After sharing a snack in the shadow of the Washington Monument . . .
. . . our family walked over to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. I didn't realize until we arrived that it closes at 5:30pm, just twenty minutes after we got there.
At least we had time to look at some cool meteorites . . .
. . . and crystals of all shapes and sizes. See that little girl with the pink shirt, pink pants, and pink fingernails? Her favorite crystal is the one in the lower, right-hand corner because . . . it's pink.
On the walk back to our car, I stopped and waved at the White House, just in case President Trump happened to be looking out the window. My kids thought I was weird. They're probably right.
One of my favorite things I saw today was a monument I didn't even know was there before this afternoon. As Anna and I were walking along Constitution Avenue, she looked up ahead and said, "There's a statue of George Washington!" I replied, "I don't think that's George Washington," and when we got close enough to read the inscription I was stunned to see that it was Jose Artigas. When I was serving as a missionary in Uruguay, I noticed that every city and town (even little Bella Union, which only had a handful of paved streets) had a plaza with a bronze statue of Artigas in it. He's sometimes called "The George Washington of Uruguay" because he united the Uruguayans and led their fight for independence. Today I learned that Uruguay gifted this statue (which is a copy of one in San Jose, Uruguay) to the United States in 1950 (and they gave an identical one to Montevideo, Minnesota, which is a sister city to Uruguay's capital with the same name).
When I saw this statue, it brought back fond memories of my mission, and of Uruguayans' devotion to their national hero. I couldn't resist calling out, "Che! Como andas?!?" (Dude! How's it going?!?). Because, as we've already established, I'm weird, and weird ladies talk to statues in foreign languages.
So long, Capital! It's been fun! We'll be back soon to spend more quality time with the Smithsonian(s). Maybe President Trump will wave back next time.
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