Thomas Jefferson
Postal Museum
American History Museum
This one's for you, Ray!
How to cook with real Vermont Maple Syrup
Megan'a abode
Sunday evening we took a bike tour of the mall - Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jeffereson, Franklin D Rooselvelt, Martin Luther King, Jr, George Washington, World War II and World War I memorials, a memorial to nurses in the armed forces and lots of other interesting things.
Monday evening Megan went with me to a reception in the Russell Senate building. Very posh and very nice. She then took me to Trader Joe's. I love Trader Joe's. And on to the Whole Food Market for dinner.
Tuesday I met with staff from Senators Hatch and Lee and Representatives Chaffetz and Matheson, toured the Capitol Visitors Center, the Library of Congress, the Supreme Court, the Postal Museum, Union Station, the memorial to the Japanese Patriots...all on foot, Megan took me to Founding Fathers for dinner. I think it was the best salad I have ever had.
Wednesday we went to the National Engraving Museum and took a cool tour on how they make paper money, which is really cotton and the Holocaust Museum. Megan interpretted the First Person series and I had the privelge of hearing a holocaust survivor speak. It was pretty special.
Thursday Megan had a job with the National Folk Like Festival on the Mall so I went along. It was pretty fascinating and I took the opportunity to tour the Natural History Museum and the Museum of American History. All in all a pretty great day, even if it was hot, hot, hot. Megan took me to a red, white and blue party at a friend's house and I got to see fireflies! Lots of them. I even took a video!
Did I tell you that Megan belongs to the DC Bike Share? She does! We walk about a block to a rack of bikes, put a little plasti key in, hop on a bike and ride the half mile to the metro. We check the bike back in and enter the metro where we get on the blue, orange or yellow line to get into the city. Megan knows it all backwards and forwards. She is amazing!
Friday we were back on the Mall with Megan interpretting and we thought the day before was hot. Well Friday hit 104 degrees at 100% humidity so it reportedly felt like 136 degrees! Megan's first task was to interpret for a quilters panel. It was fascinating! I even got to navigate the bke share and metro by myself with specific instructions from Megan and help from a very nice lady, Jutta. Thank you! Any way, Friday I toured the Air and Space Museum and the National Gallery of Art. I started out the week thinking I would hit every Smithsonian Museum on the Mall but soon relaized that I will need to come back to achieve that goal! Friday about 10 a monstrous storm hit with extremely high winds and a 30 minute downpour. It was amazing! Megan started getting texts that her friends' power was out. Hers was not :).
On my run Saturday morning I saw downed power lines ad branches everywhere. Even a tree that had fallen right across the front of a house. Woah! Megan and I hopped in the car headed for Delaware. Megan called my father the night before to see if we could come visit. He was at work and his wife said he would call back n the morning. Around noon we were about half way there and Megan's phone rang. It was my father telling us that he did not have time to see us today. Even for a few minutes. Megan is so awesome! She talks to him with such a positive attitude and happy expression. So we turned around and headed for Baltimore. We saw a few of the sites and ate on the harbor. It was liberating! Megan took me to her ward patriotic barbeque which was nice and very patriotic. We ended by singing the Star Spangled Banner.
As you can see, it really has been a whirwind week!
