So of course we went to Monticello.

Callum read a biography of Jefferson earlier this summer, and of course we couldn't leave D.C. without seeing the Jefferson Memorial. I love the Jefferson Memorial, but I might love Monticello more. This is my favorite room, a little screened porch off his library. We weren't allowed to take pictures in the house, but his library and this porch were the best.

I could snap all the pictures I wanted of the gardens, though.

This little spot was my favorite. Little room, perched on the hillside beside the gardens.

What a spectacular vantage point from which to survey your land and home.

Get your nickels out, 'cause here's the money shot. What a house it is, huh? You don't need me to tell you what an impressive man Thomas Jefferson was. I choke up whenever the Morning Edition anchors read the Declaration of Independence at the 4th of July, thinking, he did that for us. Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clarke, masses of inventions and adaptations. But what a mass of contradictions. The whole slave/equality thing. He makes a point of saying not to spend money you haven't earned, but died with a debt nearly equal to the national debt at the time. Good grief. We shouldn't expect our national figures, past or present to be paragons. We're merely human, flawed all.

What I love most about Thomas Jefferson is how much he loved his "little mountain." House and hill were a source of endless strength and joy to him. I can relate to that.

"Architecture is my delight, and putting up and pulling down is one of my favorite amusements." Kindred spirit? Not in everything, but in this, certainly.