Day #12- What'd I Miss?

Today we focused on Thomas Jefferson.  Although I have not seen Hamilton, I have heard some songs and had the perfect one for today's song/blog title.  We started at the college he designed and founded- the University of Virginia.  We have now been to many college campuses on our travels and this was not one of our favorites.  There was nothing wrong with it, just nothing spectacular.  We think we may have seen some basketball players on campus.  Their team won the NCAA tournament this year.  But...we didnt want to approach them and offend if they were just some giant dudes and not on the team.  
We then went on to the home Thomas Jefferson built, Monticello.   The website advised getting to the home 30 minutes before our tour was scheduled, but we didnt really take that seriously.   We should have.  Unlike the other homes we have toured, this place was like Disney Land.  The people!  The lines!  Surprised they didnt sell a fast pass.  I had no idea that Monticello was a HUGE tourist destination.   Maybe since the musical Hamilton?  Anyway, like Hearst Castle in California,  we had to take a shuttle bus to the top of the mountain for the home.  We joined our tour group of at least 25 people, which was far too many.  We had wanted to take the night tour which gave access to all 3 floors of the house, but it was sold out for weeks.  Our next choice was the all access day tour- also sold out.  So, we settled on just getting to see the first floor.  In retrospect, if the other tours had groups as large as ours, we lucked out not getting the more extensive one. 
The tour guide was a young girl, probably a history major somewhere.  Apparently all guides had extensive reading and studying to do before they could guide us thru the building.   As the guide was cheerfully telling us a story, a man interrupted her.  He said he had been a history teacher for 34 years and blah blah blah, challenging what the poor girl had said.  It was obvious that he had her shaken.  The rest of the tour seemed rushed and not as cheerful.   I think she was just trying to finish before the know-it-all scared her again.   It was a blazing hot day and with crowds like an amusement park, we really didnt have the energy to explore the grounds as we would have liked.  We had our picture taken from the back side of the house, which is the view depicted on the nickel. 
After catching the bus back to the museum area, we took a few more pics and went to the gift shop.   Always my favorite part! 
Tomorrow we head to the Antietam battlefield in Maryland, so stay tuned!