George Washington University

Hippo likes watching football and other sports. Many teams have animal mascots like the Michigan Wolverines and Detroit Lions. Hippo wondered why nobody had thought of choosing a really great animal mascot – Hippopotamus amphibius.

Well, last weekend Hippo learned that somebody did, and they're right in his own backyard! George Washington University has had an unofficial hippo mascot since 2001 when this statue was erected at 21st and H Street NW.


Unfortunately, the bosses at GWU decided that making the hippo their official mascot was too problematic. John Och explains: "We regulate marks and logos that we own as a university. But from a legal perspective, we don't have any recourse to regulate the hippo." I know what he means – I have trouble regulating my hippo every day.

Fortunately, the hippo will remain as an unofficial mascot. The GW Bookstore announced that it will continue to sell hippo apparel. Hippo might go shopping there for fall fashions, though he tries to dress a bit smarter than this fellow.

Historical Hippo

Since I live where so much of our nation's history happened, I like to go exploring. A couple of weeks ago, I went to see where George Washington lived – Mount Vernon.

The grounds are really big, and there are a lot of buildings. I had a little trouble finding my way from the parking lot.


"Mr. Washington? Can you tell me how to get to the mansion?"

With a little help from my map and Mr. Washington, I found my way to the visitors' center. The center had a lot of artifacts, some films, and other educational stuff that hippos like to see and do.


I also met Martha Washington and one of the girls.

The mansion is really cool. George had a harpsichord, a game room (hippos like games), and a lot of books! Even the ceilings were decorated – the main dining room had molding that looked like wheat and other crops.


The estate grounds are so big that there is room for four farms! A lot of people and animals (no hippos) still work there to show how the farms worked and to answer questions about what things were like when George lived there.


These are the historic chicken reenactors. Very convincing.

When we finished touring the farms and were just about ready to go home, some cute little sheep added extra excitement to the day. Several of them escaped and were playing tag with their caretakers.



Most of them went back to their pen, but this one wanted to play a little bit longer.