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April 11, 2015 - 1:02 a.m.
"museums and monuments"

Hey Journal!

Well I am happy to report that the rain did not ruin our day at all. It actually only wound up raining for a very short amount of time and I think we just happened to be inside for most of it!

We got up at 8:15 this morning and made our way downstairs for the continental breakfast! Unfortunately everyone else was trying to get to breakfast before it closed and there were no seats for us! We wound up sitting on a little couch with a TV. We didn't have a table but at least we watched Good Morning America!

I made my own waffle, of course, but not without a little difficulty. The woman who was working the breakfast came over because I couldn't get any batter out of the dispenser. At first she said "it's empty" but then she looked inside to find out that it was not empty. She said, "You broke it." Somehow she managed to make it work again and I was able to made the waffle!

After that we headed back to the room to get ready. We showered up and then Dan and I walked down to CVS with Cameron to get SmarTrip cards for the Metro. They cost $2 but you save $1 on each ride by not having to pay the paper card surcharge!

We got back to the hotel and we had scheduled the shuttle for 10:30. We headed down to the lobby and it arrived. We all piled in and headed down to the Dunn Loring Merrifield Metro Station! I love that station... I don't know why.

We took the Metro to the Smithsonian station and popped up right in the middle of all the action on the National Mall. We walked around and headed towards the Capitol Building. Our first stop was the Air and Space Museum. I think we probably spent the most time in this one, seeing most of the exhibits. There was so weird military band playing at one point... it was craziness.

We had a fun time at the museum but we were all getting hungry so we decided to cross the mall and go to the other side to head towards food. On the way we passed the National Archives and decided to wait on the approximately 20 minute line to get in to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. We got inside, checked out the exhibits, and then had to get on another line to see the documents. It took about 15 minutes and then we checked them out!

By the time we finished there we were all pretty hungry and we went to the Old Ebbitt Grill for lunch. It was about a ten minute walk from the Archives. We got seated out in the back on the "patio" area of the restaurant. I love that restaurant. So does Dan, but for some reason he denied it today. He pretended he didn't even know about it.

I wanted to get a steak but I couldn't find one that I liked so I got the Chicken Parm instead. It was really good.

When we were done with lunch we headed over to the White House. We took some selfies in front of it and stood there for a bit. Oh, that reminds me. We have been really going strong with the selfie stick! I bought it, of course, and we have been using it at every opportunity. We are THOSE tourists! People look, but I know they're just jealous. They wish they had a selfie stick like we do!

After the White House we walked around to the other side, walked up to the Washington Monument, and then we walked to the Museum of Natural History. (A lot of walking!) We spent a while in this museum, too. We checked out all the animals and it was pretty cool. My favorite part was this kid who was doing some sort of school assignment where you had to go sketch the things you saw in the museum. We saw him when we first got there and he was drawing a picture of one of the animals. We hadn't seen his drawing, but later on we ran into him again and this time we saw, full on, his drawings. Wow. They were amazing. They were the craziest WORST drawings ever. I loved it.

When we came out of that museum it was drizzling out and looked like it had rained a lot. Pretty good timing for us!

Next, we went to the Museum of American History. We checked out some of the exhibits there but Lincoln's Top Hat and Kermit the Frog were not present. I don't know what happened to them! We did see the Star Spangled Banner and Dorothy's red slippers.

After that, we walked to the Smithsonian Metro and off we went! When we got back Dan and Dan wanted to get Starbucks but it was closed. It closed at 8:00. We called for the shuttle, got back to the hotel, and immediately left again to go to Target.

Target was great. So big an amazing. They had that amazing cart escalator thing. I wish we had two-story Targets just for that reason.

We got some drinks and snacks and then we looked for a place to eat dinner. We drove past one place but decided against it and wound up at a nearby restaurant called Blackfinn. It was actually very good. We only waited about 5 minutes for a table. I got lasagna for dinner at it was really enjoyable. I would definitely come back. Our waitress forgot to bring Dan's beer but she did give us a free dessert which we all enjoyed.

We had a fun time and after dinner we headed back to the hotel. Now we've just had some drinks and are watching TV. Some crazy show about people who do jump rope competitions?!

Alas, now it's time for bed! Gotta get up at 9:15 tomorrow for breakfast! It goes until 10.

Until tomorrow...

Goodnight. :)