The First Day

Saturday, August 2, 2008

(Are we there yet? Looking down Constitution Avenue. Who said the Natural History Museum was a 15 minute walk from the hotel?)

I was up by 7:30 and dressed by 9:00. I registered for the conference and cruised by to pick up a pre-conference workshop on PowerPoint. I left early. The workshop was designed for true beginners. Much of the time was going to be spent using pre-made game show templates available online.

Around 10:30 we headed north one block and had breakfast at the Billy Goat. Well, I had breakfast and the boys had Cheese Borgers. The three of us ate for less than $20. I was most impressed by the speed and efficiency of the short order cook. Wow.

From there we headed south and west approximately one mile, it felt like three (it was already very humid and nearly 95), to the Natural History Museum. Our first of the few Smithsonians we had decided to “take in” while we were in town. The building itself is worth several days of study. And of course, there was so much to see inside too! We’d decided before we left the ‘Burg that we would NOT try to see everything. We wanted to take things slowly. Soak it all in. Appreciate. And maybe learn a little something.

(Uhm, just a tiny bit creepy?)

The stuffed animal exhibit, officially the “Mammal Exhibit” was first. And not my favorite. When I say stuffed animal I mean taxidermy. While there were many, many animals on display and the descriptions were interesting, it was a bit creepy. I kept thinking, “Is this where zoo animals come to die?”

(Orion investigates ancient sea life.)

From there we methodically walked from one maze of exhibits to another. I would have to say that my favorite exhibits included the marine life fossils (however I saw NO signs of foraminifera), dinosaurs, rocks and minerals, and the rocks and minerals gift shop (It was nice to look!).

(Cool!)

The worst part of the day had to be the throngs of people who were quite literally running through the exhibits. I would be reading an explanation of stromatolites off the coast of Australia and adult humans (using both terms loosely) would push me out of the way or stand in front of me. All in all many of Saturday’s visitors were quite rude.

(Orion inspects a chuck of amethyst.)

At one point I had had enough so we escaped out doors to a shaded part of a butterfly garden. There we consumed street hot dogs and bottled water. Just sitting and have some personal space helped a great deal.

(A piece of home. Orion and I pose in front of a giant chunk of Arkansas quartz.)

By 5:00 people started leaving the museum in throngs. I was delighted to discover that the museum stayed open to 7:30 in the summer, instead of 5:00 as the brochure indicated. There were still many folks milling about the museum, but the Ice Age exhibit was nearly empty. It was a nice way to end a hectic day in one of our nation’s most popular museums.

(This is less than half of the throngs we saw at 5:00 pushing out the doors!)

By 7:00 our feet were sore. I wanted desperately to take off my tennis shoes but feared I’d never want to put them back on. We grabbed a cab to dinner. Phillip’s Flag Ship boasts some pretty fine seafood. You can order from the menu or eat from the buffet. We chose buffet. There were hundreds of people at the restaurant- including several parties of 20 and 50. We sat out under the awning overlooking the Potomac River. It was actually cooler out there than inside the restaurant.

The buffet was impressive. They had everything you might ever want to eat: turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes, pastas, roast chicken, BBQ ribs, a huge salad selection, fried shrimp, fried clams, a desert bar that was several yards in length. But my favorite part included huge copper kettles where folks lined up to enjoy crawdads, boiled shrimp, crab legs, stone crabs, steamed mussels, and more! I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed in my ability to keep up with others at the restaurant. But I have to admit that I was a bit of a light weight in the arena of consuming mass quantities. I tried. I paced myself. But it was no use. It was a great place to people watch. It was also a great place to remind me how much we have, how well off we are, and how much we waste. (Note: I saw more crab and shrimp being thrown away from folks who had eyes bigger than their stomachs. That made me sad. There was probably enough food to feed the entire homeless population of D.C. being thrown away that evening. It pleased me that even with Orion’s often odd food choices and pickiness that we threw nothing away.)

The cab ride back to the hotel was quick. I noted to myself that so far, our two cab rides were in very lean cabs. We rested a bit and the boys headed off to the swimming pool for a little bit of fun. I turned on the television to view what was on cable (something we don’t have in the ‘Burg). After about 30 minutes of flipping channels I gave up in frustration and turned it off. It rather made me glad I wasting my money in the ‘Burg with their over-priced cable packages.

(A ropey rock formation for Sally!)

Things I learned on Saturday, August 2, 2008

• I hate crowds.
• Hot dogs and water on the “front” of the museums is about $2.50 more than the hot dogs and water on the “back” of the museums. We came in the back way so we weren’t tricked.
• Humans don’t always act humanely.
• Taxi cabs can be feet savers.
• It’s not the heat; it’s the humidity.