Examining Bones at the Speed of Joy

Today was supposed to be drizzly, so we made plans to do something indoors.  The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History fit that bill nicely. 

As we drove into Washington D.C., I noticed dozens of trees bearing dainty pink or white blossoms.  It was our good fortune to visit the capitol during its annual Cherry Blossom Festival.  The flowering cherry trees were welcome spots of beauty in a region where most trees are still grey and bare.

Once we got inside the museum, this was my view for most of our visit.  Joy didn't want to plod along while others looked at things she wasn't interested in, so she asked if an adult chaperone would accompany her while she moved "at the speed of Joy."  I volunteered, and spent the next half-hour rushing to keep up as she strode through exhibit after exhibit, then declared the entire museum "boring."  I asked why she enjoyed the aquarium but not the natural history museum, and she explained that in the museum, none of the exhibits move.

Everyone else in the group agreed that one of our favorite parts of the museum was the Bones exhibit.  It was fascinating to see what so many animals look like on the inside.

For some reason, I had always assumed that a walrus's face was mostly blubber, not a big mass of bone.  On reflection, though, those big tusks would need to be anchored in something very sturdy.

We drove past the Capitol Building on the way home.  While I tend to have mixed feelings about Congress, I still find it thrilling to see this monument to the noble messiness of letting a complex nation of humans try to govern themselves.