Washington National Cathedral

Nick and I heard about an organ concert going on at the Washington National Cathedral and decided it would be the perfect Sunday evening activity. We thought it would be a Catholic church, but it is actually Episcopalian. The architecture of the cathedral is awe-inspiring!

They began building it in the 1930s and it was completed in the 1950s. The traditional pillars, columns, arches and windows were incredibly ornate--we couldn't stop looking at all of the detailed work. It was such a large and expansive building. Neither of us have ever seen a church quite like it.

While we listened to the music, we enjoyed looking through the hymn books and prayer books, learning more about the beliefs and traditions of the Church.

For anyone interested, here are some details about the organ: "The existing organ located in the Great Choir of the Cathedral was constructed by the Ernest M. Skinner & Sons Co. and installed in 1938. As it now stands, the organ contains nine divisions and more than 10,650 pipes. the reverberant acoustics of the Cathedral compliment the sound of the organ, giving it a spacious and majestic character. A height of 100 feet from the marbel floor to the top of the vault and an interior length of 480 feet combine to produce more than five seconds of natural reverberation."

We wanted to take a lot more pictures of the building, but by the time the concert was over it was too dark for most of them to turn out. We'll try getting better pictures another time!

As we were leaving the building, the wind picked up and almost blew my hair off my head! Shortly afterward it started to pour rain. So much for any great exterior pictures :(

Nick and Me in front of the Cathedral.

Nick and me WET in the elevator finding shelter from the storm.

Potomac River

A tree growing out in the middle of the Potomac River!

Nick and I stopped at a park next to the Potomac River on our way back from attempting to go see Mt. Vernon (it was about to close by the time we got there). We had a good time finding some trails to follow down to the river. It was beautiful there.

Me walking through the trees. It's crazy to think that we are only feet away from the highway.

Nick found rocks to skip on the river and tried to teach me. I didn't do very well for the first several attempts, but finally had one success and decided to stop while I was ahead! The picture on the right is of one of Nick's skips--that's why there are multiple splashes!

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Nick and Me standing outside the museum. It is hard to get good pictures of the both of us when we have to rely on a passing stranger to snap the shot--oh well!



Pictures aren't allowed in the museum's exhibits, but here is a picture of the entrance to the building. The architecture of the museum is really unique.

This museum was very well-done. When you enter the permanent exhibit, everyone picks up an identification card that contains a picture and information about a person who lived during the Holocaust. Nick's person eventually made it to the United States while mine was discovered in hiding and died in Auschwitz. It is sobering to enter the museum with real people on your mind.

The exhibit was large--covering three floors. It followed the history of the Holocaust from beginning to end in order and was easy to follow. The displays were informative and they had some interesting artifacts on display. We thought they did a great job with the exhibit and would suggest it to anyone visiting. It did take us about 2 hours to get through the entire thing, but it was worth it.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

The Hirshhorn Museum is a round building with a center courtyard, so it really is like a big donut with windows! The outer ring of each floor displays modern art while the inner ring of each floor houses modern sculpture. I am not particularly educated about modern art, so I don't know that I appreciated the pieces as much as others would, but there were a few that I really liked and it was fun to walk around the sculpture garden.

Museum of Natural History

A--somewhat dark--view of the Museum of Natural History.

The sea life section of the museum was really interesting. It was fun to see some of the extinct sea creatures that were the ancestors of animals we see now. Some were neat, others were really strange!

Nick and me trying to make the same face as the zebras in the background!

Nick enjoyed seeing many of the animals he had seen or heard of on his mission in Chile on display in the South American wing of the museum.


The Hope Diamond in the Harry Winston Gallery. This is the largest blue diamond known to exist. Its weight is 45.54 carats. Can you imagine wearing that thing around? It is surrounded by diamonds and the chain is also set with diamonds. Man did that thing sparkle!

The diamond has an interesting history. If you want to read more about it, visit this website: http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmnh/hope.htm

Here is a picture of me next to an enormous amethyst geode. They are so beautiful!

We loved looking through the geology/gem area of the museum. The crystal and rock formations were fascinating! Nick analyzed the chemical formation while I analyzed the textures and colors--typical!

National Zoo

Here we are at the National Zoo in DC! We were very excited to see all of the animals at the Zoo. We thought that becauase it was the 'National' Zoo we would be seeing some of the most amazing displays of animal life available at a zoo. Well, we were a little disappointed.

It turns out that even though the grounds of the zoo are open until 8:00 pm, they put the really cool animals away at 6:00. Since Nick works until around 4 or 5:00, we got a late start (plus we decided to walk there from the White House--not recommended!) By the time we got there, about the most exciting animals out-and-about were the priarie dogs (which I am looking at). Okay-so we did see a cheetah and red pandas, but that was really it!

We will try back again sometime during the day. They do an octopus feeding Nick is dying to see! Hopefully we'll have some more exciting pictures later.

Nick's Birthday Cake Story

Happy 25th Birthday Nick!!!

I wanted to get Nick an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins for his birthday party. I thought I had seen one close to our apartments, but I couldn't find it (we were without a phone book or internet), so I called Dedee to look it up and help put me in the right direction. The closest one listed was only about 6 miles away, so you would think it would be easy to find. I was doing well until I got to one particular intersection that is the craziest place I have ever driven! there were roads coming in from all directions, stop lights and signs everywhere! Only when it was too late did I finally see the sign for the road I was supposed to be on. After several U-turns and detours, I finally chose the right street from the intersection. Whew! One hour later I finally pulled up to the Baskin Robbins. (Thanks, Dedee, for staying on the phone with me for so long!)

Now that I knew my way, I knew it wouldn't take me too long to get home. I picked out a cake and headed out. I was doing fabulous until I got back to that crazy intersection again! I was still not fast enough to change into the correct lane and headed down the wrong road - again. Another few U-turns and detours later I finally got back on the right road. It only took me 15 minutes to get back to Falls Church!

The grocery store close to our place has a section where you can buy gifts and balloons so I thought I would stop really quickly to pick up a few balloons. The lady at the counter was not very fast at the balloon-filling thing and I was worried that the cake would be melting in the car, but when I got back and looked at it, it looked just fine.

I put it in the freezer right when I got home and it was all in tact. Then, we I got it out for his birthday, it was a mess! One side was completely melted and the top ring of frosting was sliding down the side. Who would have thought that it would be fine in the car, but melt in the freezer? I quickly peeled the frosting from the side and tried to put it back in place, but it was a sad-looking cake! I put on all of the candles and lit them, creating a bonfire!

The funny thing is, though, that I finally found the Baskin Robbins I was looking for . . . in the same shopping center as the grocery store about 4 blocks away!