The first evening, his dad took us to the 'mall' and we toured the monuments at night. We went to the Washington Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, reflecting pool, and WWII memorial.
The next day we visited the Holocaust Museum, which was as disturbing and fascinating as one might imagine. We followed that up with our 1st stop at the natural history museum. It was very crowded and we only made it through the dinosaurs section and other prehistoric creatures!
Monday, we started with the natural history museum. We progressed through Darwin's exhibit and the oceans, soils, and gems. Gems were suprising interesting - so many gorgeous rocks!
(my ring was just a little smaller than the Hope Diamond!)
We eventually made our way to the native american (or american indian) museum. We were starving so we ate in the cafe first. The cafe is themed native american food from different regions (I ate from south america - really good - and Randy ate from the northwest I think). The top floor was really interesting, and they had several walls of beautiful art and artifacts.
After milling about here for a few hours we went over to check out the gardens adjacent to the musuem, which ultimately led us to the botanical gardens. Beautiful!
And the neatest part was the models of monuments and federal buildings made entirely of plant material. Wouldn't you know our camera battery died at this point!
Tues was our last sure day of great weather so we headed for the Arlington Cemetery. We went to JFK (and other Kennedies) gravesites, the tomb of the unknown, witnessed the changing of the guard, and viewed the many memorials.
Glimpsing the Lincoln Memorial across the bridge, we decided against the metro and for a nice long walk (despite our aching feet and knees from the miles of walking already behind us each day). Along the bridge we saw the Roosevelt Islands (which we never made it to). Passing the Lincoln Memorial, we headed to the Vietnam Wall, where there were many tourists and veterans. From there, we bravely ventured off away from the mall and toward the great unknown. Becoming increasing weary and hungry though, we finally broke down and asked someone where we could find food (we were completely surrounded by federal buildings!). Luckily a 5-min walk led us to a quaint bar with good food. We soon discovered we were on the campus of George Washington University! We next headed to the White House. Unfortunately, we couldn't get very close, but still very cool!
We stopped at the natural history museum and finished up the mammals and birds. We then passed the capitol and continued on to the National Botanical Gardens to take pictures of the 'plant models'.
After almost 8 hours and countless (>10) miles of walking, we headed toward the metro and the short ride home. Except we hit the rush hour madness, and had to stand for much of our ride...
Wed was Labor Day and the first day of non-stop drizzly cold dismal rain (thanks to a tropical storm that popped up). (And of course, Randy had not brought any rain gear) We set aside this day for the space museum, knowing it was huge and would take a long time. What we didn't anticipate was the large number of families and teenagers that would be there too! Even worse, the only place to eat was a giant McDonald's, which we hit just prior to the insane lunch rush (think hundreds of kids and teenagers), and endured a pretty horrible meal (which, yes, did cause some stomach upset later). Despite the madness, this was a very interesting museum (and clearly attractive for families) - space suits, shuttles, astronauts, planes, the Wright brothers, etc.
We decided to hop across the mall to the art museum for a brief visit. We were too tired to spend a lot of time here, so we basically saw what we could in an hour. We did find an exhibit with knight suits and swords and related stuff, which was awesome. We also saw a Da Vinci and some Rembrandts. Way too many artists doing the Madonna and child in my opinion. Anyways, we were pretty worn out so we headed home early that day, arriving home before the rush.
Da Vinci
Thursday, rainy day 2. We went straight to the American history museum. Obviously there was some overlap here with the other museums, so we spent more time in the early history exhibits through the Civil War and skimmed WWII and such. We sailed through the presidents a bit too quickly. Some really neat exhibits in this musuem. Since this was our last museum and last day - we skipped out early, being very tired from the week's adventures. That evening we met a couple of Randy's old college buddies for dinner. I didn't take too many pictures here.
Friday, rainy day 3! We rode the metro to the Reagan airport and picked up a rental car. We ate breakfast on King's Street and headed northeast to the Chesapeake bay bridge. Randy drove one way and I drove the other - it was fun! We stopped at the shore-side park and Randy got lifer Greater Black-backed Gulls in the 20+ mph wind.
(at the sandy park by Chesapeake Bay)
We continued on to Baltimore, checked in to our hotel, and dined at a local brew pub.
Next day flew home! Hope you enjoy the small selection of photos - we took ~500!!!
My arrow and what was left of my broad head after my shot.
