Tuesday - Oh say can you see...DC?

Unfortunately our morning began with Yarngeek's truck stalling and not starting back up. Her day off that was supposed to be playing with us at the Smithsonian was instead spent dealing with her broken car. :(

She encouraged us to go, making sure to tell us that she would be fine and we headed toward the platform.


















The Metro was far more comfortable than the T, mainly because the chairs were cushioned! So it was a comfortable ride in to the Smithsonian.

The Smithsonian consists of a ton of museums, but we were only going to focus on two: Air and Space and American History.


Our first stop was the Air and Space Museum. We got to see the Spirit of St Louis, the Apollo capsule, the original Wright Brothers plane and lots of WW II planes. Here is Mr. in that exhibit.


















We even learned about all the effort it takes for the astronauts to get into their suits! Did you know that Kevlar was actually invented for the space program?

After a quick lunch, we went over to the American History Museum. They had lots of really neat stuff. The coolest by far was seeing the Star Spangled Banner Flag. It was huge and very well kept. The only parts that were missing were the portions that the flag maker's family cut to sell when they couldn't make ends meet.

We also saw the First Ladies exhibit, where only a few days prior, the current First Lady donated her inauguration dress. It was stunning.





















But we were not done! We also saw some amazing artifacts from the Apollo Theater, Julia Child's kitchen, Kermit the frog, the ruby slippers... and something about lasers!



















(Mr. was super excited about that!)


We picked up a copy of the White House Cookbook and the Presidential cookie cookbook. (The macaroons looked incredible!)


After the museum, we headed over to the memorials. Our goal was to see the WW II memorial, the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial.

We passed by the Washington Monument, which was breathtaking. While we were over there we saw the White House in the distance, and I managed to get a photo of Mr.


















The WWII memorial was gorgeous, and a beautiful tribute to all the men and women who served our country durring that tough time and those who died for the cause.

The Lincoln Memorial was just as impressive as the last time, but more so... the view from there is spectacular!




























Post Vietnam Memorial, we grabbed a cab and went to the nearest Metro. A short hop back and we were in Crystal City to meet our hosts for Tapas. It was my first time trying this, and it was delicious and tons of fun. Also: The best sangria I have ever tasted!

Then it was back to our hosts house where we got to just relax and chat. When it got a little late, we turned in... we had a long journey home in the morning.