Saturday, June 9, 2018
Posted From: Cherry Hill Park Campground - College Hill, MD
Miles driven: 9
Total miles: 1720
The weather forecast looked like rain today. We originally planned to spend the day at the Smithsonian museums, but when we checked the radar, the rain continued to go around D.C. So we decided to do more walking around the other end of the Mall and save the museums for tomorrow since rain is looking like a sure bet for Sunday.
Yesterday, we walked past a sculpture park. Today we decided to wander in and check it out. It reminded us of the sculpture park in downtown Des Moines. We sat by this large water fountain for quite awhile. I guess we weren't in much of a hurry today.
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| No one fell in. |
We then walked over to the National Botanical Gardens. It was a bit warm to spend too much time here today. It is basically a large greenhouse and it was in the upper 80's today. They have a large variety of orchids. Some are extremely rare. Many of them were obtained as they were confiscated from people trying to bring plants with them when they enter the country...apparently frowned upon.
Though we enjoyed our brief visit, we all agreed that the Botanical Center in Des Moines is better than this one. Surprising perhaps, but true.
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| If you look close, you can see part of Caleb's face. Creepy kid. |
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| There were elevated walkways to allow for better viewing of taller plants. |
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| Cameron (in all of his teen-boy glory) felt that this pure black petunia was the best flower on display. |
The botanical gardens are right by the U.S. Capital, so we walked over there next. I assumed that you had to plan ahead or arrive early to get tour tickets, so we didn't think we would actually go on a tour, but as luck would have it, this was a slow day, so we got right in. As with everything else in D.C., it is free.
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| Notice the beautiful (but ominous) clouds in the sky. |
Our tour guide was great. He pointed to the painting on the roof of the rotunda. He mentioned that George Washington was the only male in the painting. He referred to him as the "guy in the pink Snuggie." Seriously, Google this painting and zoom in. It's true.
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| The rotunda! (And the guy with the pink Snuggie.) |
Each state gets to display two statues in the U.S. Capital. It is a very interesting process. The only two rules are that they have to be statues of dead people, and they have to be made out of marble or bronze. This is one of Iowa's. World Food Prize anyone?
There is an underground tunnel to the Library of Congress from the U.S. Capital. We decided to go check it out, and we were so glad we did!
This building was so ornate.
The library. People were sitting at the desks down below doing their research.
The library had an impressive dome.
Caleb really wanted to go to the children’s corner library. He pretty much set up home here for the next hour.
Grace was really interested in this table of draft and unreleased YA novels.
Cameron and the Girls was Cameron’s great find.
Caleb rounded up all of the stuffed monkeys and settled in to read. Mr Grinch invited himself.
The hallway to the children’s library.
Grace started reading an unpublished book...uh oh. We don’t have time to finish.
We found a great little pub for linner (lunch + dinner). We were hungry so everything we ordered tasted amazing. There were no leftovers.
On our way back to the Metro station we saw a rainbow! We didn’t see rain all day, but it rained all around us according to radar.
This campground had two pools! The kids took advantage.
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