Day 1: Museum Marathon

Four museums, 3 memorials, the Capitol, and the White House.  Day 1: Done! 

I found a few interesting items today.

#1-Phallic rocks at the Natural History Museum

Item #2-Learning about Whale behavior from Jim

No, Jim is not pictured, however, the Discovery Zones at the Smithsonian are not just for kids.  I had a longer attention span than most children and all the Discovery Zone guides loved sharing the knowledge they had.  As well as sharing some pieces that are not often viewed. 

Item #3-I want an Opal.  (No, Mother, do NOT go buy me one.)

The picture does it no justice, but the long rock in the front was incredible.  The longer you look at it the more it came to life.

Item #4-I'll buy the Hooker Yellow Diamond necklace for my friend, Laura, so she can one-up Kate and still be a hooker.

Item #5-Michelle Obama is a stunning woman.  Leaving all politics aside, I admire her grace and beauty.  And here I've been caught up with the Royals since the Engagement of the Century and failed to notice that our own First Lady is an immaculate woman.

This is the dress she wore for the Inaugural Ball, not great in the picture, however, the life-size portrait took my breath away.  And this dress is just beautiful in person.

Item #6-For my Lover, a token helicopter photo.

So this is not so token.  The experience I had here was incredible.  This is a helicopter used during the Vietnam War.  I was behind a man and his granddaughter and he was sharing stories about his experience with this sort of helicopter amongst other items on display.  I couldn't help but listen in and before I knew it he was answering my questions as well. 

Item #7-Puppets make me giggle

Item #8-My Steed at the Capitol

Shortly after this photo I stopped at an ice cream truck and got a water (since I had guzzled my three bottles throughout the day) and an ice cream, of course.  By the way, going through security to go into the Holocaust Museum I had to drink my water to show it was really water, and then dump my water out that was in my Sigg bottle.  I was less then pleased.  The sky to the southwest was looking rather ominous and well, I did not want to be riding a bike in the rain, or the dark for that matter until I get lights for it.  So I convinced myself that I had seen enough for the day, and reminded myself that I'll be here 2 months and there is no need to do it all in one day. 
So I ride off, dodge some traffic, and try to find the least busy street to get north to Rhode Island. Halfway home, a van tries to kill me.  I try to avoid a hospital visit and my back tire took a beating.  So now I have a flat tire, on my second day in D.C..  It's too major for a pump up, so the bike shop is my first order of business in the morning.  Also, I had to push the bike home the last 2 miles; it's hot, glad I live alone because I was smelly when I came in, JUST SAYIN'.

Nothing witty.  Just me being a tourist and utterly intoxicated with this place.  I'm so grateful, so amazed.  I keep wondering "is this real life?"  And "how did I get here?" 

Aside: I start at the Animal Welfare Institute on June 1st so I have a few more days of shameless tourism to partake in.  Maybe I'll walk the dogs to the Capitol and get an iconic "Michelle with her Boys" photo.  On that note, I need to call my stylists and arrange for hair and make-up to make that photo happen.

Cheers!


Oh by the way, Animal Welfare Insitute was up to this today:
Tonight, AWI is testifying (http://bit.ly/kQq4yJ) before the National Park Service in Manassas, VA, chastising the agency for killing deer (http://bit.ly/lKOk2N) & other ungulates in our National Parks rather than employing practical, effective and humane alternatives such as birth control. See what NPS is doing in your area: visit www.nps.gov & enter “deer management” & your local national park in the search box.

http://www.awionline.org/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/41237  For further information.
This is done by the direct department I will be working for, so it was pretty exciting to get word of this news and know that I may be working with this in the near future, MAYBE, but still, it's neato.

***Pleaes forgive any punctuation errors.  Spell check was not being my friend this evening.***