We started Tuesday's adventure by putting on our walking shoes and loading up some bags and backpacks for a day of traveling by foot. Of course, then we got in the van and drove to the Greenbelt Metro station where we parked the van and traveled into DC by train. We got off the Metro near the National Archives in DC, and with Laurie as our tour guide, began to explore The National Mall, which wasn't actually a shopping mall.
One of our first stops was the National Gallery of Art. It was a huge building that reminded me of a large conference center. We didn't spend much time there, but Quinn took some interesting photos. The mirrored glass pyramids are actually windows in the ceiling of the rooms below.
Here, Quinn reflects on self, others, and the world.
Next, we went to the National Museum of Natural History, where we saw many bones and images of dinosaurs and other ancient creatures. I always find it a challenge to take away very much useful information from a museum in which I'm overwhelmed with crowds and information. We saw some really cool stuff, and the kids really enjoyed the bones and the animals. Quinn captured these teeth.
Some of the fossils on display had amazing detail, with intact protrusions like I'd never seen before.
After a lunch of gymnosperms and hadrosaurs at the museum, we continued our journey westward toward the monuments. We first walked around the Washington monument, which Laurie explained was the largest un-reinforced masonry structure in the world. I explained to the kids that it was also an escape rocket for the President that would take him directly to Mars. We visited the National World War II Memorial, an elaborate and proud expanse of towers and pools and fountains. Lots of folks were cooling off in the pools. It was getting to be a warm day in DC.
We continued west along the reflecting pool to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which presented an entirely different aura than did the WWII Memorial. It was subtle and powerful and sad, with it's most prominent feature being the names of more than 58,000 Americans that had died.
The Lincoln Memorial stood not too far away. We sat on north side out of the sun where the stone was cool and comfortable. We walked around the memorial. It was large and Quinn was small.
We tried to visit the Obama's; thought they might like to have lunch with us, but we couldn't get close enough to ring the door bell. We saw quite a few secret service squirrels out in the yard, though.
After visiting the White House, we took the Metro back to our van and headed back to Laurie and David's. After another nice dinner, we were off to sleep.
And Wednesday we were out the door early for a day in Baltimore's Inner Harbor. It was really fun. We traveled around by water taxi, so we got to see all sorts of old buildings and new ones from the water.
There was also quite a lot of walking about Fell's Point, and the heat, and the miles, and the lack of rest began to get to Quinn. Here, on a dock by the harbor, he collapsed. It took quite some effort, a bit of scolding, and very long piggy-back ride, before he'd recovered.
It wasn't until later that I realized just how tired and woozy Quinn must have been feeling. Even some of the pictures he took during that time were fuzzy and tilted.
Before we left Fell's Point, we were hanging around this crab making jokes about crabby Abbey when a nice man stopped by to tell us just how bad the economy was in Michigan, and then volunteered to take our picture.
After leaving the harbor, we went back to Laurie and David's, packed up our stuff, and headed up to Strasburg, PA, for the Eastern Tandem Rally.
A lunch of pine trees and large extinct amphibia?
ReplyDeleteWhat did you expect? Cheese pizza?
ReplyDelete