Independence Day week in our Nation's Capitol -- UPDATED 8/22 About This Page:

[DopeyGirl]

A “sort of” early morning . . . “Look at the size of that rock!” . . . and Bono in 3D.


I slept pret-ty darn well that first night . . . all thanks to the lovely pillowtop mattress on that big ol’ bed in our room. Holy cow. It was quite nice to actually wake up and feel totally rested as I have found that nights like that are becoming fewer and farther between for me these days (and only going to get worse )! That was kind of my cue that I either needed to buy a new mattress or at least a pillowtop when I got home. And I did. We bought a pillowtop for our old bed yesterday and are buying a new mattress when Mike gets home from deployment in the spring.

We all got up at around about 8am, got dressed and headed down to the hotel restaurant to try their breakfast buffet (since our room included a “Kids Eat Free” plan). It was just “OK” . . . nothing to really write home about. Although it was a bit “overpriced” for the amount of items they offered. There honestly wasn’t much in the way of choices on the buffet . . . scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, hash browns, cereal, 2 types of muffins, toast, watermelon, strawberries and apples. They also had a made to order (tiny) omelet bar and would make you a waffle if you asked. We were able to get plenty to eat, but there just wasn’t a lot to choose from . . . it could be that I am just so darn used to Disney breakfast buffets that cost $18/person that when I saw this “measly” one at the same cost, I kind of had a “moment”.

ANYHOW . . . evidently, breakfast wasn’t on Miss Emilie’s agenda (and she hadn’t slept well either, I guess) and she had a major meltdown before we could even decide what the plan of the day was going to be. It took quite a while to get her calmed down to the point where she would agree to go do “something” but by 10:30, we were ready to head to the Metro station.

We rode to the Federal Triangle Metro station and got off to walk down to the National Museum of Natural History . . . or as Emilie took to calling it (because she kept getting confused) the “National Museum of NATIONAL History”.

We passed the IRS on the way . . . you know, those folks who take your money every month and SOMETIMES you get it back in the spring . . .



The lines for the security/bag checkpoint were moving fairly smoothly, so getting in was no problem. It was a little crowded in the rotunda area though, once we got through, but wasn’t too bad. This was the ONE museum that Emilie was looking forward to visiting because of the “big elephant” and the “bunch of dinosaurs”. So, naturally, the first stop after the “big elephant” in the rotunda was the dinos and fossils. (for the next little bit, it will be primarily photos with a few comments tossed in. )










We’ve decided that this will now be our nickname for the St. Louis Cardinals’ Albert Pujols.


Emilie with a leg bone from one of the “smaller” dinosaurs. (I must have had “super flash” at that moment because her little pale face almost got totally washed out. )







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[DopeyGirl]

Emilie is big into using the computer kiosks in museums. On this one, I believe she was learning about pegmatites.


Discovering the wonder that is paper clips sticking to magnetite.


Hidden Mickey?


This shows the earthquakes (no matter how small) that occurred just since that morning.


Emilie came around the corner and immediately said “Hey, dum-dum! You give me gum-gum!” She has seen Night at the Museum entirely too many times.

We stopped touring for a short time around 1:15 or so and headed to the Atrium Café to grab something for lunch (and boy, was it BUSY down there!). They had a really interesting mix of choices as far as food went . . . everything from BBQ to sandwiches to burgers and salads. Mike got a ginormous turkey sandwich, I got a burger and Emilie chose chicken strips. It was all OK . . . not the best, but not the worst food court food ever.

Once our lunch was gone, we headed back out into the museum to do the little bit of touring we had left.












I had to giggle after I saw this pic in larger form earlier. I just noticed that it looks like the hippo is about to eat that guy’s head behind him.










“Maybe the dingo ate your baby?”


The koala says “EXIT”. (by sheer accident . . . and bad angling in the glass . . . we got the exit sign right over the koala’s mouth. )


Emilie explains the theory of evolution?


Looking out the window in the insectarium area toward the Washington Monument


The “big elephant” from the second floor balconies






Emilie thought it was pretty cool (although, a bit grossed out) to see an ACTUAL mummy.

We finished seeing everything by around 3:45pm and headed out of the museum.


CONTINUED IN NEXT POST . . .

[DopeyGirl]

We didn’t really have a plan, so we just started walking “wherever” and ended up at the US Navy Memorial.
















On the right is Mike’s Navy “rating” (AE = Aviation Electrician’s Mate) and on the left is what MINE was when I was in the Navy! (AD = Aviation Machinist’s Mate . . . aka Aviation engine mechanic. )

We looked around outside, then headed inside. We were the only people inside the museum part of the memorial, so we were able to see everything fairly quickly and without a ton of people standing in front of us. We finished up there between 4:20-4:30 and headed to find a Starbucks. Just a note about that for a second . . . it amazes me how many people have no problems drinking piping hot coffee when it is 90-something degrees out! We got a Mocha Frappuccino (Mike), a Blended Lemonade (me) and an apple juice . . . the LAST thing we were thinking about was a HOT drink on a HOT day.

