007 in D.C.

When we talked with Hannah-Marie and the Heinisch children about what they wanted to do when we were in D.C. everyone gave us ideas of exhibits, memorials and museums that they had visited before and liked.  HM suggested one, however, that none of us had been to - The International Spy Museum.  We didn't know what to expect, but were excited to try something new.  It opened at 10 a.m. this morning and we were there with the early morning crowd.

We started on the top floor with our secret identity and traveled through exhibits learning all that we needed to know to become a spy.  There was a lot of history intertwined with the exhibits of spy necessities - fake pens, false bottoms in suitcases, etc.  This year additions were made to include memorabilia from the James Bond movies.  Those have always been favorites of Doug and the boys.  Thus, we really enjoyed the cars, the posters, the weapons, the outfits and discussing our favorite villains and Bond girls.

Right across the street from the Spy Museum was the National Portrait Museum.  This was new to us as well and we decided to walk through it.  I loved it as they had portraits of each President.  We had fun asking Brett about his favorite Presidents and his least favorite ones.  There was a lot of debate after that.  We were close to the gift shop near Ford's Theater and the Hard Rock Cafe, so we made those our next stops.  Everyone found a souvenir or two and Cal even purchased a Donald Trump chocolate bar.  We had to wait for a table at Hard Rock.  That was ok with us as it gave us time to sit down or walk around and enjoy the displays.  The food was delicious and filling.

Our next stop was the American History Smithsonian.  We had just been there in April, but I could walk through the exhibit showcasing the First Lady's dresses and china every month.  It was fun picking out the ones that we would love to have and the ones that didn't quite fit our style.  We made sure to see The Start Spangled Banner and the Bert and Ernie puppets before we left.  There was supposed to be a Smithsonian Festival today, but it was rained out.  That was ok with us as we walked to the White House instead and had plenty of time to walk all the way around it.  While we were there we took pictures on both sides of it and we also enjoyed looking at the Dwight D. Eisenhower building.  We hadn't seen it on our last trip and it was impressive.

We made it back to the hotel for the evening reception.  The snacks and drinks were different than Wednesday night, but just as good.  Brett was ready to go back to his apartment after that.  He had packed everything that he had in D.C. that he would not need for the next month.  Doug drove him home so that he could pick all of it up.  Brett will now be able to fly home and not worry about shipping everything home.  Once Doug got back, he, Meg, Cam and I walked to get ice cream.  The closet place was in China Town.  The ice cream was good, but I didn't particularly care for China Town.  Brett said that I am not alone in feeling that way.