Washington D.C. - An afternoon with the scholars and an evening with the snowflakes

Y'all. In case you couldn't tell already, our first full day in DC was crazy busy.  After our Capitol experience, we went to the Library of Congress through the tunnels.

From the second floor of the reading room at the LOC. 

There are two super neat things at the LOC - a Gutenburg Bible and an exhibition featuring Thomas Jefferson's library. If you don't know what the G. Bible is, google it. Lemme tell you about the library. I hate to be repetitive, but it was super neat. The LOC (and a lot of benefactors) is attempting to recreate Thomas Jefferson's personal library.

TJ's library

See those little book marks coming from the tops of the books? It is a coding system. A certain color was the exact book that Jefferson owned, another color was a copy of a book that Jefferson owned, and a third color was for pretend books that TJ was known to possess, but the book is so rare that the LOC hasn't been able to obtain a copy yet. The library that is being replicated are the books that Jefferson sold to Congress after the little incident that happened in 1814. You know, it involved few matches and soldiers wearing red....  That is how historians actually know which titles to find.  See? Super neat.

SCOTUS

When we left the LOC, we made a brief stop at the Supreme Court. To be honest, it just looks like a big courthouse on the inside. The only difference is that there are very few people when it is not in session and it is very clean. No prisoners awaiting sentencing here, no sir.

THEN... We went to the Museum of Natural History! Have you ever seen the animated dinosaur movie 'We're Back?" If so, think 'Museum of Natural History' in the Professor's voice.  Along the way, Matt complained about his feet hurting so much that I had to carry him. For a mile.

Just kidding.

About the carrying, not about the whining.

Anyway.

The Museum was a little disappointing, but Matt and I still enjoyed it. What I wanted to see the most were the dinos. The disappointing thing was how much of the dinosaurs weren't actually dinosaur bones but replicas. I guess I get it, but still. I wasn't prepared.

After catching a cab back to our hotel (I told you that he couldn't hang), we rested for a few minutes then trotted out to dinner.  I don't remember the name of it, but it was one of those super fancy, tiny portions, large prices places. Matt and I got several small plates to try but I don't seem to have any pictures. Probably, I took a picture, but the object was so small that it didn't come out so I just deleted it. The one thing that I did take a picture of was the complimentary sweet bites at the end of the meal. They look full-size in the picture, but don't be fooled. The macaroon was about the size of a quarter. The meal was delicious, but I left feeling hungry and poor. Not the best of feelings.

The best of feelings? Snow. Snow when you don't have to worry about driving or a kid catching a cold or the ickiness that is Louisiana snow. Snow flakes that can be seen lazily drifting down without any rain with them. Snow that falls on your hair and coat collar that is so delightful that you don't even consider brushing it away. Well, since the restaurant was about two miles from our hotel, we did have to brush it away or be collapsed under the weight of it, but you get the idea. It was dreamy.  

After we got back to the hotel and Matt soaked his feet in some Epsom salt and hot water, we crashed. It was like midnight and we'd been up since 4 a.m. to see sunrise with Lincoln. It was like a day in Rome, but with dinosaurs and snow. In short, exhausting yet incredible.