We were up, fed, and out the door at 8:30 this morning.
We had places to go and things to see.

We started with a Lyft ride to the Lincoln Memorial.

After spending some time admiring the statue and reading the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln’s second inaugural address we started our walk to the Washington Monument.

Along the way we stopped at the World War II memorial…

Then it was on to the obelisk.

There was a helicopter circling overhead and at one point we saw Marine 1 heading to the whitehouse. Also, on the plaza behind the monument (in the shade) a secret service agent (in tactical gear) was sitting on a bicycle. Interesting.

From there we headed to the Natural History Museum.
Our aim was to arrive there just in time for their opening so that we could get to see the Hope Diamond before the crowds descended.
Turns out there were only a couple of people in the room with us so we had the opportunity to take as much time as we wanted viewing this interesting stone.

After the Hope we continued on in the gem and mineral collection viewing their extensive collection and learning lots about gems and minerals.
Here are a few samples.

From there we branched out into different areas.

After stopping for lunch, we continued on until the last of us left at 1:30.
We returned to the hotel for a rest (hottest part of the day).

During the rest period Cheryl and I slept for a bit, but not long. And our meeting time wasn’t till 4:00. So…

I had noted that the Hirshhorn Museum (one of the Smithsonian units) had a Banksy painting on exhibit.
I convinced Cheryl that it would be worth braving the afternoon heat to see it. So off we went.

Along the way we passed the Eisenhower memorial.

The Hershhorn exhibit contained two works, one by Jean-Michel Basquiat (born in Brooklyn in 1960) titled Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump (1982) and the other by Banksy. The Banksy piece is an homage to the Basquait, but with a biting commentary added.

While we were there we checked out some of the permanent collection:

Back at the hotel we met the Hunts and headed out on the next adventure (stopping along the way for ice cream).
We also stopped for capital photos.

The next stop was the National Archives where we saw some famous works including an original copy of the Magna Carta.

We spent some time learning about freedom and the struggle to obtain and keep it.
Then we headed upstairs to the gallery to view original copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.
I got photos of all of those documents, but by now they are almost unreadable.

I did, however, get a photo of this “broadside” printed in New Hampshire in January 1790 at the time of that state’s ratification of the Bill of Rights.

I also got a photo of this poster from the World War II era.

Finally I took pictures of the murals above the proceedings.

A security guard pointed out the profile of Abraham Lincoln in the dark cloud above Thomas Jefferson in the top image.

Once we were finished with the viewing we were still early for a dinner reservation so we spent some time in the archive store.

Eventually we left and made our way to the Elephant and Castle – a pub/sports bar not far from the mall.
The ale was good, as was the food. I was perusing the menu when Jen pointed out what I would be ordering. She was right.

After dinner we took the subway back to the hotel. I clocked 9.8 miles walking today so I didn’t feel too bad about that.

So that’s “Doin’ DC” – at least for today.
Tomorrow Hunts don’t fly until 4ish and Cheryl and I fly at 6:00 so we’ve still got a bit of DC to go.
Starting with 10:00 tickets at the Air and Space Museum.

Till then…
R