Sammy Notes: Smithsonian, Part 3

Below are the photos from Amy's camera, of our trip, last week, to D.C.

Sort of wish we'd gotten some photos of the drive down as well. Southern NY is really gorgeous, with its hills turning to mountains, and wide-open views.

Pennsylvania has a different atmosphere. Highway property isn't much sought-after, so there's a real collection of shanties along 15 through PA, including a number of them along the Susquehanna which are up on stilts. Penn also has the most threatening and admonishing signs I've ever seen, messages essentially like "Drive without a seat belt and see if we care when you die". A frequent sign was "Aggressive Driver Accident Zone". (Susan, any to add?) And for all of the signage it's only because of Susan's sharp eye that we managed not to let 15 ditch us when it turned without warning off the road we were on.

We got to see "Gilbert's" in topiary. Don't see that every day.

We stopped around Harrisburg for lunch at an Applebee's on the way down and a Friendly's on the way back, and as usual Josh charmed everyone. Not faster service, though--just more smiles. Stopping at the gas station chain "Sheetz" (name brought to you by the state which is home to such town names as Bird-in-Hand, Climax, Hazard, Jugtown, and many more), I noticed a bulletin board with local news, which happened to mention a Sue Leitzel and a Michael Romig, Germanish names the like of which I have never seen outside of Columbus. Maybe because Rochester is so awash with Italian names?

Leaving Penn you drive through Maryland and into D.C. and the terrain becomes hilly and wooded and the houses progressively more palatial. Before leaving the Maryland countryside, though, you pass a number of farms. On the way back Susan swore she spotted a zebra grazing along with the horses.

Of course we teased her endlessly about this. Who could have guessed she was right?

Sam enjoying the White House. Hopefully now he will stop claiming it's the biggest building in the world. When you are six, things can only be famous for being the biggest, fastest, tallest, etc.

The Smithsonian "Castle", which their web site says is "Home to the Smithsonian Information Center and the permanent exhibition Smithsonian Institution: America’s Treasure Chest, as well as the Institution’s administrative headquarters". We never went in, so we'll take their word for it.

In the Rotunda of the Museum of Natural History. On Wednesday afternoon when we were there they were setting up for some sort of banquet. What a great place for a banquet! And probably it would be free for everyone who donated $10,000.

It's a shame we don't have more photos of the strange and beautiful minerals in the Rocks & Minerals exhibit. This is one of the stranger ones--a naturally curvy gypsum sample.

You'll recall that we allowed as Sam is related to the Wright Bros. We owe this connect to Uncle Paul. This definitely helped build his interest in their story.

Sam with the actual airplane they used for their first powered flight. (The canvas has been replaced, but nothing else.)

Everyone thank your photographer!

The lunches in the Natural History Museum were in a number of very nice cafes, which showed a real awareness for issues related to recycling and conservation and health. Nuts to all that PC stuff in the Air & Space Museum, where they just have a big McDs! The one thing they had in common is the high prices. Admission to the museums is free, so they make up for it when you eat lunch.