A Trip to the City

We live fairly close to Washington D.C., but we rarely go. David and I thought it was time we took a trip to do some sightseeing. We decided to go to the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, or as I like to call it, "The Smithsonian." But that's really not a proper name for it because there are many Smithsonian museums. I think this is my favorite though.

We invited along David's parents and brother. Unfortunately, his dad was under the weather and couldn't go.

We drove about an hour and 20 minutes to the nearest Metro stop. Then it was only a fairly short ride into the city. It's SO much easier taking the metro instead of having to fight city traffic and find a place to park. Besides, taking the metro is fun!


Just look at their faces! You don't get that reaction with a car ride. Well, a normal car ride at least.


We arrived at the Mall!! Here's the U. S. Capitol building.


Just across the mall is "the Smithsonian." D.C. has some gorgeous architecture!


My favorite part of the whole museum is the entry way. This huge elephant welcomes visitors. I remember coming here for field trips in elementary school and standing there in awe of the huge elephant!!


There are also lots of other large animals hanging out. This fella is a Right whale.


Mr. T-Rex with a few of his closest pals.


And a sloth and some other little cute thing. A lemur maybe?


They had this scene straight out of a National Geographic magazine. It's amazing to see them "in person" even though they were stuffed.


The kids and I met a new friend.


All I got were pictures of animals. Not unusual for me I guess! The museum is really huge and you could easily spend an entire day looking through all of the exhibits. We were getting hungry so we decided to head back home.

Another trip through the Mall. Devin took this. The Washington Monument is in the background.


I squish the Washington Monument!!


I got a picture of the family in front of the Capitol...


Then I squished the Capitol!



Haha. Ok. We had a great day. We're so lucky to be so close to our nation's capital, and I feel like we don't take advantage of it enough. I hadn't been to D.C. since college I think. So many people in this country would love to see the sites but can't because they're too far. We're only about an hour and a half away and we rarely go! We'll have to remedy that. As soon as it gets a little warmer, we're going to go back and do some more sight seeing.