Smithsonian - Washington

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Holy mother.... it is hot down here. Felt like 46 with humidity today.... ayoye.

Plan was to stay inside at the museums... but of course I got stuck in the subway, missed a stop, and then ended up getting off at one end of the National Mall rather than at the middle where I wanted. Not a long walk... but in this weather? Ick.

I made the most of it - took pictures of the Capitol from the other side, some statues, etc. and then wandered down the Mall towards the Washington Monument... all the while trying to zig-zag between the occasional tree to get any shade possible.

(I'm still impressed I only had a slight sunburn.)

I hit up the Natural History Museum (Ottawa's Museum of Nature's got nothing on this one =( ...sigh) and spent about 2hrs there. They had the usual mammal, insect, ocean, dinosaur, gem stones sections, etc. just larger and with more detail. It was neat to see the Evolution of Humans and their special exhibit on Race (how people make it an issue, and why it shouldn't be). Highly recommend the museum... anddddd it's free! Love the museums here.

I went back outside for all of 10min before running into the American History Museum haha. Still much too hot. The History Museum was actually quite impressive - despite the hoards of school children working on history worksheets. You could easily spend the whole day here if you're interested in historical facts and tidbits. I spent a couple hours, and I was only skimming thru a lot of the sections. It is historical, of course, but they have some other stuff too like pop icon objects (Wizard of Oz ruby slippers!), dresses from the First Ladies, etc.

I then went into the heat one last time... trekked all the way to the Washington Monument in the blazing sun... only to see a sign that says you need tickets and they're all gone for the day. Tickets for a monument?!? Not cool. Walked all the way here for nothing... sigh, guess I'll be back tomorrow or Thursday.

I headed back to the hotel after that - subway during rush hour was a little nutty, but no problem. Dad and I went out for supper afterwards and did some shopping in Alexandria. 'twas a good day.

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Photos

View down National Mall
Towards Washington Monument

So hot
Even the ducks stayed in the shade

Poor antelope
Natural History Museum

Spider Monkey
Skeleton looks so cool!