So, since today is my birthday, and we are going to spend it in Washington, I had some goals. (1) Not to wear ourselves out, especially since I am older now; (2) Not to walk too much; (3) Have an early day. And we did pretty well on all of those. We figured out our subway route, made good connections (there are more frequent subways on weekdays), and worked our way, a short walk, over to the first Smithsonian Museum, the Freer Gallery of Art. We hadn't really picked that one out, but it was the closest restroom, so we walked through the exhibits there, mostly pots and vases, some paintings, but not our cup of tea.
Because we have no sense of direction in this city, we always walk the wrong way. So we had to go back past our subway stop to walk over to the first of the two Museums we had picked out to tour -- the National Museum of American History. Right inside this one is a big tribute to the Star Spangled Banner, and since it was written on my birthday, it seemed appropriate for me to stand beneath it.
Exhibits here include Archie Bunker's chairs, Dorothy's slippers, an old wash tub and a line of clothes with laundry instructions, and the carriage that President Ulysses S. Grant bought during his term in office.
Our last stop was the National Museum of Natural History, which includes lots of animals, bones, minerals and jewels, including the Hope Diamond. I remember seeing the Hope Diamond 50 years ago, but Joe doesn't think he did. It's still impressive.
Then we went into the gift shop so Joe could shop for the Hope Diamond for me for my birthday. I found a $5 ring that I thought would do, he picked out a diamond necklace that I vetoed, so we didn't buy anything. But he thought of it, and it's the thought that counts, right???
Outside this building is a large piece of petrified wood from Arizona. I wouldn't mind having that in my yard.
We made our short hike back to the subway station, we had to add $$ to our metro card for our final ride, so we put $2.10 on mine, and $7.10 on Joe's card. Our subway ride was $2.10, and he put $5 for the parking garage. But when we got to the booth in the parking garage, it was $5.10, instead of $5.00, so we had to use the credit card there, and left $5 sitting on our metro card. There is a bin in the office at the campground for people to donate their metro cards to homeless people, so we may do that tomorrow. But we thought we had it all figured out, so we were disappointed that we screwed that up by ten cents.
We stopped for dinner at a Tex/Mex restaurant on the way home, then shopped phones in Best Buy (didn't make a purchase). Next door was a grocery store, so we picked up a few items there, then headed back to the camper. We got back before 7:00, even with all our stops, and we were not as tired as yesterday, so it was a good day.
We are officially done with Washington, so tomorrow is a travel day again. But this was a good stop, we saw a lot of things. I don't think I had this on my bucket list since we actually had been here once, but it probably should have been. A lot has changed in 50 years. Joe was a bit disappointed in the Smithsonian though. When we were here before, it was all in one building, we believe. Now it is so spread out that you really can't see that much of it unless you spend several days just in the museums.
This morning it was 55 degrees when I got up at 7:30, I had to kick the
furnace on. I think it is fall back here, although it did warm up
nicely by noon. I'm hoping we begin to see some leaves turning as we proceed south.
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