My Latest Travels

So what do stuffed animals, rockets, Rembrandt, a White House, 128 photos, and pink thighs all have in common? Any guesses? Probably not.
The stuffed animals are at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum, the rockets are at the Air and Space Museum, the Rembrandt's are at the National Museum of Art, the White House is well....the White House, 128 is the amount of photos I took while in D.C., and the pink thighs are what happened when I feel asleep in front of the pool yesterday.

I just got back from my trip to Washington D.C.. I had a fabulous time and would love to go again. Although I put a lot of miles on my feet, I feel like I barely scratched the surface of what D.C has to offer. The Metro is a great tool to get around, and I loved using it. It makes our little TRAX system here look like it's still in the womb. If you have never been to D.C., I highly recommend it. Most would recommend the fall for temperatures and numbers of bodies, but I lucked out with unusually cooler temps for the 5 days I was there. It was still muggy (at least for me now that I'm a desert rat), but not horribly hot. Some of the "kid friendly" museums had way too many people in them, so I didn't spend as much time in them as I would have liked, but that allowed me to spend more time in the art museums and galleries, which in some cases I was the only one in the room.

I couldn't even begin to write about everything there is to do and see, but with all the Museums (some were closed for renovation), the Capital, the Lincoln memorial (which is amazing at night), Jefferson Memorial, Washington Memorial, Arlington, countless galleries, Georgetown, the Kennedy center (which is amazing, and I was fortunate enough to catch a free concert one evening), the Botanical gardens, the sculpture gardens, the Libraries of Congress (there are three), and the creme de le creme; seeing the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution inside the National Archives, you can easily conclude how long it could take to really see everything (and I have left many things out). I heard a statistic while I was there that if you spent 30 seconds at each exhibit you could not see everything in a single lifetime. One day I had been on my feet for 14 hours with only minor stops for some food and drink. My calves let me know it the next day too.

Unfortunately for this post I don't have any photos because I left the camera with the hubby before coming home. He doesn't get back until Friday, and he had a meeting with a local Congressman yesterday in the Capital. I thought the camera might be better with him than coming home with me. I did finally manage to replace the camera that met its demise in the Pacific ocean back in April, so I think I got some really good shots.

I really loved D.C., not just the Mall and all the stuff, but the energy and youth of the people that lived there. Given, I counted at least 7 colleges and universities within about a 10 mile radius, its no wonder. People are extremely driven there. Everyone is exercising, playing games in the Mall, and activities abound. I loved it! I think if I had a child, I would definitely point them in that direction for college. It would be a great place to live and learn.

I barely got home last night. The flight out of Washington was, of course, full. As a stand-by passenger I am used to the stresses of not being able to get on a flight, but I knew that the rest of the week was already over-sold, and forget about connecting to Atlanta. Additionally, with those stupid 3oz rules, I checked my bag, which meant that if I couldn't get on I would be stuck in D.C. with no supplies for who knows how long. At the last possible minute they finally approved the stand-by's. I was about to have a heart attack. I was relieved when I got into my seat. Then the tapping began. Just as I was about to shut my eyes for a little dozer, the back of my headrest was taken over by some demon called a 12 year old that didn't quite understand that the little T.V. in front of her was also connected to my seat. She had also concluded that the "touch screen" meant "punch screen." If I wasn't so tired, I would have turned around and had some words, but being 12, with no parent nearby, I decided it just wasn't worth it. I cuddled up next to the window and fell asleep.

Once at the airport I stood at the baggage carousel for 50 minutes waiting for my bag to show up, which it never did. I went over to lost baggage only to find out my bag some how managed not to be on the carousel with everyone else from Washington, but it had miraculously walked over to the Seattle carousel because it felt like playing hide and seek with me. Fun! That's 50 minutes I'll never get back. To say the least, I was pooped and was happy to be home.