DC -- National Museum of American History

One of the big Smithsonian museums that I had not visited previously (with my honor society in Alaska during the 8th grade) was the National Museum of American History. During my junior high trip we had to choose: either visit the American History Museum or the Natural History Museum. Of course I chose the Natural History Museum (and it remains my favorite), but I still felt like I had missed something. Now was my chance to see all of the cool artifacts that others had talked about.

The highlights of my visit to this museum were: Old Glory (the huge flag that inspired the writing of "The Star-spangled Banner"), the science exhibits, Julia Child's kitchen, Kermit the Frog, and the ruby slippers. I didn't get to see a few things, but I definitely feel that I saw the main attractions here. I only visited this museum once during my trip, but it was a great visit and I got to see lots of nice things!

DC -- Natural History Museum -- Part II

Continuing my first visit to the NMNH during my Washington DC trip, Carlos and I were also taken on a tour (by one of our Smithsonian post-doc friends) of the plant collections and herbarium that are behind the scenes (i.e. not open to the public). The back hallways of the museum are a maze and I would have been completely lost without our guide. The herbarium was really huge and amazing -- I even got to look at some of the places where they keep the type specimens. It is an amazing resource for researchers.

Later that night, we were invited to a researcher party held after the museum had closed. It was pretty nice with food and drinks and it was interesting to interact with museum researchers and curators instead of university students and professors. Overall, it was a pretty great day and I knew I would be back to visit the NMNH many more times before my trip's end!

DC -- Natural History Museum -- Part I

My favorite of all the Smithsonian museums is undoubtedly the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH). I spent much of my time in DC here, both looking at the myriad exhibits and looking at the collections of plants and animals behind the scenes. Here are a few pictures from my first trip to the NMNH:

Here is what the museum looks like on the outside -- it's a really impressive piece of architecture!

The giant elephant greets you as you enter through the main entrance and walk into the huge rotunda.

My first stop on my first NMNH visit was the (relatively) new Hall of Mammals. This was a really well-done exhibit that displayed mammals from around the world in an evolutionary context.

One of the pangolins (kind of like a scaly ant-eater -- though in a different Order) on display.

Assorted mammals on display.

Some lovely large tropical rodents -- in the foreground is an agouti (Dasyprocta aguti) and in the back is the largest rodent in the world, the capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris).

A radio-collared agouti and a radio-tagged seed from Barro Colorado Island (BCI), Panama.

A special exhibit on the secret lives of ants was on display. There was an aluminum cast of an ant nest and even a live colony of leaf cutter ants (Atta sp.) on display.

View of Ocean Hall from above.

I of course visited much more of the museum than just these exhibits, but I will write about that in another post!

DC -- Riding on the metro

When I arrived at Reagan National Airport, I walked to the metro station (located conveniently inside the airport) and bought a one-week short-trip pass from a little machine. Basically, this card allowed me to ride the DC metro as many times as I wanted during a one-week period.

Overall, the metro was efficient and fast (except for the one time when I was on an unmoving train for 20 minutes!) and it was a great way to get anywhere inside DC and to some attractions (and our hotel) in Virginia. I especially loved the architecture of the metro tunnels: it was a really cool modular rectangle design cast in cement. The metro stop near our hotel (Rosslyn) also had a really neat tunnel that you rode in on an escalator to get to the surface.

The metro was surprisingly clean and easy to use and I had fun just using the DC public transportation system since we don’t have anything near as great in Miami!

DC trip highlights

I had such a fantastic time during my 9 days in Washington DC! I spent 6 days with Carlos and 3 with my friends from college – it was a 6-year college reunion of sorts. Here are some of the highlights during my trip:

• The Metro; I loved using the metro to criss-cross the city and buying a 7-day unlimited short-trip pass was definitely the way to go.

• Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History; the NMNH is definitely my favorite museum on the mall and I got to see lots of cool exhibits and many cool collections of plants and animals behind the scenes.

• Smithsonian American History Museum; not as cool as some of the other museums, but it was fun to see Julia Child’s kitchen and Kermit the Frog!

• Good food; DC has lots of nice restaurants that actually weren’t super-expensive – especially given the quality of the food served. My favorite food item of the trip: toasted marshmallow milkshake.

• Washington Monument; Carlos and I got to go up to the top of the monument and see the views of DC on a pretty (though windy) day.

• Smithsonian Air and Space Museum; the highlights of my visit were seeing the Apollo exhibits (especially all of their gear and gadgetry) and one of Amelia Earhart’s planes.

• National Archives; seeing the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights was amazing (though they are a little faded).

