Breakfast was a donuts down at Union Station followed by a short Metro hop over to the Smithsonian to spend some time at the National Air and Space Museum.

It’s been about 7 years since I’ve been in the Air and Space Museum and while many things haven’t changed, some have. The front hall was missing one of its signature pieces, the Wright Flyer, and had a new addition, Space Ship One. The commercial aviation exhibit was interesting, and I don’t remember it being there from before. After that I went through the various exhibits including the World War I and II aviation, got to see the ME-262 and one of the few Mitsubishi Zeros which still exist, and finally found the Wright Flyer in it’s own special exhibit which went in to a lot more detail about the Flyer and the Wrights’ history. Finally, a trip to the gift store where I found a few things for Reese.

After that I headed back over to the National Gallery for lunch since the McDonald’s at the Air and Space Museum didn’t appeal to me one bit.

The afternoon saw me over at the National Archives to check out some of our country’s history. They’ve got an exhibit with items from the archives, including Rosa Parks arrest, the Emancipation Proclamation, a letter from George Washington, and much, much more. After finishing that I queued up to get in to the rotunda to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Magna Carta amongst others.

On the way back I stopped at the Capitol City Brewing Company for a burger and a pint of porter. Both extremely yummy, one of the best porters I’ve had in a while.

A quick breakfast at Starbucks and then headed back over to the Mall, this time by Metro instead of walking. The first stop was the Smithsonian Castle (the first time I’ve been in there) and then over to the Freer Gallery to see a really nice collection of western, Islamic, and Asian art.

Lunch today was at the cafe in the National Gallery‘s east building.

After lunch I went over to the National Museum of the American Indian and really spent some quality time going through it. The last time I was in DC was in 2001 and it was still being built so it was completely new to me. It’s very well done with many educational and informative exhibits, some of which were really sad. Over all it was a great museum and should be visited if you’re in the area.

It started raining on the way in and had no quit on the way out so it was a quick walk over to the nearest Metro station and then back to the hotel to drop off the camera bag and head out to dinner.

Dinner was at Zaytinya, a Mediterranean/Middle Eastern tapas restaurant which served up some excellent lamb amongst other yummies.

The shuttle driver was about 20 minutes late this morning, but I got to the airport with plenty of time to catch the flight to D.C. The flight itself was a little bumpy and with the exception of the hard landing, completely uneventful.

After getting checked in to the hotel it was time for lunch, which turned out to be a buffalo burger at the National Museum of the American Indian.

After that it was off to the National Museum of Natural History to browse the gems and minerals section and to see the Hope Diamond. Most impressive stuff and looking better than the last time I was here.

On the way back to the hotel I detoured up to Ford’s Theater, which was closed for renovations, and the house where Lincoln died, which was open.

Finally a stop by the Navy memorial.

Dinner tonight was at The Dubliner, an Irish style pub just around the block from the hotel.