We just found out a neighbor plays competition level bagpipes. I love this place. It's a beautiful day outside. The windows in my office are open with bagpipes playing off and on.
Friday, May 5
We went home from Hawk n Dove to tidy up and take a quick nap before Hollis, Corey, and Archer arrived. They drove up from southern Virginia to spend the weekend with us. Archer is not quite 4, cute as a button, and a serious flirt. After some chit chat we went out to explore. We walked up to the Supreme Court, Library of Congress, and the Capitol. This is our path. It's stunning and just a few blocks away. If you come to visit, expect this to be your first peek at the city. It's freaking awesome.
By now it's dinnertime. Hollis is pregnant and you know I never miss a meal. We head back up Pennsylvania away from the Capitol. We end up at Hawk n Dove again for drinks and apps. It's Cinco de Mayo so most of the trendy or Latin places are full of drinkers. HnD is more our style. We're catching up as we haven't seen the Holt family since Thanksgiving, so the place is just background.
For dinner we landed at Mr. Henry's. There apparently aren't too many people bringing small children into the place, so Archer's water comes in a togo coffee cup. I promise we aren't caffinating the boy. We called it a night fairly early. We've all already walked for miles. Mike and I were over 10k steps after the Capitol tour. I'm exhausted and we head home for a few beers and bed.
Saturday, May 6
Today is Air and Space!! The pinnacle Smithsonian for space nerds, as we are, was closed for renovations last year. Mike got us reserved time in for 1pm. We also visited the American Indian Museum next door. Check two of our missing Smithsonians off the list today! The American Indian Museum was more culture and stories than artifacts on display. I rather enjoyed it. Nice to see and read how people of the day felt about the Trail of Tears, on both sides. Interesting to see the change in how these peoples were viewed over time.
We are not the only space nerds out there. The queue for the 1pm time slot was well over a block long. I'll give them credit that at 1pm on the dot that line started moving, and we were inside in no time.
This museum is on the small side comparatively (especially after seeing the Udvar-Hazy Center last year), but they have packed in a lot of stuff. The Wright Brothers' first plane is there. It's insane to look at it and believe that it could fly. The gas tank for the engine was only a liter and a half. There are a lot of new interactive exhibits on the planets of the solar system, a DC10 you can walk through, and even some cool stuff on ground speed and cars.
The peak for me was the Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia. It is tiny and went to the moon and back. Super super cool. There was an exhibit of space food, including a menu for multiple days. You know I love an old menu from anywhere, but I never thought of space flight as having planned meals. But there it was, Day 1, Meal A/B/C with notations of whether it should be rehydrated, irradiated, included a spoon in the pack. They think of everything on these trips.
With the large Saturday crowds and the sheer amount of items stuffed in this building, I told Mike I am definitely going back before we leave. Just reserved tickets for Tuesday. Woot!
After a quick lunch, we continued down the mall towards Lincoln. We saw the Monument, got ice cream, and enjoyed the bright sunny afternoon, made even better after a week of rain. By now we are all at 15k+ steps and wearing down. Archer is only 3 and thus can't ride a bike, but still needs a booster seat, so Uber is also iffy. Happily I found the DC Circulator. I've never been good with busses, but this is a simple set of loops that move through different sections of town. One just loops the Mall. We've seen them plenty of times, but never had a need to consider them. For $1 each you can ride to the end. This was my new plan for the rest of the weekend. I don't think we ever even paid for the ride. In every case, the cash accepter did not work and the drivers all said, "Just hop in." A couple of cirulators got us two blocks from the house. A quick stop for beers at the market and we were back home. We ordered some pie from We the Pizza and settled in for a movie. Night at the Museum seemed very fitting for the day. I had somehow never seen it and was pleased to find it was better than I expected. I called it a fairly early night and tried to make some plans for Sunday for the fam. More on that soon!