ANYHOW . . . once we’d had our drinks, we headed down to the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery. We finished off our time there by doing a kids’ scavenger hunt in the Luce Foundation Center for American Art gallery. It was nice to have something for Emilie to do since she was starting in on her “This is BOOOOOORRRRRRRING!” stuff. She really enjoyed doing the scavenger hunt though, and when she successfully completed it, she was given her choice of 3 SAAM badges to wear on her shirt.




Ah . . . contemporary art. You just don’t see enough paintings containing bacon on clothespins, drill bits and windows these days.


Sorry to our west coast friends . . . there was nowhere I really could have stood that would have enabled me to get the entire sculpture in the frame. BUT this was a really awesome sculpture . . . the US, made out of neon and televisions. It’s called “Electronic Superhighway”. The TVs all played something relating to each state . . . Missouri had “Meet Me in St. Louis”, Kansas had “The Wizard of Oz”, Oklahoma had “Oklahoma”, Idaho had a potato farming video . . . it was really cool! Here’s a link to the SI page about it: SAAM :: Interact


Emilie doing part of the scavenger hunt


CONTINUED IN NEXT POST . . .

[DopeyGirl]

Fleet Admiral William Halsey “Hit hard, hit fast, hit often.”


Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz – in 1944, he became the first Naval Officer to be appointed the rank of Fleet Admiral (highest rank in the Navy). Now he has an entire class of nuclear powered aircraft carriers named for him (“Nimitz Class”) as well as the USS Nimitz (the first of the class named for him)


General George S. Patton – an Olympian (he participated in the pentathalon in the 5th Olympic games in Stockholm in 1912) and HIGHLY successful and decorated soldier.


Juliette Gordon Low – founder of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America


Walt Whitman


Jimmy Carter


John Adams


Abraham Lincoln


Ulysses S. Grant


Theodore Roosevelt

The museum was closing as we made our way out, so we walked back towards the Natural History Museum as we had a date with the IMAX theater at 7:30 to see the U2 concert movie U23D!

There was a hot dog cart just outside of the “ground floor entrance” of the NMofNH, so we got some cheap eats from there then headed in to the museum at a couple of minutes before 7:00 and up to the IMAX theater area. They let us in to the theater at about 7:05 and we put our 3D glasses on right at 7:30.

We’d been waiting to see this for ages now. We weren’t able to make it when it played at the Virginia Air and Space Museum near us and when it was over there, we figured it was gone for good . . . so we were REALLY surprised when we walked into the museum that morning and saw that it was playing there! And it was worth EVERY. PENNY. It was just as if we were at that concert . . . and made me wish that they’d tour again soon so I can see them live again.

Emilie really enjoyed it too . . . now every time she hears a U2 song on my iPod, she yells “Hey! I heard this song at that movie we saw.” (For the record, she has heard just about every U2 songs MULTIPLE times since she was born, but after U23D, it was as if she had never heard a song before. )

SO . . . once the movie was over, we made our way back to the Federal Triangle Metro station and hopped on a train back to Rosslyn. We took a couple of pics on the walk back to the hotel:





Once back in the room, we all showered then hit the sack . . . another night where we were all pretty much asleep before our heads hit the pillows.


COMING UP NEXT: 300,000+ rested souls in a sea of white

[DawnDenise]

Just caught up on your report Sarah and loving it! Great pictures but I have to comment on this:



Emilie came around the corner and immediately said “Hey, dum-dum! You give me gum-gum!” She has seen Night at the Museum entirely too many times.

Is it bad that I thought the same darn thing???

Looking forward to more!

[DopeyGirl]

Originally Posted by DawnDenise

Is it bad that I thought the same darn thing???

Not at all . . . because I was THINKING what she actually said out loud.

Now I say it everytime I see that picture.

[chezp]

Wow, what a busy day you had. At least you didn't do too much BORING stuff for Miss Emilie!

[DrDolphin]

Great update!! I've walked past the Navy Memorial numerous times when I lived up there and never went in - my loss!! Looks like I should add it to the "next time I am in DC" list!!

[Colexis Mom]

What a great day Sarah!! You got quite a lot done Love all the pics I too would have said the dum dum/gum gum line More please

[RobDVC]

Great pictures from the NMONH! Love the captions to some of the pictures.
Glad that you got to see U23D!

[WeatherTed]

Great TR! More please!

[poohmaine]

Really enjoying your report. It makes me want to go back soon.

[wdwlovers]

The Dingo stole my baby!

I love that quote. It's the only thing I remember from that movie.

Just getting caught up on your TR. I can't believe how grown up Miss Em is. Wow. I'm loving all the photos. I was out in DC back in 7th grade, so it's been a long time since I've visited.

Keep it coming!