Space Shuttle Discovery

Yesterday, the space shuttle Discovery made its historic final voyage riding piggy-back on a Boeing 747, and touching down at Dulles International Airport, just a few miles from its retirement home, the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly.  I read about online on Monday and decided to metro to the city so I could watch the fly over...along with hundreds of other people.  It was definitely worth the lack of sleep.

(I took my zoom lens with me and this was one of the best and closest pics I got)

(It took a lap around the Capital, you can kind of see all the people that were there)

(The initial approach went past the Washington Monument)

After I watched the fly over I decided since I was already in the city I'd check out a few sites that I had been wanting to see and maybe find a few new places to take my parents when they come back out.  My first stop was at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History where I ran into this guy...

(Glad he was stuffed!  Would hate to run into him in the wild!)

(Big head...little arms!)

(This elephant is in the lobby of the museum)

(I think this is a harp seal)

(The Hope Diamond!!  OOOOOO...AHHHHHH!!)

(One of the world's largest sapphires, they had quite the collection rare gems including rubies, emeralds, pearls, and some other really big diamonds!)

There was also a really cool gallery of Nature's Best Photography, I spent a lot time in that room!

 After the Museum of Natural History I went across the mall to the Smithsonian Castle, I thought there was going to be some really cool stuff instead but come to find out, it's only an information center.  I only was in there long enough to turn around and walk out.

(It's still a pretty cool looking building)

After the Castle I headed down the block, grabbed lunch at a hot dog stand (the only way to eat downtown DC, although the stand I went to the lady didn't know the difference between onion and sauerkraut...good thing I'm from Wisconsin and like my kraut!  Off I went then to the United States Botanical Gardens.  I had been here before but last time I went I didn't have my good camera and I wanted to see the new display, it was a Christmas theme before so I was sure there would be something new this time around, I was right!  Japanese Garden, lots of beautiful flowers!

After the Botanical Garden I started walking towards the monuments and spotted a sign that talked about the damage to the Washington Monument since the earthquake last August.  It also said that one of the next best views in the city was at the Old Post Office Pavilion and Clock Tower.  I looked it up on my phone and it's free!  So off I went! 

(This is the Old Post Office Pavilion and Clock Tower, got this from their website.  The clock tower view is 315 feet above street level)

 (This is from the glass elevator that takes you up to the clock tower)

(It was difficult to take pictures because there were wires covering all the windows...you can see the Robert E. Lee mansion at Arlington in the center of this pic...)

(This is the Lincoln Memorial from atop the clock tower, the National Park Ranger said you can see about 10 miles from the top)

(The clock tower is also where the Bells of Congress are housed.  The 10 Congress Bells range from 581 to 2,953 pounds and are replicas of the bells in London's Westminster Abbey.  A full peal, which is a continuous performance that takes up to three and a half hours to complete, is rung in honor of the opening and closing of Congress and on state occasions, including all national holidays.)

After the clock tower tour I headed back towards the monuments and discovered the Vietnam Memorial for Women.  I learned that over 11,000 women saw duty in Vietnam, the majority were nurses, and between 1964 and 1973 they tended to over 300,000 wounded and had a held a 98% survival rate of those wounded who eventually reached a hospital...

(The Memorial had three sides to it, this was the nurse side)

 I continued my walk around the memorials and stopped at a bench by the Jefferson Memorial for a while, it was such a beautiful day!

(Jefferson Memorial from across the Tidal Basin with my zoom lens)

(This one I took sitting at the Washington Monument, you can see the WWII Memorial and Lincoln Memorial.)

I was hoping to stay until sunset but I had over an hour to wait and had been there all day so I hopped back on the metro and came home.  Next time I'll watch the sun set over the monuments!