8 April 2022 Washington DC American Indian Museum

 

 Today we started out from the house and walked into a beautiful Sunny day . We decided to take advantage of the great weather and strolled along the capital on our way to the American Indian museum. The building that houses the museum is something very special. The contents are even more special and we were all very impressed. We started on the top floor and worked our way all the way down to the 1st floor looking at almost every single exhibit. Then it was off to lunch!

Waiting for our rideshare outside with these  houses across the street

Great old time workmanship 

On our walk I thought I saw a bear!  It was just a bear sized dog

We have arrived!

An architectural gem

The inside reminded us of the interior of a Pueblo Kiva 

The Raven with the Sun in it's beak

Lakota headress

A ceremonial offering with many odd items from mummified birds to a water cracker

Of many masks on display, this mask represents death

Quite the mustache 

Taking the chin dimple to extreme 

So very much going on!  Top left is a walrus mask

Bead Art

Beaded Chuck T's

A huge headress 

A blown glass Raven

The story of the "Raven Who Stole the Sun" told in blown glass

Fly Raven Fly!

The craftsmanship on these glass pieces is amazing

Not sure what all is happening but I like it

Killer whale with pearly white teeth

Two "Ice Snakes" part of a game 

Large prisms threw rainbow patterns everywhere 

Rainbow Gavin

7 April 2022 Washington DC Natural History Museum

45.5 carats of blue diamonds will give you extra umpff for another

Museum!  The Natural History Museum is the place for that.  So many gems and minerals.  Missouri was well represented with calcite, lead minerals, and   a few others.  We really enjoyed the taxidermy and fossils.  The walk down was easy and we got to walk through a sculpture garden on the way.  

Bilingual love

Rain rain go away

A Spider by Dali

Erase much?

This is the bag that the original gigantic flag, the "Star Spangled Banner" was packaged in when it was donated to the Smithsonian

A quilt that shows the inside of the mattres insides

Natural History

Stony faced

Kangaroos in trees

Our neighborhood 

So colorful 

Redbud trees and the colorful houses 

 

7 April 2922 Washington DC Lunch

 

We had lunch at Jaleo, the flagship restaurant by Jose Andres.  He is currently in Poland feeding Ukrainian refugees. It is a tapas style restaurant and we were told that three or four dishes each would be a good amount to order.  That would have been true if we had six people eating. It was all super tasty but much larger portions than we were expecting.   The decor and customers kept us entertained. From the group having a wine tasting event to the couples and th service members. 

A Mexican Wrestling Bull

We are here for the good grub

Chorizo and sautéed mushrooms 

A new take on paella 

The men's room

The woman's room

7 April 2022 Washington DC American History Museum

 

Washington DC is in bloom and it is beautiful everywhere we go.  The flowers and trees are popping with color.  Today we got right into it at the National American History Museum. We walk right past the long lines at the Natural History Museum and right into the American History Museum.  There were lots of different themes that the museum curators followed in the Museum. There was a section devoted to the First Ladies, a section on transportation, a section on campaign "give aways" and much more

It was a bit cold and rainy

Cherry Blossom time 

The Museum grounds

Gavin in the wood structures 

A display extolling the need to keep  dead wood in the environment 

Flowers everywhere 

The Seal

A cast of Abe Lincoln's hands

Beer always makes me think of Presidential politics 

President McLane 

The First Ladies 

Oy those oysters

Hillary Clinton's inaugural gown 

Some musical instruments of note

The ruby slippers are not so shiny anymore 

I agree

Taft swag

Modern politics 

Tiny screens all showing political ads

The actual lunch counter

From the great North West 

Plains Indians wepons

Odd signs 

Cool old cars

A Tucker car

6 April 2022 Back to DC!

 

 Gavin is now 11 so we are taking him to DC!   We had to get up early and drive from Hollywood up to Orlando. We dropped off miss pickles and picked up Gavin and got on to a plane and flew 1st class to Washington DC!   It was already fairly late by the time we arrived so we just went to the store and stocked up.  We then came back to the place and had dinner.  Now that we were all settled it is time to call it a night.  

 There is something to be said about arriving but arriving in a new city only to find a driver with your name on a placard

 Gavin gets the best room in the place