Traveling with Michelle: June 23: We found summer--it's in DC!

Sunday, June 23. First, the weather. Today began with rain--heavy rain. Too heavy to do any sightseeing, let alone walking a mile to the metro station. So, after breakfast, Annie did a health assignment and Randy and I went online looking for museum information. Then, around 11:30, the rain let up and we left for the train station. Didn't know if we were tempting fate by forgetting my sunglasses and the umbrellas. It was not as hot (though still quite warm) and even more humid, if you can believe that! We went to the National Air and Space Museum (a Smithsonian museum, so it was free admission!). The last time Randy and I were there was in 1992 and Anneliese was there a year ago, last spring, but it was all new for Joshua and Shelby.

A sculpture outside the museum next door.

Inside the lobby

Joshua, distracted even in the 30 seconds it takes to push the button.

A plane that flew across Antarctica. Note the wooden skis where the wheels would be,
attached to the plane with bungee cords. Safety regulations were a little more lax back then, I think!

A scaled model of the planets. They couldn't add the sun,
because at that scale, the exhibit space wouldn't have been big enough.

Inside the flight area.

In the space area.

As we came out of the museum, we were blinded by the sun! We ate some of the cheese and fruit we had "left over" from breakfast, then split up and Randy went one way to walk around the tidal basin and see the Jefferson Memorial while the children and I headed in the opposite direction to the Spy Museum (of course, we had to get frozen yogurt and ice cream for the long walk because now it was really hot and really humid). We had planned about an hour for the Spy Museum. Well, it is so interactive, we only got through half of the museum when we had to leave to meet Randy. We were so busy, I only got a few photos.

The bad guy's car from Die Another Day, a James Bond movie in the lobby.

Anneliese, playing a spy training game.

At the spy museum, you need to take on a persona and you are quizzed on it by a computerized customs agent and scored as to how many of the persona's attributes you remembered and are given a mission. Your are quizzed about that as you leave by another computerized "customs" agent. I wasn't allowed to leave England because I "forgot" one of the items (some of the items you aren't told, you just have to guess). Then we met Randy at the, Zero Milestone across from the White House. The National Christmas Tree is there too (kid you not).