Our Trip to DC

In an effort to keep this story fresh and entertaining, I limited my facebook interaction the whole trip.  The story is long but its hysterical in parts...in most parts actually.  This is part one of the trip...the travel down there, our interactions in the museums, and the trip home.  Part two is the Smithsonian Sleepover which is dedicated to another post.  Read on my friends.


So, according to Google maps, it takes approximately 7 hours to travel by car with traffic, to Washington DC from my house. 

Norwich --> DC

So, I planned on leaving about 11pm Friday night to allow us PLENTY of time for traffic and pee stops.  By 9:45pm, Lilly was rearing to go, and honestly, so was I, so we headed out.  I stopped for fuel and coffee and were on the road at 10:01pm.  We got from Norwich to the “Welcome to New York” sign in just over an hour an a half.  Excellent!  We’re making fantastic time.  At this rate, we’re going to get to DC at like 4am…hmmm…..Oh, wait…spoke too soon.  As it turns out, Friday night is an acceptable time to close the New York thruway to ONE FRIGGIN’ LANE.  ONE LANE FOLKS!!  Took us 3 hours to get from  “Welcome to New York” to “Welcome to New Jersey”….there goes that whole making good time thing.  And then, just to add insult to injury, the freaking Jersey Turnpike is closed.  CLOSED.  Not one lane.  Not dead stop traffic.  Get-off-the-highway-drive-through-east-bum-nowhere-Jersey closed.  Fabulous.  We finally arrived at a rest stop on the Jersey Turnpike capable of traveling on the turnpike at 3am.  Ridiculous.  5 hours to get to God damned New Jersey.  Ugh....so we stopped and peed and I decided a little cat nap in the car with the car running for heat.  Two and a half hours later....thank goodness I was in a car that conserves energy when just idling.  So, at 5:30am, we headed off again.  Long story short(er), we arrived in DC at 9:00am, parked for $15 for the day and proceeded to head toward the National Mall. 


Now, being that it was October 29th, you'd think maybe it was a little chilly.  Nope.  It was FREEZING COLD at 33 degrees, and raining and windy....we were soaked.  We walked into a Dunkin' Donuts to grab a quick breakfast...and promptly turned around when I discovered that every homeless person in the immediate area was ALSO in the Dunkin' Donuts.  So, we continued toward the Mall and found mecca - Starbucks.  There's NO homeless in there.  In we go.  Restroom, scone, iced grande skinny mocha latte no whip, and an OJ later, we headed to the National Air and Space Museum.  There's no real stories in there other than Lilly and I thought it was cool....here's some photos though:

Investigating in the "What makes Things Move" exhibit

Inside of a space shuttle area....

The signs are self explanatory.

Next, we walked over to the National Museum of the American Indian.  Now, for those of you who don't know, Lilly is a member of the Osage Indian tribe...1/32 to be exact.  Enough for recognition, not enough for funds.  It is a very small tribe based out of Oklahoma.  Here's some more information Osage Nation  We actually found a children's book titles Meet Christopher: the tale of an Osage Indian boy from Oklahoma which naturally we picked up.  While we were there, we investigated the new Horse exhibit...right up Lilly's alley.  Then, there was an exhibit for kids just being put together...here's some photos of that:

Playing the Quiz Game

Basket weaving...REALLY BIG BASKETS

What animal sound am I?

Building an igloo

Our new house!!!

Down in the central rotunda of the museum, there were some women demonstrating bead work.  They were showing how they make beaded jewelry, wall hangings, horse face masks, all kinds of things.  Both women were wearing dragonfly earrings and necklaces.  Lilly immediately noticed and started chatting with them about how our family believes the native American belief that dragonflies are the souls of the deceased and that Daddy comes to visit ALL THE TIME in the form of a dragonfly.  I can't begin to tell you the number of times that Todd  flew in for family celebrations and such...and just hung out...its incredible.  So the ladies thought it was fascinating and they spoke with Lilly for quite a bit of time.  As we were leaving, one of them tapped Lilly on the shoulder and stating, "Anyone who has a connection as strong as you, should have this," and took her necklace off her own neck and handed it to Lilly.  Lilly was speechless, I was crying, and the woman just smiled and walked away.

Next, we went over to investigate the National Museum of Natural History quickly.  We also ate lunch in the Fossil Cafe....a $30 lunch that consisted of a salad, a bowl of soup, a roast beef sandwich, two sodas, and a rice crispy brick:

The only photo I will share NOW from this museum is of the Hope Diamond...the best piece for us in the whole museum...

After this we walked over to the National Museum of American History...and my phone died and the camera was in the car...so there are no more pictures.  There is however, an funny little story.  As we left the museum, we decided we would take the Metro from the Smithsonian, to the L'Enfant Station, transferring to the Red line, and then to Chinatown, which is very close to where we were parked.  Welllll.............neither Lilly nor I were really paying all that good of attention and a 10-15 min subway ride ended up being like 45 minutes...LOL.  Oops.  Hey...it was fun.  Also, we got a great view of the Washington Monument in the snow...yup...SNOW.  Who'd a thunk it..."I'mmmmmmm.....dreaming....of a white.....Halloween...????"   Anyway, back at the car, cold, wet, tired, and anxious, we drove to the Natural History Museum, received our special parking permit, and began the next phase of our journey...which I will post about later, as I have Gnomeo and Juliet cupcakes and a messy bedroom that require my attention. First I will enlighten you about our trip HOME.  Once again, it started off in a gas station refueling...in Washington DC...at 9am...on a Sunday.  Should be mellow right?  Hahahahah....we walk into the station (because I wanted a bottle of water too) and standing at the counter is a male dressed in drag wearing a VERY short skirt and fishnets.  Now, I'm pretty liberal so this bothers me none.  Lilly sees him...or her...whatever...looks at me and says (while I'm praying its nothing offensive), "Mama, he looks cold!"  Before I could even think of a response he/she turned around and says, "Little one, you have no idea! Tights was not smart honey."  Lilly giggled, he/she smiled, and we refueled.  After that, it took 6 and half hours to get home, no traffic at all....and was actually a very boring ride.   Ok, cupcake time.