American History and an Ugly Green Tree

This past weekend I was able to go back downtown DC again with some friends.  We went to the Holocaust Museum, my second time there but Julie's old college roommate was in town and really wanted to go.  We were able to see visit the Hall of Remembrance, which I didn't get to see last time so the visit was definitely worth it.  After that we went to the Museum of American History.  There was a lot to see in that museum!  I was a little disappointed because I thought it was going to be more famous artifacts from history, pop culture stuff, and there were some, but it was mostly a timeline of history, everything from Presidents to cars to the evolution of the light bulb.  The pictures I'm posting are a few of the things I thought was really cool...

 (The flag that inspired the Star Spangled Banner-from the Smithsonian website-no pictures allowed)

 (100,000 bill...cool!)

 (Don't know what the point of a 6 1/4 cent bill is...)

(Summer uniform worn by General Dwight D. Eisenhower)

(Inaugural gown worn by Michelle Obama-they had every First Ladies gown)

 (Ruby Red slippers from the Wizard of Oz)

 Apollo Ohno's Speed Skates)

 (original Muppets)

 (Mouseketeers hat)

 (Tribute to Military Nurses)

After we finished going through the Museum of American History we found a delicious dinner at Elephant and Castle, a great Irish restaurant downtown DC.  Then we headed back over to the National Tree, hoping it would be a lot prettier at night than it is during the day.  It's not.  It's an ugly green tree they threw a net over... 

We tried to get closer to the tree for pictures and to the White House to take pictures at night with all the Christmas decorations but we were told the street was shut down for the time being.  We asked when it would be open again and the Secret Service officer told us he didn't know.  I think he was lying but regardless, we decided to head back to the metro.  About 5 minutes after we started walking back, we saw Marine One fly overhead, bringing the President back from the Army/Navy game he had been to earlier in the day.  No wonder the street was closed!  We didn't think it was worth walking back to the White House because it was really crowded with everyone trying to see the tree up close so that was it for the night.  Pretty cool to see Marine One though, even if it was dark out!

(This is what Marine One looks like during the day, found this pic on the internet-we saw it when it was dark though so I didn't get any good pictures of it)