Annual botany symposium at NMNH

A couple of weeks ago, Carlos and I attended the Smithsonian's annual botany symposium. This was a very fun 2-day event. On the first night there was a little snack/wine reception at the National Botanic Garden along with a poster session. We were also able to walk around the greenhouses after dark when the garden is officially closed--it was really interesting to see the desert and rain forest exhibits in the dark (but with red heat lamps turned on for those heat-loving desert plants!).

The next day was the actual symposium with a stellar line-up of talks held all day at the National Museum of Natural History. We attended some talks and remained in the museum after closing to chat with the speakers and other researchers at a special dinner. This was a REALLY NICE dinner (tasty food and lots of wine) because we were seated in little tables around the elephant at the main entrance of the museum! This was really cool and I had a fun time chatting and dining with others at the feet of the elephant.