After lunch we went to Mount Vernon. We had to pass through Alexandria to get there and about halfway through what looked like a main street of the town, I realized my big mistake. The street was lined with shops, shops that were potential yarn stores. Why didn't I realize this sooner? How many yarn stores were there in that first part of town that I had missed? I was quite disappointed with myself, but y'know, I was distracted. Distracted by what? By bagaong. Bagaong? Yes, bagaong. On our hour long trip to Mount Vernon, I realized that although I have grown as a person since my intermediate school days, a part of me really hasn't changed over the years -- 13 year old Me found obnoxious 13 year old boys annoying and 25 year old Me still finds obnoxious 13 year old boys annoying. One of my young companions on our trip discovered that the phrase, "Like bagaong?", resulted in laughter from the other teenagers. The best part was that this phrase, along with with the phrase, "Helloooo-ohhhh", was said over and over and over again for the entire hour or so it took us to get to Mount Vernon. The teenagers laughed again and again (I kid you not. They still found it funny after an hour of it). Even better, he was sitting right behind us. By the end of the trip, some of the younger boys (y'know, the dorky followers who were trying to be "cool" and impress the girls on the trip) started saying, "Like bagaong?", to themselves as they walked around.

Anyway, my torture finally ended and we arrived at Mount Vernon. The place was amazing and huge. Washington's home was kept in pristine condition, but we weren't allowed to take pictures to preserve the integrity of the house. We could, however, take pictures of the outside of the house. The main house was surrounded by a bunch of other buildings, including a spinning room! They had a special room to spin fleece in yarn! And guess what! There were sheep at the house! Sheep!



After Mount Vernon, we returned to Alexandria for dinner and for a ghost walk/tour. This time I made sure to keep my eyes peeled for a yarn store. Lo and behold, I found one! I excitedly started simultaneously pointing at/hitting, hitting Lance, and screeching, "Look! Yarn store!" I was shocked when I found out that our restaurant was within walking distance of the yarn store and I jokingly suggested to Lance that we skip dinner to go to the yarn store. Imagine my surprise when Lance actually went up to our tour guide and asked him if we could meet the group at dinner. We raced to the yarn store, bought some yarn, and raced back to the restaurant. We actually made it in time for dinner! I credit our speedy walking/running and my amazing display of restraint in the yarn store. It helped that the store was having what looked like a stitch 'n bitch and I didn't really feel comfortable in the store. I did, however, manage to get some pretty yarn that I'm planning to turn into a pair of socks.

After dinner, we went on a ghost walk/tour of Alexandria. It was super cold and Lance and I had already killed ourselves racing to the yarn store and back, so going on a ghost walk was perhaps the last thing that I wanted to do. It was cool walking around the town and seeing their homes and stuff, but the tour really wasn't worth the freezing. We finally got back on the bus and headed back to the hotel. Thankfully the kids were tired and the bagaongs and the hello-ohs stopped for the day.