Bilf the Dilf had meetings all day, so Conor and I had a quick bite to eat with him, and we took a shuttle to the Metro (let me just say here that I love the metro. Love it. Every big city needs it. **Seattle, cough cough, Seattle** Amen.) Conor and I had a general idea of the things we wanted to see, so we mapped out the day. On a tiny little map, that seems pretty doable. Oh man, were my feet in for quite the day.
We got off on the Smithsonian metro exit, which takes you directly to the National Mall. They were having their annual book fair that Conor and I went to last year. We decided to skip it - too many people. Our first stop was the Washington monument, which was built to commemorate George Washington. It took a really long time to build, and they actually had to halt construction for a while because of funding and the American War. If you look closely, you can see where they stopped - the color of the marble is slightly different. Conor is PRETTY strong and helped it stand up.
This was another monument we saw. Seriously, this guy was stretching like this for one full minute, and was ASKING to have his picture taken.
On our way to the Lincoln Memorial, we walked past the World War II Memorial - there really are monuments everywhere in that city, and so much time and effort is put into every single one. I think that's one of the reasons I love the city so much. It's easy enough to make a memorial for someone, but every inch, column, piece of rock in these monuments have a reason and purpose, and they all tell the story of why that person or event is important - very cool.
The World War II memorial honors the 16 million who served in the war, and the 400,000 who died. All the states are represented for their part in the war, and I may be biased between NC and WA. We quickly walked around the memorial, and made our way to see Abe the babe. (By the way, Kilroy has a cool story, if you want to check it out - too much to type.)
The Lincoln Memorial is one of my favorite DC spots - he's just so regal in his chair, and the view is remarkable. Once you've walked up all the steps, you see Abe, to his right is the Gettysburg Address, and to his left, his 2nd inauguration address. There are 36 columns holding up the structure to represent the 25 states in the US when he died, and the 11 seceded confederate states. The rest of the states are inscribed in the marble around the structure.
This is about the point in our trip where I realized that something was wrong. It was only about 9:30am, we had already been to three sites, and my feet were already killing me. I'm normally pretty good on my feet, and I had great tennis shoes that I love, but for some reason two of my toes were rubbing together, and I started to walk a little funny to try to get them to stop rubbing. Bad mistake. Now, not only did my toes hurt, but now my feet, shins, knees and legs were hurting. But, we were on a one day trip to DC and I wasn't going to let that stop me! Off to the White House next!
The white house actually looks kind of small in person, but I think that's more because you can't go on the grounds and walk around to see all of it - in pictures it looks huge! By the way, if you're planning a future trip to DC and you want a tour, you have to contact your state and figure out who to talk to - at LEAST 2-6 months in advance!
After that long loop, we made our way back toward the mall to go to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. I'm convinced you could live in DC your entire life, and visit the sites every weekend and you'd still not see everything - it's impossible. I love this place. I could hang out there all day and just got lost in all of that history - don't tell Jean! We wandered around the bones exhibit, the insect zoo (i spared you all and "forgot" to take pictures) , and the Hope Diamond.
On our way into the building, I ran across this statue:
This would be a "Colossal Head" statue from the Olmec tribe. Hello?!? Legend of the Hidden Temple anyone?
The first stop in the Natural History museum was a gallery of animal skeletons.
When I taught the human body at McAuliffe, our science kit had owl pellets that we could dissect. It gave the kids the chance to try and put together a skeleton, and to notice the similarities and differences between our skeleton and this little critter, the vole.
Holy crap - look at all those bones!!!
This picture is for Chuck.
Oh no, Conor watch out! He's going to get your neck!!!
Next we made our way to another skeleton gallery, but this one was dedicated to telling a story through evidence found in skeletons - it was fascinating.
A side by side view of how the skull can show you what the individual looked like with skin.
Uh, scary.
After the skull exhibit, we walked quickly through the Insect Zoo which gives me a severe case of the heebie jeebies. No pictures. you're welcome.
After the Insect Zoo, we decided to quickly go look at the Hope Diamond before grabbing a bite to eat - we were starving and I thought my feet were going to stop right there in their tracks as a protest to the walking we had done so far.
Conor was extremely disappointed by the size of the diamond - he really thought it would be the size of your fist, or a baseball. It's more like the size of a small skipping stone. It's still very pretty, and very rare - it had been brewing for over a billion years before it was found. Oh nature, you're so crazy.
