We Came, We Saw, We Got Tickets

The Hubby and I set off- without children! - at 3am to beat the traffic. We were super excited to be getting away and actually going somewhere interesting that we both agreed on AND we were without children! I said that already? Oh.

Anyway, we sang along to the radio, told stories and giggled at each other for about 45 minutes .... and then the jarring blue lights of a Virginia State Trooper busted that little bubble. Ten minutes and one speeding ticket for going 80 in a 65 later, we continued on at a somewhat slower pace. That didn't dampen our spirits, nor did the bumper to bumper traffic that started a good hour outside Washington. We were without children! Look honey, it's the Capitol! Then we actually arrived.

It's been a long time since I've been to D.C. and the changes are quite disturbing. If you don't believe that we are now living in a police state, just mosey on down to our nation's capitol. In the downtown area, there are policemen on guard with sniffer dogs or parked in groups about every 20 yards. You can't get anywhere near The White House and the back of The Capitol Building looks just like The Berlin Wall used to - it's barricaded in concrete with barbed wire all around the top.

See the helicopter highlighted on the left of the Smithsonian Castle? It circled the downtown area constantly; we felt kind of sorry for whoever pulled that duty, going round in circles all day. Every building you go into has a metal detector and your bags are searched. It's sad, as I remember being able to wander in and out of buildings at will. An unfortunate but probably necessary by-product of 9/11 and the war.

Having said all that, we still had a good time. Our hotel was right off Independence Avenue, across the street from the new Native American museum and next to the Library of Congress, well within walking distance of the mall. Since we had such limited time, we concentrated on all the different branches of the Smithsonian.

We were very lucky with the weather, it was absolutely gorgeous and fairly warm, perfect for rambling around. I was wearing comfortable shoes, unlike this lovely lady who was rocking a pair of PVC boots that were pretty hot. Before I got old and grumpy, these are just the sort of boots I would have lusted for. Now that I've stepped off the fashion train, my ratty house-slippers are the footwear of choice!

We spent a good few hours at the National Gallery of Art, which is currently showing a an excellent retrospective of painter Edward Hopper in the East building. It features all his iconic paintings plus a film narrated by Steve Martin, who is apparently a fan.

It was well worth jostling through the crowds to see his work up close and personal. It really evokes a different time, when ladies wore nylons and men sported nifty hats. I tried to get The Husband to buy a fedora from the gift shop, but he declined, the spoil-sport.

We moved on to the Natural History museum so the hubby could look at what seemed like endless amounts of meteorites (yawn) and watch scientists putting a dinosaur back together inside a glassed-in lab (more yawning), but I did finally get to see The Hope Diamond. It was nice, but not as much fun as finding this fellow and all his monkey friends stuffed and mounted safely behind glass. Not that I'm at all obsessed with monkeys, no not me!

Since the History museum was closed for renovations (bummer) The National Air and Space Museum was up next. It was as fantastic as I remembered and The Hubby finally got the gyroscope he has wanted since he was six years old and his brother had one but [/cue weepy violins] wouldn't even let him touch it, much less play with it. Another tragic childhood injustice has been righted at last!

As we wandered around, a large group of Asian tourists surged in and immediately started snapping random pictures. I took this one for my friend John-Billy who often accuses me of the same behavior. Look mate, this is the real thing!

On our way out of town, we made a short visit to the new American Indian museum - it was short because there's nothing to see in it but gift shops selling over-priced dream-catchers for 20 bucks. It's a stunningly designed building but was a huge disappointment. Then when we got back to the car, we found a parking ticket on the windshield. The meter ran out at 4.00pm, the ticket was timed at 4.01pm and get this - it was for $100.00. Sheesh.

The Hubby was hoping to get another ticket on the way home to complete the hat-trick and I was relieved when he failed that particular attempt. All in all, we had a blast. We ate well, saw lots of cool stuff and told each other we wished we could stay longer .... but I was kind of happy to get home and see the kids. There I said it, but for the love of God don't tell any of them I did!