Tuesday, April 17th was the day of the Smithsonian's. We drove by almost all of them (there are 19) on our trolley tour the previous day but between the Memorials and Arlington Cemetery we didn't even attempt to go in any of them.
We looked at the list the list the night before and decided we were going to attempt 3 of them.
We decided to visit the National Air and Space Museum first. We got off the subway about 4 blocks away and were walking towards the museum when we saw the Space Shuttle Discovery flying overhead. We had heard the day before it was going to do a fly over but no one knew what time. We just happened to be walking down the street when someone yelled "There it is!" Needless to say we didn't have our camera out yet and we almost missed it. We got a few shots but I wouldn't say they were great. It was amazing though, everyone stopped what they were doing and just stood on street corner's hoping to catch the next glimpse. I am glad we were able to be there and be a part of history.
We were able to get one more picture since it was being stored at Dulles International Airport, so we took this inside the airport waiting for our flight.
After it settled down and everyone thought the fly over was done, we went about our business and toured The National Air and Space Museum, The National History Museum and The American History Museum.
The National Air and Space Museum is dedicated to displaying and preserving all forms of travel. We saw the invention of planes, to planes in war, to passenger planes in the 1960's when air travel was high class. Peanut's and cracker's were not even on the radar, they had full on steak and lobster as their meals. Melanie and I took a test to see if we would qualify to be able to be a stewardess back then and we both failed. You had to be the Sports Illustrated swimsuit caliber to be a stewardess :) We also were able to touch a piece of the moon and see many artifacts and ship capsules from the different space museums. It's a cool museum especially for little boys.
I just looked and I didn't take hardly any pictures in this museum I must have been too busy!
This is a picture of Ryan and Mel doing their training for a flight simulation they went on. This is me standing in the "safe zone" like 30 feet away. I have no idea why they made us stand so far away but because of that, this is the only picture I could get. They had alot of fun, Melanie came out and said she had 3 kills and Ryan made them go upside down alot. He loved it.
Next stop was the Natural History Museum. or the Dinosaur Museum. I love this one, I love dinosaurs! Maybe its because I grew up with two brothers who loved dinosaurs but I just think they are so cool.
This picture was taken by Ryan...No matter what age a guy is they act 5 sometimes. He took this picture because the caveman is bending down and his privates were out...If you look you can see, I'm not about to point it out. He laughed for 5 minutes about it and took 3 pictures. Boys!
This museum is also home to the Gems and you can see the Hope Diamond. It's massive. They have a entire room filled with jewelry that some very happy women wore. As we walked by them there was one necklace full of emerald's that the description said the husband gave it to the wife at the birth of their first child. So a high class push present. I turned to Ryan and said he better start saving for mine lol
The last museum we hit up was the American History Museum, aka the First Lady dresses.
I didn't take any pictures at this museum. It was like 3pm before we even got their, I was having bad cramps and my feet were killing me. Plus the coolest thing there, the original Star-Spangled Banner you are not able to photograph it. It's very cool to see though, and so much bigger than I thought. A few other interesting things, Dorothy's slippers from the Wizard of Oz. They look so cheap in person, they are just heels that were bedazzled. The sunstone cap from the Nauvoo Temple.
We finished the last night of our vacation by having dinner at a restaurant called 1789. It was AMMMMAAAAZZZZIIINNNGGGG!! You literally felt like you were eating in George Washington's dining room in the 1700's. The china was beautiful, the service excellent and the food was to die for. This is how I know I will never be super skinny. It is not worth it to me to survive on lettuce and veggies for every meal to be a size 2. Some of the best dates Ryan and I have are trying new restaurants and just sitting and nibbling and talking for hours.
Anyways, back to the food. I only got pictures of the main course because the restaurant was so fancy the menu specifically said please do not have your cell phones out as not to distract from the ambiance for other customers. So we snuck it out at the main course and snapped pics really quick. But let me tell you every thing was amazing. They had these little spinach bread rolls, so delicious. I had the artichoke soup for a starter and Ryan had the mussels with black pasta, Mel had the mushroom and goat cheese ravioli's. For main course. I had the waiter recommended Halibut with quinoa and Lobster sauce. It was heavenly. Ryan had the lamb shoulder with polenta and Melanie had the beef tenderloin over potatoes. We all tried every course of each other's and nothing was bad. The dessert's were fantastic also! If we ever go back to D.C. I will gladly go their again!
Our vacation to Maryland and D.C. was so much fun. Between going to Philadelphia last year and D.C. this year I have seen and learned so much about the American History. When I went to D.C. with my family when I was 18 I thought it was cool but I didn't really pay attention or study what I was really seeing. This time it meant so much more. I was a little sad to come home though because with Ryan starting school in 2 months and us starting IVF next week we are pretty much home bound for the next year and I love to travel. I will gladly trade travelling though to be able to have a baby. If our IVF cycle works we should have the baby in March of next year and hopefully be able to take a little trip out to CA or something on Ryan's summer break next year though as a family of three (or maybe 4 if we have twins!)
Wish us luck!
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