Things to do

1. Write a blog post..I thought this was supposed to be a way for me to remember the 'good ol days' down the road

2. Make a list of all the places that I want to visit in DC before we leave...which I have done, and now am telling my blog about it.  

I am pretty sure that I mentioned in a previous post that I was going to be taking a tour of the capitol on Friday.  It all worked out and I ended up getting a private tour of the capitol.  Now, I know that just sounds so glamorous, but it was in fact, it was only private because no one else showed up.  I saw nothing different than anyone else but did get to walk through the underground tunnel (more like maze) from my representative's office in the Rayburn building to the capitol.   After the tour, I decided to check another thing off my list by visiting the national botanical gardens.  I cannot believe that I haven't been there before! I feel bad b/c my flower-loving sister Hollis would have loved it there!  I also enjoyed it because it was overcast and breezy on Friday so the weather was perfect for being outside :)  It's still pretty hot here but I can feel the fall coming! Yay! I love fall!  So, here is my list of 'things to do' in Washington before we leave:

-Spy Museum

-National Portrait Gallery

-Zoo

-National Cathedral

-finish the National Gallery of Art, both wings

-Building Museum, maybe

-Capitol -check

-Jefferson Memorial (who has been to this?  it's so far away from everything!)

-Botanical Gardens-check

I don't think this is an impossible list..but we will see.  Things are beginning to come down around the apartment for the move so I will probably have to wait to I have an empty apartment to venture out into DC again.  

Here are a few pictures from Friday:

Obligatory picture of the capitol dome.  Picture doesn't do it justice...

Replica of Lady Freedom--I think this is her name.

It was neat to see this up close--since she can't really be seen in detail from the ground. 

View of capitol from the gardens

There was one room in the botanical gardens dedicated entirely to orchids.  There are 20,000 species (not all in this room but thats pretty impressive!)

Yeah yeah, i know i am no flower photog but the water droplets were pretty!  

In the dessert room, I found this cactus.  It reminded me of those "poofs" that are so popular now in home decor stores.  April fools day joke anyone?

Just had to add this because it looked so disgusting!  I would call it a octopus cactus...but I think it was actually called a monkey tail. maybe. 

Yes, I did take a picture of myself.  I had to wait until no one was around so I wouldn't be caught doing the ridiculous one-armed self portrait. 

And another flower..Hey, i was in a garden! I couldn't help it :)