On Wednesday, we decided to start our day at the United States Botanic Garden. Unfortunately, we didn't check to see what time it opened (10 am) and so we got there a bit early. Happily, they had a beautifully landscaped exterior with some benches and tables in alcoves, so we peacefully waited for 30 minutes or so.We try not to schedule our vacations too much. We generally have a good idea of the sights we want to visit, but don't assign the sights to days. I was looking through to see where else we might go this day while we waited for it to open.
This little bird (goldfinch?) blended in quite well with the sunflowers!
Apparently waiting can be exhausting!
Once we were finally in, we were not disappointed. What a great job they've done! All over the interior and exterior, there were globes that had been decorated by artists. I believe this one had a seed theme, and all of the things you see are seeds!
This picture turned out a little fuzzy, but that just makes it look more like an impressionist painting, in my opinion.
Here I am in front of some mini pineapples. It did take self control not to eat them. I love pineapple!
Everything was so green! Because we tend to do a bit of off-season travel, we rarely get to see gardens in such fantastic shape!
I think I'm in front of a display on invasive species, sponsored jointly by the Nature Conservancy. They are one of my favorite organizations so it made me happy to see them partner with one of my new favorites!
Brian told me that he aspires to become an insect photographer. I think he was kidding, but he did take some great shots!
Here is another butterfly picture that I thought was beautiful:
There are some stairs that you can take up, so it's like you're in the canopy. If you look closely, you can see the pathway down below:
Self-Portrait in Canopy:
Some herbes de provence with the botanic building in the background:
In this picture, Brian pretends to eat some dill seeds. Because if he really had done that, not only would it be against park regulations, but it would also be gross.
We ate lunch at the newest Smithsonian museum, National Museum of the American Indian. Their cafeteria serves native foods. We had heard rave reviews, and were not disappointed.
We briefly toured part of this museum, but then decided we'd rather go elsewhere.
En route, I turned around to see this:
Then, Brian told me that he was very thirsty and needed a Diet Mountain Dew. I decided to wait for him in a park while he went off to a nearby trailer selling sodas.
As you can see, I started to get worried when he took longer than I anticipated:
And then he appeared, but with a different kind of soda. He did not let this ruin his day, although it threatened to do so!
We went next to the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
We hope to go to Easter Island someday to see these moais in situ; however, this will have to suffice until that happens (many years down the road, if at all).
What is this meteorite trying to tell Brian? (Don't worry, a sign said it was OK to touch!)
We saw many more exhibitions, including the Hope Diamond and other gems, but didn't take pictures. Once again, I would highly recommend this museum. I love the Smithsonian Institution!
Before we embarked on our next walking journey, we decided to take in an IMAX movie. It was in 3D, so we wore special glasses.
After the museum, we still had quite a bit of time, so we caught the metro out to Arlington National Cemetery.
We grabbed a map at the visitors' center and started walking.
Here are the graves of JFK, Jackie O., and two of their young children, along with the eternal flame:
From there, a beautiful view of Washington in the distance.
So many people are buried here: 
Including boxing legend Joe Louis:
We were too late to enter Arlington House, where Robert E. Lee lived. But, as I googled to find the link, I see I can take a virtual tour.We saw the soldier guarding the tomb of the unknown soldier, and had arrived at the right time to see the changing of the guard ceremony. I thought it disrespectful to take pictures during the ceremony, but here is the soldier just before the change. There is a lot of symbolism and meaning in this ceremony.
The soldier who had just been relieved of guard duty continued on with his superior, and we realized that we happened to have attended the changing of the guard ceremony that concludes with taking the flag down for the day.Once again, I thought it disrespectful to take pictures during the ceremony, but here they are, walking the flag back into storage for the night.
After this, we walked around the cemetery some more, and made our way to the metro where we found somewhere to eat a quick dinner and returned home.We were exhausted, yet again. During this vacation, we were on our feet and/or walking pretty much from 8 or 9 am until 8 or 9 pm every day, with slight rests for eating, an IMAX, or when necessary at museums. As usual, we joked that we'd need a vacation from this vacation once we returned home!
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