Anyway, chilled for most of the morning, then went to the Old Post Office for lunch. Very nice place, in my opinion. I had a gyro from the Greek Tavern, if I remember the place correctly (Post Office had a food court).
Afterwards, Dad stayed in the hotel with Kevin and Sean, while me, Ryan and Mom headed off to the National Archives. They allowed photography, but the flash HAS to be off. So I took many very blurry pix. It was cool, though, to see the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence. The shop was great too, but very expensive.
Next we stopped by the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden (if I remember the name correctly), that was a nice area! Then we went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History, which was great. The exhibitions I went to were The First Ladies at the Smithsonian, I Do Solemnly Swear (2009 Inauguration), Thanks for the Memories, Musical Instruments, Abraham Lincoln: An Accomplished Life (I think that's the name), and The American Presidency: A Glorious Burden. Oh, and a little of The Star-Spangled Flag (again, name is fuzzy) and one about war, I think it's called The Price of Freedom. Some highlights were Laura Bush's inaugural gown (First Ladies), Kermit the Frog, Oscar the Grouch and Dorothy's ruby slippers (all in Memories), a HUGE flag in the Star-Spangled one (the name of the flag escapes me), pretty much all of Lincoln exhibit, and the Podium in American Presidency. What's the Podium, you ask? Well, it's where you can step up, choose from 3 famous Presidential Speeches, and the words will appear on the screen while you can give the speech. I need to attach a picture or something someday, cause it's way cooler than I'm making it sound.
After that, we went to the Museum of Natural History, that was neat. I have a few interesting stories on that. I was walking through the fossil section, made it upstairs and ended up in an exhibit that was unknown at first. I took a picture of a rock, then saw a large group of people crowding around this display case. Eventually, I wised up and realized that it was the Hope Diamond. Naturally, I took a few pictures, but it was hard-those tourists were vultures! Also, I got to see the live Butterflies, but I couldn't actually go into the butterfly place cause you needed tickets. So I went to the Insect Zoo. Enjoyable, and surprisingly took several pics of tarantulas, despite the fact that I'm terrified of them (those they were behind glass and kind of small, so that made it easier). There were staff members who had insects that people could touch/hold-I made a pass on that one. The reactions of others were predictable; either people saying "That's so freaking awesome!" (usually males) or squeals of "Ohmigosh, ewwwwww!" (usually females). I was pretty good at showing no outward emotion. As I was walking out, I looked at my watch and saw that I had only five minutes to meet up with Mom and Ryan! I ran through the next exhibit, which I think had to do with bones, then the next, which seemed to take forever. I found out later that the was Origins of Western Civilization, only I ended with Cavemen, so I went through the entire origins backwards. : ) I walked through, annoyed by the slowness of others, snapped a picture of the Korea Gallery (small, but looked cool, wish I had more time to look. Then I bolted downstairs, went through the Ocean section, and made it to my destination on time. : ) So that was a fun afternoon.
We walked back to the hotel, rested, then walked to Cosi's for dinner, only to discover that it closed at 6pm (it was 6:15 when we walked over). So we went to Qdoba's across the street. I had Tortilla Soup, very good and spicy. I personally liked it.
Then we hung out in the hotel most of the time, by 9:30 we read off lists of weird phobias (don't ask why). I have a new daily record: 462 pictures in one day! I didn't take as many yesterday, only 210, but that's probably because I went to places that didn't allow many, if any, pics. Then I complained at how freakishly early my family goes to bed.
So now I must go to bed. If anyone actually read this novel, that'll be amazing. To anyone who reads this and is a friend of mine on Facebook, I will try to weed through my pictures and post albums soon. To those who aren't on Facebook, I'll try to pick some of the best pictures and post them on here. But that might take a little while, we'll see.
Anyway, must go to bed now. ¡Buenas noches!
Ashley
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