GWMP Post Three

This week Tia and I have interacted with a lot of visitors, which was a first for myself. Before this week I had just been working with fellow National Park employees, but I finally was able to work with visitors. On Monday accompanied Ben to a visit to a woman who lives on the border of the park. The woman said she had a sneaking suspicion that her neighbor had illegally cut down trees, George Washington Memorial Parkway trees. We met with her for quite a while, surveyed the land, discovered that her neighbor had, in fact, not done anything to the National Park but may have broke some county laws, and thanked her for looking out for the National Park Service.

On Tuesday we worked with Barry in the green house. Barry told us all about a disease that is killing Elm trees and about the research that has been done to end this disease. Tia and I moved Elm saplings into bigger pots since they had nearly outgrown the pots they were currently in. Barry informed us that these Elm trees were intended to be planted on the National Mall, which I found to be particularly exciting. On top of moving the saplings into their new and respected homes, we also did quite a bit of pruning. Wednesday was quite an exciting day because Jackie Cunningham hooked us up with a VIP tour of Mount Vernon, which was amazing. Jackie, Tia, and I met up with Gail, an employee of Mount Vernon, and spent the entire day touring and learning about America's founding father, George Washington. I was able to learn an incredible amount about Washington in such a short period of time, all thanks to Jackie.

Today Tia and I shadowed Beth and Kevin at the Clara Barton House as they gave tours. I paid close attention to their different styles of touring and to the specific details they gave about Clara Barton and her home. Beth and Kevin asked us to make the type of bandages that Barton used so that they may pass them out to the children on the tour. Tia and I also spent a little time at Glen Echo and learned about the historic significance of the park. As an initiation, we were "forced" to ride the carousel. This was wonderful and I felt like I was five again, I was just a bit dizzier this time around. Tomorrow Tia and I will be stationed at Great Falls and I am really looking forward to it.