so, to review: lots of walking, lots of photos, aching feet, and then it was bedtime and i had to give up the bloggin’.

where i left off: it was about 5 p.m. and we had a half hour to choose a smithsonian museum to run through. i chose the natural history museum which was silly because (a) i had already been there (b) it was further away, thus more walking (c) i like animals too much.

things that come from the ocean are usually really gross.

but light art is cool.

huuuuuuugs!

during choir rehearsal the other night, we all chose a power animal. i went with the american bison.

i think jason took this photo, but it reminds me of a halloween costume i once wore:

that was the best halloween costume. ever. (incidentally, what are you planning to be for halloween this year?)

kitty photos! because i’m a crazy cat lady.

after the museum closed, we wandered around to the east side of the building to see the butterfly garden.

we saw two butterflies and a few bees. maybe it was a bit late in the season… so we started the walk back to the hotel, with a detour to see the white house.

the white house.

we did the whole we’ll-take-your-photo-if-you-take-ours.

i paused to take a photo of the house next to the white house – is this the vice president’s quarters, i think? anyway, i was shooed out of the way by one of the gate guards. it seemed like something was happening, so we hung around like tourists are wont to do. suddenly, three suvs came tearing out of the gate and i’m pretty sure i saw michelle obama in the back of the first car. at least, i saw her silhouette. very exciting. (am i too easily excited?)

the north side of the white house. oooh aaah.

visiting longfellow was our last pit stop (and i saw a live city rat here!) before getting back to the hotel. i think i fell asleep for about an hour, then woke up hungry. for dinner that night, we decided to visit hank’s oyster bar.

we had some pretty delicious food. and some other food, that maybe is more of an acquired taste.

our flight on wednesday didn’t leave until the early afternoon, so we decided to squeeze in one more visit to the smithsonian museum of american history. worth it!

(i love barbie, she’s amazing.)

julia child’s kitchen! i didn’t realize this is the museum where it is housed.

and honestly? it was so cluttered. this kitchen would drive me insane.

this diorama of a ’70s house was all about plastics and toxins, if i remember right.

bomb shelter!

i really think dioramas with people in them are creepy.

two bison in one post. too much?

the last exhibit we saw was all about dresses of the first ladies. i wish i had captured more of the sparkle.

jason hung out with jfk. i smiled at my new bff, michelle.

jason one-upped me by waving at hillary.

and then it was time to go home. i’m not entirely sure why, but something about our flight being crazy busy and full meant we got some vouchers for free drinks during the flights. what luxury!

we are suckers for free. but it was still a nice little treat. (thanks, delta!)

i wish we could travel more often.