We finally headed out of the apartment around 10:30 and took the metro to the Penn Quarter area for an early lunch on Constitution Avenue. We ate at a local deli which sold its food by the pound. It was perfect for our picky crew. Everyone got what they wanted and mom was happy because some of
it even contained fruits and vegetables. While we ate we enjoyed watching kids play at a nearby daycare and we saw someone important drive by in a full-on police and secret service escorted van. Very exciting.After lunch, we went to the National Archives by way of the navy memorial for our timed entry ticket. If you don't want to spend your vacation standing in line, go online and order tickets for the National Archives. It will cost you a nominal handling fee, but it is definately worth it. We went directly through the scheduled tour door and waited about 2 minutes for the guards to break the line so we could get in.
The folks at the Archives have really beefed up their exhibit since the last time Ross and I were
there. The rotunda exhibit of the original constitution, declaration of independence and bill of rights is still a frustrating experience in human behavior. But, the other exhibits were cool -- if you can use that word to describe exhibits of letters, documents and ledgers.The boys enjoyed the interactive, computer screens that showed tantalizing snippets of the records the government keeps from congressional inquiries into UFOs, the cold war, and watergate. There was also a fun exhibit on geneology which included a "Guess Who?" feature showing the baby pictures of some of the more recent President's and their wives. We enjoyed ourselves more than we thought we would.
After we were finished, we walked the short distance to the Smithsonian for the rest of the day. We hung out first at the Museum of Natural History. After a brief trip through the mammal exhibit -- Denver's is better -- we went upstairs to the insect zoo which was pretty cool. A docent was there surrounded by a bunch of field trippers. She was letting the kids hold things like Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches and big green fuzzy caterpillers. Awesome.
Another cool exhibit is called Written in Bone -- a visual walk through what a person's bones say about what people eat and how they died. Mom wanted to take a peak at the Hope Diamond's new setting by Harry Winston. And then, surprise of all surprises, son Sam wanted to take a close, personal look at the national gem collection -- a fact that delighted his mother but not his dad and little bro. Sam and I wandered slowly with the crowd examining all of the jewels on
display. The kid has always been fascinated by rocks. We finished the rest of the geology exhibit and rubbed the Mars rock on the way out.After a quick jaunt by the T-Rex, the whale and the elephant, we headed back out the door and went down the street to the Museum of American History. We were hungry so we ate an exhorbantly priced meal downstairs in the Stars & Stripes Cafe. The good news was that at 3:00 p.m., the place is nearly empty and very quiet. It was nice.
After that, we wandered upstairs through an exhibit about pop-up books and another exhibit called "Within These Walls." The curators had taken the bones of an actual house, stripped them bare and reconstructed the history of the three families who had occupied the home through time. They also showed how the house looked at each stage.
After that it was upstairs to "The American Presidency" exhibit where the boys tried their hand behind the Presidential podium. Isaac also finally got to see Abraham Lincoln's hat which was on
display. We breezed through the Treasurers of Popular Culture where none other than Michael Jackson's glove and Dorothy's red slippers were prominently displayed. We breezed through "America on the Move" stopping for a brief time to see the maritime exhibit. And then we capped off the day at "The Price of Freedom" which is an excellent display on the effects of war.We were right in the middle of a family contest on who was the best Rosy the Riviter when the guards came and kicked us out of the museum early. We're not sure why, all we are sure of was that we were kicked out just in time for a fun little rain shower. We ran to the center of the mall where a large white tent was set up and sheltering several fellow travelers who
were in the same situation. When the rain lightened up, we headed for the metro and our apartment on Capital Hill.We spent the night hanging out in the basement and kicking back after another long, interesting day.