• Arlington National Cemetery; seeing the fields of white tombstones and the Kennedy graves was a somber experience.

• Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian; I especially liked all of the animal-themed art and artifacts.

• Capitol Tour; I really enjoyed this short but sweet tour and seeing all of the art and architecture in the rotunda was amazing.

• Hanging out with the UCSB gang; after not seeing everyone together for at least 6 years, it felt like old times as we caught up in DC (though the weather was slightly uncooperative!).

And there you have it – I had a really fun and (slightly) productive time in DC! I will post entries with pictures soon.

Back home~

After about 9 days of fun and learning in Washington DC, I returned home to Miami last night. The weather here is becoming nicer and cooler (~70 F today) and we actually had the patio door open to let in the fresh air for the first time in months. I will start posting stuff from my DC trip soon, once I get all my pictures downloaded -- I had such a nice time in that cool city!

Off to DC!

Well, tomorrow I leave for DC! I am going to meet up with Carlos and leisurely visit some places around Arlington and Georgetown that day. I am really excited to see the museums (I am most looking forward to the Natural History Museum -- of course!) and I think we are going to have a really fun break away from Miami. After Carlos leaves, I meet up with my college friends for a little reunion, then back to Miami to keep up the writing. Hopefully this break will re-energize me so that when I return to Miami I can finish up some more dissertation chapters!

Washington -- Leavenworth

While home, mom, dad, Carlos, Remlington, and I took a day trip out to the little "Bavarian" town called Leavenworth located east of Redmond in Chelan county. It was pretty funny for Carlos and me to see this town with all the little touches of Bavaria (half-timbered houses, intricately-carved wood balconies) after seeing authentic Bavarian towns recently in Germany!
The drive took a couple hours each way, but was worth it for a little adventure in this fun little tourist town. We brought a picnic lunch to eat in the park and then we wandered around, ate some ice cream, looked at shops, and even bought some gourmet cheese. It was a fun day, but the drive was a little long -- at least we got to see some beautiful mountains and forest that we otherwise wouldn't be able to visit at all in the winter!

Washington -- Foods

While I was home, I got to eat lots of tasty treats that aren't found anywhere in Miami. Carlos and I made dinners to help out around the house and Shannon also made tons of delicious food while we were home. Here are some of the foods we ate:

Gingerbread pancakes:

Ingredients for pizza night:

White peach and goat cheese pizza:

Brie and carmelized onion white pizza:

Peaches and cream cheesecake (my traditional birthday cake!):

Snack dinner including bruschetta, baguettes, goat cheese + chives, cilantro yoghurt dip, chips, crackers, brie & Dubliner cheeses:

Wow, it was so nice to eat this good food at home with all of my family again!

Washington -- Remlington!

How could I do posts about my summer trip home without including anything about Remlington (AKA Remy, Remington, Gremlington, Barflington...)? I tried to get some nice photos of Remlington, but he moves around too much -- he is a little hyperactive. He also really loves tennis balls, you could probably call him obsessed! He is a great and loving dog. He loves to sit on people, in their laps, or on their chests so they can't breathe. Awwwww! He also likes to eat sweet food so if you make cookies or a cake it has to be put far away from him!

Washington DC planning

I have a little over a week until I head off to Washington DC for a vacation with Carlos and a reunion with my former college roommates – I’m so excited! I’ve only been to DC once before (in the 8th grade for an Honor Society field trip all the way from Alaska), but I remember it being lots of fun. I will have about 9 days in DC to tour around and visit the collections in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History; there is a lot that I want to see and do in and around the city. Some things on my itinerary so far:

• Smithsonian Natural History Museum
• Smithsonian American History Museum
• Freer Gallery
• American Indian Museum
• National Air and Space Museum
• Hirshorn Museum
• National Gallery of Art
• Sculpture Garden
• Eastern Market
• National Archives
• Federal Bureau of Investigation
• Lincoln Memorial
• Vietnam Memorial
• Jefferson Memorial
• FDR Memorial
• Korean War Memorial
• Arlington National Cemetery
• Capitol Building
• Library of Congress
• National Botanic Garden
• Washington Monument
• White House
• Union Station
• National Zoo

Maybe this is a little ambitious…?

I will have 6 days in DC with Carlos and about 3 full days with my UCSB (University of California – Santa Barbara) friends. We will also be making a little trip down to Norfolk, Virginia to visit with Rena – the only one of the SB gang that couldn’t make it up to DC. I am super excited to have a little getaway with Carlos, see all the museums in DC, and hang out with friends I (mostly) haven’t seen for 6.5 years!