Oh the things you will see.

So one of the best things about this area is the plethora of things to do. Of course, this can also be a downfall, as there are so many choices and it can be overwhelming. Kyle and I have made a conscious effort to take advantage of these opportunities and have been going downtown more often.

One of the best parts of going downtown is coming up out the Smithsonian metro stop. This is because you never know what you will be greeted with. True, half the time it is a group of scientologists with a book table...but still, the anticipation is always there when I ride the escalator. The most recent surprise was to arrive on the Mall and be greeted by hoards of people who were there for the DOE Solar Decathlon It was so cool. Luckily I had my camera and was able to capture some fun pictures, but the pictures on the website are free from all the bystanders....so you can actually see the houses. Some of the houses were so interesting looking, that I had to laugh when I saw U of I 's house in comparison...it looks like a morton building. But, at least it would fit right into the landscape of good old Illinois. Anyhow, for those who might like to see some good pictures, I've posted the link to the website. I really liked Cornell, Team Spain, and Team Alberta. http://www.solardecathlon.org/2009/final_results.cfm While we were downtown we went to the American History Museum. My favorite part was seeing Julia Child's kitchen. Kyle of course wanted to see the exhibit "America at War"....longest exhibit ever.

Two weekends ago we went to the National Gallery of Art and the Portrait Gallery. We wanted to check out the temporary exhibit of Spanish Armor. The detail work was amazing, exquisite. Kyle got yelled at for taking a picture. Oops. It's frustrating because half of the Gallery allows photographs and half doesn't. Anyhow, I was excited to see some of the works that I had learned about in and art history class. I was surprised that I still remembered some of the names. It was certainly a great museum, but I have to admit it all starts to look the same after a bit, so it is best to spend only a short amount of time there at once.

Last weekend while Kyle's dad was here, we made another trip downtown. There we went to see Ford's Theater and the Peterson House. I thought the museum at Ford's was very well done. One of my favorites, in fact. There was just enough information to be interesting, but not overwhelming. It was a good choice, since we didn't have a lot of time before Kyle's dad had to leave. Ford's is putting on a production of A Christmas Carol at the moment, so maybe I'll try to go see it. Interesting tibit: The commonwealth of Virginia's motto is "Sic Semper Tyrannis" meaning "thus always to the tyrants" or "death to the tyrants". This is, of course, what Booth yelled while jumping from the balcony. Interesting choice. At least it is better than our unofficial motto: Virginia is for Lovers.

Hmmm....this looks so plain. Next time I will post pictures.