D.C. (day 2)

I'm on vacation but found a second to post. My feet are tired! Joel is like a drill instructor when it comes to taking in all that any vacation destination has to offer (Disney World, January 2005, 4 parks in 4 days and we saw it all!). And, being that Joel is a massive history buff, we nearly ran to every sight. Today we tackled 5 or 6 Smithsonian museums. Did you know they are all FREE (awesome) and the man who started the Smithsonian Institute, hence all the museums, etc. was not even an American? He was British and never even stepped foot in the U.S.

We also visited the National Archives where we patiently waited to view, in person, all the Charters of Freedom...Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, the Constitution and more minor documents that led to all the big ones. Viewing these all in person and respectfully reading each and every plaque was absolutely an amazing experience that gave me goosebumps and made me proud to live in the United State of America.

When we neared the end of sightseeing today, we were walking back to our hotel when Joel spotted, what he thought, was an oddly named store...H & M (very cute, trendy and reasonably priced clothing). Well, poor Joel for noticing that store. I promptly got a kick in my step and headed right to the little girl section where I bought Emma some of the cutest clothes ever!

We ended the evening with a dinner at the Amerikan in Union Station. The group of people we had dinner with were the American Library Trustees & Advocates (of which Joel is one). A few observations thus far about this group and Library people in general:

1. A massively diverse group of people (awesome)
2. We are about 1/2 the age of most attendees (not awesome)
   
3. Most people associated with libraries are rather eccentric
4. I've noticed lots of long skirts and the smell of patchouli
5. I think I'd be stoned if I made my conservative ideologies known

Stay tuned...more to come, along with pics, when I get a faster internet connection