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We stayed the night in Maryland at the Towneplace Suites, and it was the second most comfortable hotel I have ever stayed at. The other hotel was in Santa Fe, but cost $200 MORE per night than this one. So this room felt like a bargain. GB slept on a pull-out sofa and we had a nice, big, king-sized bed with really comfy linens. There was a genuine kitchen with all supplies to stay a while, and it made me wish we were staying. The breakfast the next morning was amazing. We had homemade waffles, with fruit, cereal, muffins, bagels, juice and coffee. But they also offered boiled eggs, oatmeal, egg, cheese and bacon biscuits and pastries. It was much more than the traditional continental breakfast that we’ve had at other hotels.

By mid-morning we were back in our car headed for DC once again. We thought, since it was now a weekend, that traffic would be lighter, but that was not so. It was terrible and we got turned around several times. By the time we finally got into our parking area it was nearly noon. So we headed over to the Spy Museum to go through that.

It was pretty daggum crowded in there. We paid, got through the line, entered the elevator to go up to the main museum………… and the fire alarm went off………….. we all had to evacuate the museum. We knew it would take a while to evacuate, check the museum and then let all the folks back in who were mid way through the museum, so we went to lunch before heading back in.

It was a very extensive museum and took us quite a while to get through. I found out that I would make a terrible spy. I couldn’t remember my cover story long enough to fool the KGB…..LOL!

There were lots of cool gadgets to play with and it was amazing to watch actual video footage of real spies describing the challenges and the game of spying. It was fun to test our skills of observation and analysis at the interactive stations that were all over the place. And GB had a great time exploring the overhead ventilation system. In fact, he went through three times!

By the time we got out, it was almost three o’clock. So we headed over to the Mall area to get some pictures and tour the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, GB’s choice.

Here is GB in front of the Capitol,

and the Washington Monument.

Then GB took a picture of us, which he spent no time composing, and got a great shot!

This is the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. We only had time for one more museum, and GB really wanted to go through this one. I have got to go back because there is just SO much that we could’ve seen but had no time. AND we were quickly losing stamina. I hate to say it, but I’m a wimp about walking around. I think Washington needs about a week to really see it all.

This is the famous Hope Diamond. It is 45.52 carats and looks blue to the naked eye because of trace amounts of boron in it’s crystal structure. If you look at it under florescent lights it looks red. It’s current estimated value is at $300–$350 million! Amazing!

By the time we got out of the museum the sun was setting and we were bushed. I had wanted to go see the Lincoln Memorial because I’ve never seen it, but we’ll have to save that for the next time.

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