Smithsonian Museum of National History, the Capitol, Library of Congress, and Supreme Court

Except for the day we drove to Mt. Vernon, the 65 Mustang has remained in a driveway, totally covered up.  This made Keith very happy, as he really didn't want to have to drive it around DC.

We planned our last two days in Washington DC carefully, hoping to see as much as possible that was left on the list, without totally exhausting ourselves.

We began our morning by meeting Elise at the Smithsonian Museum of American History.  Daniel had already let us know that it was one of his favorites, and so we were really looking forward to it.  Elise had also hinted that there was something there that I was going to REALLY enjoy!

Wouldn't you know it, one of the very first things we saw when we walked in was this:

Wasn't expecting that in the American History Museum!  Turns out, this exhibit had to do with the 1964 World's Fair, and that's when Ford introduced the Ford Mustang to the world.

The museum is divided into different wings, and one wing may have to do more with American culture, but another may have to do more with the history of our country.  It was hard to know which direction to go, because it all sounded so interesting.  We saw the actual flag that was flying over Ft. McHenry, which Francis Scott Key saw when he penned the Star Spangled Banner.  It was enormous!

In another section was a collection of the inaugural gowns of the First Ladies, and also a collection of the china used in the White House.   They even had Martha Washington's dishes.  The showstopper was the red gown that Michele Obama wore at the last inaugural ball. 

Another section, that had to do with the history of American food, contained a replica of Julia Child's kitchen, with all of her actual kitchen stuff!  (This was the thing that Elise knew I would enjoy).  Of all things, that actually made me teary-eyed, for some reason.  Out of everything I was seeing, this was the thing that made me emotional.  Kind of unexpected.  The other thing, was the Constitution earlier in the week. That was pretty amazing to see, and to stand there and realize how much had come from this one document.

There was just a lot of cool stuff that was a part of our American life that was nice to see -- Archie Bunker's chair, Dorothy's ruby red slippers, Harry Potter's caped uniform, Apollo Ono's skates. 

And now, JULIA CHILD's Kitchen!!  (get your tissues!)

We ended up spending so long in the museum, that we had to forget about visiting the National Art Gallery on this trip.  It will just have to be on a later trip.  Instead, we had to grab some lunch, and head on to the Capitol, as Elise had booked us on a 1:40 tour.

We showed up just barely in time, and while we were waiting to pass through security, we found out that no water bottles, or food of any kind was allowed in.  Unfortunately, I had thrown several granola bars, and an orange, and other snacks in my backpack that morning, and it all had to go in the trash.  I was kind of bummed over that, but it was totally worth it to see the Capitol building.

We ended up getting a rather humorous tour guide, and spent about 30 minutes touring what must be a very small part of the building, because it was an enormous place, bigger than I expected.  But what we saw was very impressive!  We all wore headphones and listened to his nonstop monologue as we walked. ("I will now be the annoying voice in your head for the next half-hour." ). As we entered the rotunda, full of statues, "And this man here is my personal favorite, the Father of Air Conditioning.   While we stood and admired some figures carved on the rotunda walls, "And now, a few history questions for you -  how you answer will determine if you get to remain with our group, or get immediately deported."  He was good for a few laughs. 

Unfortunately, the top of the rotunda was being renovated, so this is what you saw when you looked up:

After the Capitol tour, we were able to take a tunnel right into the Library of Congress, which was great, because it had finally heated up in DC, and we were happy to stay in the AC.  We got to view one of the Gutenburg Bibles, and Thomas Jefferson's Library.  The building itself, was truly beautiful.

We went on to the Supreme Court from there, but missed getting inside by thirty seconds.  

(Really, that's what the security guard told us!).  Once again, we decided, we'd just add that to a later visit.  Although, Daniel informed us that you really don't get to see much when you go inside, so that made us feel a bit better.

We then headed over to the metro near Union Station, and went inside to see it.  It is being repaired and renovated since the earthquake damaged it.  They were applying all new gold leaf to the ceiling.   It was an impressive building!

We then met Daniel after he got off work, and went out for Thai food.  It was another delicious meal.  Keith and I then told them bye for the night, and headed back down to the Lincoln Memorial.  We had kept hearing to see the monuments at night, and this was one of our last evenings to do that.  So we sat and watched the sun go down, and the lights on the monuments come on.  Sounds romantic, but apparently this was a very popular thing to do, because we sat and enjoyed it with several hundred of our fellow tourists.  The monuments were just as beautiful as everyone described, and about 9:30, we walked about five blocks up to the Metro and headed home.