For lunch, we basically limped over to the nearest hot dog stand - Conor was nice and stood in line while I sat saving a table. The hot dog stand is right next to the Mall, and there were thousands of people walking around the Book Festival - we were lucky to have a table. The best part about that seat was the kid we were sitting next to. Conor heard him in line convincing the lady he was with (Grandma? Friend's mom?) that his parents let him drink coffee, even though the lady he was with thought it was weird that his parents didn't drink coffee, she still let him get a cup. Bad mistake. This kid was hyper enough as it was, and he was so excited about his cup of joe. That's when he came to sit at the table next to me, and I heard him talking to the little girl he was at the book festival with. "Are you putting salt in that coffee? - little girl. "Yeah, it's REALLY good" - little boy. I turned to sneak a peek, and that kid had about 4 salt packets. Conor watched him dump in 3 creams and then shout that it wasn't good enough, so he poured in two more. Yum. It was hilarious, and we of course had to take a picture.
We stayed there a while to let our feet rest a little longer, then we decided to head to the Air and Space Museum. The museum is really cool, because everywhere you look there are actual planes hanging from the rafters. Conor officially turned into a 7 year old when we got there. He grabbed a map of the museum, and numbered all the rooms he wanted to go in to see the planes. He would check them off as we went - adorable. It's pretty dark in there, so it was hard to take pictures.
As we were getting to the end of the museum, we saw a gallery for a man named Alan Bean. Who knew my long-lost cousin was so famous that he has a section of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum dedicated to him. My family tree has never been more proud. (For the record, although we look like cousins, I have no idea who the hell this guy is...)
Alan Bean is an artist that paints the lunar landing, and man walking on the moon. What makes it cool, is that he imprints the paintings with items you could find on an astronaut, or on the shuttle - for instance, in the picture below, there is texture there of a moon boot-print, and tool markings. You can't tell in the picture, but it looks really cool in person.
After the Air & Space Museum, Conor and I had one more stop before making our way back to our hotel - lunch with Conor's roommate in NC, Dan. We made our way out to Chinatown to meet Dan and his sister, and passed the Capitol building as we walked through the Mall. We snapped one last picture together in front of it, since we didn't make it out there.
We ate at a pizza restaurant called Matchbook. It was about 2:30 when we got there, and we knew we'd be eating a steak dinner with Bill later on, so Conor and I just had a salad and caught up with Dan.
For some reason Conor couldn't get over this FBI car, so this picture is for my 7 year-old husband.
Conor and I were finally done with our day around DC - sitting felt fabulous, and I felt like a zombie on the train ride back to Gaithersburg.
Bill was very kind and took us out to a really nice dinner with a few of his surveying buddies - it was really fun. We talked to them about The Bilfy Show and asked if they thought people would watch a show all about Bill Glassey - it was a unanimous yes, so if any of my readers want to help fund a possible huge moneymaker, hit me up.
After dinner, Conor and I sat and did our best to not walk anymore. He wasn't in pain like I was, but we were both really tired. He ended up using gmap-pedomiter.com to chart our trip, and without the walking we did in all the museums, we walked over 6 miles. I had a killer blister, but it was worth it - we had such a blast!
Day 2 was a lot of fun as well. We slept in, showered, packed up, and drove into DC. Conor googled "best brunch in DC" and found a restaurant called Kramers Books & Afterwords Cafe.
Conor wins the award for best googler - he is really good at internetting. It's why I married him. The breakfast was sooooo good.
Conor had Veggie Huevos Rancheros.
I had French Toast with hashbrowns, scrambled eggs, hickory smoked bacon, fruit compote, and fresh squeezed OJ. Oh man, everything was great, especially the hash browns. Yum.
Bill had Eggs Benedict.
After breakfast we headed to Nationals Park to see the Nationals vs. Braves ball game.
Fun fact: The Nationals have so far lost 100 games this season. For those of you who do not live with a baseball nut, they play only 160 games a season, and the season isn't over yet. Ouch.
They do have a nice ballpark though, and the scoreboard is really cool!
They also have the 4 presidents that make appearances before the game, and do a race in the middle of the game.
Tom, Teddy, George and Abe - after this picture, Teddy gave me a high five. There is a standing joke at the Ballpark that Teddy never wins - he actually won the other day, but they accused him of cheating. The video is of the race, but the best part of the video is in the last second - I promise it's worth it.
We sat behind a father and his son, and they were true fans - they knew which players to call bums, and which players to cheer on. They also scored the game in their own personal scorebooks, and kind of looked like New Yorkers, if you know what I mean. Conor officially scored his best brush with fame point by pointing out that this kid looked like the son from American Dad.
The Nationals scored 3 runs with 3 homeruns, and the game was tied in the 9th, but in true Nats fashion, they still lost the game 6-3. It started raining in the 8th, and knowing Bill & Conor, leaving was not an option, so I had to entertain myself somehow...
After the game, we said goodbye to Bill and made our way back to NC. We had a great time - thanks Bilfy!
