Day 8 - Washington DC Day Three - Concert at the George Washington Masonic Memorial

Day 8 - Another amazing day in DC.  After another great breakfast at our usual reserved tables we started the day with an exclusive tour of the Perry Belmont Mansion.  This is the home of the International Order of the Eastern Star, part of the Masonic family of fraternal organizations.  We learned a lot about the Masons today, from this tour, our tour of the Memorial where we performed tonight and from Alicia G and Katie.  Notable masons include George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and John Lay.  Ruth Lay and Katie and Alicia are members of auxiliary organizations.

The mansion is an amazing and opulent "home" in the Dupont Circle area of DC.  As part of the tour Ed got to play an historic organ, which included a set of chimes and also a gold leaf Steinway piano, one of only two in the world.  We saw priceless Ming Dynasty vases, and Tiffany vases that started at $60,000.  We asked the ringers to make a wide path around almost everything in the mansion.  And to hold the railings while going up and down the stairs.   Every year we try to find something new for Ed he has never done in all his years on tour.  Katie arranged the golden piano and Terry, she'd like you to note, she wins!

We made a quick stop in Georgetown to see the University and then went to Georgetown Cupcakes, made famous by the TV show DC Cupcakes, and  Pie Sisters, a little shop that isn't famous but makes some mean pie.

After some time at the hotel to refocus we traveled to the Washington Masonic Memorial.  What a venue!  We took a tour of the memorial, and then set up and played in a very cool concert hall.  We didn't get a big crowd, but we did get several former ringers and the kids played great.  The alumni included Nicole Howell Meek, Tracee Gross Sutton, Tammy Stolen Hettinger, Melody McNeal Moore, Geoff Lay and Randy Milligan (ringer #33)!

Here is visual proof that all of this actually happened: