Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Finally Fall
The leaves are Finally starting to turn here in Maryland--and it's getting harder and harder to log on. Here's the update.
Da Capitol, cont. (11/1)
Yesterday, after a “do nothing” morning we took the metro to town; bus, then subway… takes about an hour. Looked into visiting the Capitol. We could get a tour at 3:30 with 38 other people… or we could come back today and get a semi-private tour –guess which we chose. So yesterday afternoon was the National Gallery of Art instead.
Today we took the metro back to the city and headed to the National Air and Space Museum. We spent most of the day there and still did not begin to see everything. It is a totally awesome place with something for everyone. Kit spent a lot of time learning about engines and things which didn’t interest me at all. I think my favorite was the Wright Bros exhibit—and WWI. Did you know that if they built a memorial like the Vietnam Wall for WWI it would be 8 miles long? Most of the Smithsonian museums seem to have switched café/ cafeteria for the mall food court model. We ducked over to the Gallery of Art for lunch—where they still have an upscale cafeteria. We had to be at a House Office building at 3pm for our tour of the Capitol building. Note to travelers—if you check in at your Congressman’s office you can get a “private tour”. There were 6 in our tour –the intern who was supposed to take us was sick so we went with Melissa, a staff assistant. She tells us that virtually all of the Congressional staff is under 30—it’s a very demanding job. We got to meet Rick Larson who is our congressman. (For you Guemians—he said “of course you know Bob and Boots Anderson”) (If anyone in Springfield is reading—he has a friend who is a new Speech Therapist in Dist. 19)
Baltimore (11/2)
You cannot believe the hassles and misinformation involved in getting our “money cards” (aka debit cards) Joy! They arrived yesterday. So we can continue…
This morning I finally got my hair cut, (smile smile) and then we headed to Baltimore.
It’s less than an hour’s drive from here—not much more time than going into DC but big parking costs. We wanted to see the National Aquarium as these are the people who paid for some of Kirsten’s stay in Costa Rica. This is a totally awesome aquarium. There were crowds of kids but, unlike Plimoth, this is a perfect kid place and I loved watching them. Watching groups of 4 year olds trying to get through a revolving door was almost as fun as watching the fish. There was a section on Maryland but much of the exhibit is about coral reef and rainforest. Walking through their rain forest was like being in Costa Rica (we even saw a sloth!) We caught the end of the dolphin act and exited for a late lunch—at the Hard Rock Café. (We have never been in one before). We’ve had enough of big cities though. Tomorrow we head to Virginia and hopefully off of the interstates.
Da Capitol, cont. (11/1)
Yesterday, after a “do nothing” morning we took the metro to town; bus, then subway… takes about an hour. Looked into visiting the Capitol. We could get a tour at 3:30 with 38 other people… or we could come back today and get a semi-private tour –guess which we chose. So yesterday afternoon was the National Gallery of Art instead.
Today we took the metro back to the city and headed to the National Air and Space Museum. We spent most of the day there and still did not begin to see everything. It is a totally awesome place with something for everyone. Kit spent a lot of time learning about engines and things which didn’t interest me at all. I think my favorite was the Wright Bros exhibit—and WWI. Did you know that if they built a memorial like the Vietnam Wall for WWI it would be 8 miles long? Most of the Smithsonian museums seem to have switched café/ cafeteria for the mall food court model. We ducked over to the Gallery of Art for lunch—where they still have an upscale cafeteria. We had to be at a House Office building at 3pm for our tour of the Capitol building. Note to travelers—if you check in at your Congressman’s office you can get a “private tour”. There were 6 in our tour –the intern who was supposed to take us was sick so we went with Melissa, a staff assistant. She tells us that virtually all of the Congressional staff is under 30—it’s a very demanding job. We got to meet Rick Larson who is our congressman. (For you Guemians—he said “of course you know Bob and Boots Anderson”) (If anyone in Springfield is reading—he has a friend who is a new Speech Therapist in Dist. 19)
Baltimore (11/2)
You cannot believe the hassles and misinformation involved in getting our “money cards” (aka debit cards) Joy! They arrived yesterday. So we can continue…
This morning I finally got my hair cut, (smile smile) and then we headed to Baltimore.
It’s less than an hour’s drive from here—not much more time than going into DC but big parking costs. We wanted to see the National Aquarium as these are the people who paid for some of Kirsten’s stay in Costa Rica. This is a totally awesome aquarium. There were crowds of kids but, unlike Plimoth, this is a perfect kid place and I loved watching them. Watching groups of 4 year olds trying to get through a revolving door was almost as fun as watching the fish. There was a section on Maryland but much of the exhibit is about coral reef and rainforest. Walking through their rain forest was like being in Costa Rica (we even saw a sloth!) We caught the end of the dolphin act and exited for a late lunch—at the Hard Rock Café. (We have never been in one before). We’ve had enough of big cities though. Tomorrow we head to Virginia and hopefully off of the interstates.
# posted by Carol Harma @ 4:43 PM 
