Washington DC Trip - Part 2
Monday started out drizzly, so we piled in the car to get breakfast at a little bagel shop.
Then I drove the family to the Metro station, dropped off Dad and the boys, drove back to the hotel, parked and walked. This was far easier than getting the kids to walk the eight blocks to the train station and allowed me to scope out the route without wandering all over the place. The downside was that this meant carrying my camera bag and a giant umbrella (the only one I had) for the rest of the day.
Our destination was the Mall once again to see the museums. We started out at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. We saw dinosaurs:
The Ocean Hall:
and exhibits on early man:
Miguel especially liked the mummies, and Finn liked all the dioramas. We also ran into a friend of mine from work who was in DC with his kids (triplets!) for spring break as well.
About then it was time for lunch, so we headed to the Cafe. It was a madhouse. I made it through and left to find a table, laden with trays, camera bag, umbrella, and kids. Trying to help someone get ketchup out of the dispenser (so I could get in there and put ketchup on the boys' hot dogs), I set down my camera bag. My father dashed up and told me he'd found a table, so I rushed off with the kids, accidentally leaving it behind.
We noticed at the end of the meal. I was distraught, but tried not to show it so as not to upset the boys. I left Dad with the kids in the caf and hunted round. Asked all the employees, headed off to security and filled out a report, the whole bit. No one had seen it and frankly I got the impression that I shouldn't hope to find it. Dejected, I collected the boys and we moved on. Before we left my father took a couple of snaps:
Our next stop was the Air and Space Museum, with small side trips along the way to the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden and to answer the phone from work (a lot). I don't think Miguel knows what to make of the Burghers of Calais:
I also called bozini to let her know that the camera I had been wanting for years that she had secretly saved up enough to buy for me for my birthday was lost on day three of my possession of it. She was very supportive and offered to call the museum for me through the day. She's an awesome wife.
The Air and Space Museum was (surprise!) super-crowded. The boys liked the rockets and really enjoyed an exhibit on the Wright brothers. Dad was amused by some Buddhist monks looking at missiles:
We also visited an exhibit on the planets and planetary exploration which was fascinating. However, the kids were getting tired and cranky by this point, so we decided to head out. I decided to check at the Natural History Museum one more time for the camera. I kept Finn with me and Dad took Miguel on to the hotel. They stopped by the Iwo Jima memorial on their way:
On the way back to the hotel, Dad lost my umbrella, perhaps on the train. Meanwhile, I had no luck at the Smithsonian so Finn and I made our way home. Once we got there, I kicked off my shoes and lay down on the bed, resigning myself to the loss of the camera. Just then, the phone rang. It was bozini telling me to hot-foot it back to the museum - they found my bag! Everything seemed to be in there as well! I ran to the station, trained it to the museum and made it in just before they closed. It was all indeed so. I was so elated that I started taking pictures of everything:
Near as we can figure, Dad's offering of my bumbershoot to the Gods of Lost Things is what did the trick. That night we went out for dinner at a burrito place that had just opened. If you're ever in DC and feel like a big ol' burrito, don't go to Burro Burrito. That is all i'll say on that.
After that, we picked up some fruit and granola bars for breakfast and headed to the hotel for bedtime:
Tomorrow our tale continues with a Trip to Baltimore and a Farewell to Gladys.