Our Leather Anniversary Trip: Days Three, Four, and Five (well, Four and a Half)

Thus continues my recount of our D.C. vacation.  Day Three was a Smithsonian day all day!  Our morning was spent at the Air and Space Museum, a bit of a bore to two central Floridians comparing its (somewhat outdated) exhibits to KSC and the like.  Even Eric--who, as you know, is fascinated by flight--was a little let down.  We were still impressed by a few genuinely cool pieces of aviation history though, including the Wright brothers' original flyer, the Spirit of St. Louis, the plane that broke the sound barrier, and other cool crap unrelated to space flight.  It honestly didn't seem like it had changed much since our Pinder family trip there in 1996.

This plane was hanging in the same spot 15 years ago

We also hit the Natural History museum that afternoon, which we would have probably enjoyed lots more if every grade school class within a fifty mile radius hadn't chosen that particular day to travel there for an end-of-school-year field trip.  Despite the crowds of squealing tweens underfoot, we still enjoyed everyone's favorites--kick-@$$ prehistoric and geological exhibits, including mummieeees, dynasarrrs!! and a special edition setting of the Hope Diamond.

*drool*

On the way back to the hotel to retire for the evening, we popped in and out of the National Portrait Gallery and then paid our respects to Honest Abe at Ford's Theatre.

I'm trying to look solemn! A crazy actor shot someone here (with her camera...monopod at work)

and this is also where John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln.

So Day Three was a little anti-climactic, but still oodles more fun than being back at work in Florida, where reports say fourteen babies were born at Celebration Hospital that day.  They were probably awakened by my cackles of delight all the way from the rooftop pool at my hotel.

Day Four was by far the most kick@$$ of our D.C. experience.  I had reserved a White House tour months in advance and anxiously awaited it since.  Of course the civilian tour doesn't lead you past any of the "good stuff," like Malia and Sasha's Bieber-fevered bedrooms, the West Wing buzzing with activity, or the War Room a la Dr. Strangelove, but we still got to see some really cool and important pieces of history.  I was really interested by the library (of course), each administration's china services on display, and the awesome custom Steinway complete with bald eagle piano legs and etched depictions of eras in American musical traditions.  Then, when we turned the corner out of the State Dining Room, we were greeted by, in celebration of Military Appreciation Month, a concert by a jazz combo from the Army Band!  (They even played a Disney song, Someday My Prince Will Come!)  After lingering for a while to listen to the trio, which we regarded as an extremely special treat, we decided it was time to move on to the next item on the itinerary to make the most of the time left in the day.  So we exited...right out the dad gum front doors of the White House.  And underhandedly snapped a grainy cell phone photo.

(Don't tell the Secret Service we took this photo)

Next on the list was the American History museum, which easily became our favorite of the three Smithsonian museums we visited.  Overall, its exhibits were the coolest: the collection of First Ladies' inaugural gowns and a huge presidential exhibit, the flag that inspired Key to write the Star Spangled Banner, an extensive and interesting travelling Lincoln exhibit, Julia Child's kitchen, and Kermit the gosh dang Frog!

Kermie with arms outstretched for a hug for yours truly

That evening we met up for a (yep, free) tour of some of the sights of the National Mall, including a look at the Jefferson Memorial from afar, and up-close looks at the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam, Korea, and World War II memorials.  We encountered a huge group of Vietnam veterans who had motorcycled across the country to "the wall" for Memorial Day weekend, which made visiting that memorial a very different experience.  The Lincoln Memorial illuminated at night was magnificent.  The sculptor in Eric was fascinated by Lincoln's statue, and the emotional wreck in me was moved by the history that had come to pass there and in awe of the sheer physical beauty of the place.

Great moments with Mr. Lincoln

We fumbled around in the dark to find the Einstein memorial on our way back to the hotel.  It's not well marked, but thankfully we stumbled upon it somehow because it is really cool-looking!

Come sit on Uncle Al's lap!

The next morning, we checked out of our hotel (thanks for all the free apples, Four Points by Sheraton!) and  met up with my family who had driven up through the night for the wedding.  While everyone else power-napped, Eric and I explored Arlington National Cemetery.  It's a beautiful and hallowed place, but we were honestly pretty tuckered out by four previous days of walking all over the District, so we made sure to hit the highlights and then called it a half-day (thus, the title of this post).  After visiting the graves of JFK and RFK, having much-felt memorial moments at a few grave sites picked at random, paying our respects at the Challenger memorial, and witnessing the changing of the guards at the Tomb of the Unknowns, we headed off to the next hotel to relax and prepare for the weekend of wedding festivities!

Among the fallen

Changing of the guards