Montpelier- James and Dolley Madison's House!

Today I went to Montpelier, the home of James and Dolley Madison in Orange, VA. I've been meaning to get myself there for a while now and it just turned out that today I could and I am glad I did!  I learned a lot about James Madison, some of which I will write about below. 

 This is the main door of the house, although it wasn't always.  The house has gone through a few phases. At first it was a duplex, then they made it into one big house, then after the Madison family sold it and the duPont family bought it, they made it a lot bigger.  But now they have it back to the original size as when the Madison's lived in it, trying to make it as authentic as possible.

 The view from the front porch!

 The front of the house!  We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house, but it was beautiful!  They have a few original pieces of furniture and paintings that James and Dolley Madison owned which is pretty awesome! They have tried to make it look as authentic as possible.

 Me in the back of the house!

James Madison seemed like a genuinely good guy. He was a smart fellow who actually went to Princeton and was able to test out of his first year.  He learned 6 different languages while there.  He learned a 7th language later.  He read a lot and owned over 4000 books! He is known as the Father of the Constitution. It is said that he seemed a little reserved when in big crowds but when around people he knew he was more open.  He and Dolley entertained a lot of guests in their home at Montpelier and would often have 25 people sleeping over from 1 night up to 2 weeks.

 Madison's temple! He would sit here and contemplate and enjoy the view of the beautiful mountains in the distance!

 James and Dolley Madison! I must admit I did not know much about either of them before this tour. I learned that Dolley loved to entertain guests and everyone loved her. They sometimes had over 100 guests over for dinner and Dolley would remember each of their names and faces.

 I loved this butterfly!  Isn't it beautiful?!

 And this one?!

 I liked this lion in the Annie duPont garden!  It looks so sad.

 Look at that tree!

 The front stone is the grave of James and the back one is Dolley's grave.

On the grounds!

Today was  lovely day! The drive to the house, the tour of the house, the grounds, the weather were all just awesome!  I am glad that I was able to go and learn more about our 4th president and his wife.

I must say that I really like living in this area where I can go and visit the homes and buildings and sites that we read about in the history books and so much happened there. Going to Montpelier today made James and Dolley Madison more real.  They existed. They had personalities. They had imperfections.

OneRepublic Concert!!

I love concerts!  The combination of the loud music by an awesome band, the dancing, the screaming, the singing along, the audience etc. is just so exhilarating to me!  The OneRepublic concert was no exception.  I went to their concert last night at Wolf Trap and they were amaaaazing!  They sure know how to put on a performance. They sound awesome live and they were real and funny and sentimental and it was just so good!  

 Secrets!  "Tell me what you want to hear. Something that will light those ears. Sick of all of the insincere. I'm gonna give all my secrets away."

Apologize! "It's too late to apologize. It's too late. I said it's too late to apologize. It's too late."

 The awesome guitarist!  He played some rockin' solos!

The main singer, Ryan Tedder, went out into the audience during one of the songs. He wasn't anywhere near us, but that's okay because we were close to the stage. We could almost reach out and touch the stage and could totally see the facial expressions and make eye contact with the musicians. It was awesome!!!

They had an encore performance and this was at the finale of that performance.

Some of the other songs they sang were Good Life, Feel Again, Counting Stars, All the Right Moves, Stop and Stare, Come Home and a few others.

Paris and I during one of the songs. Thanks for inviting me to the concert Paris!  It was awesome!

Sunflower Fields!

A couple of weeks ago Lara told me that they had visited a sunflower field in Maryland. As soon as she told me that it wasn't too far away, I knew I must make the journey to this land of sunflowers!  The last time I had seen a sunflower field was on my mission in Ukraine.  Whenever I saw the fields I was always on public transportation and never in a position to stop and take pictures, although I really wanted to.  I was excited for the chance to finally be able walk through and take pictures in a sunflower field!  Lara let me borrow her camera. Cami came with me. 

I took most of these pictures, although I did post a few of Cami's pictures too. 

I know Cami took this cool shot with the sun rays!

I like this one with Cami in the background trying to take a self portrait too :)

One of Cami's self portraits, although I don't think it's the one that she's taking in the picture above.

Isn't the sunflower field beautiful?!  I loved it!  Thanks Cami for keeping your aunt company on this little trip.