'll have to go and find out yourself. Toward the end of the house is his office, where a revolving chair sits at a desk. He had a chair before they were even invented! The farm on the right side has horses, too, as well as his burial site. One of the slave quarters is a small gift shop. Don't be fooled, because that is only a small shop compared to what’s in the mall past the horses. Near the mall is a restaurant called the Mount Vernon Inn that offers daily lunch and candlelight dinners.