Washington DC - done

We visited DC briefly last summer and always said we would return as we didn't have time to visit the Smithsonian. This time we did a few of the museums but still didn't see everything as you could spend weeks here and only scratch the surface. We were so lucky with the weather too, with bright, frosty days and no rain or snow in sight.

Day 1
First stop - the Castle (otherwise known as the Smithsonian Institution building ). This is now mainly administrative offices and information centre, so a good place to plan our days. Next stop - National Air and Space museum (again) but this time we did the docent tour. They are always knowledgeable and each one has a different story to tell. Our docent was an engineer on the Minute Man 3 missile at Ellsworth airforce base in South Dakota and was so pleased to hear we had visited there. We spent the afternoon seeing new exhibits (and some old ones too) that weren't on display last year.

Day 2
First stop - National Museum of American History and the highlights tour by one of the docents. We cut that short as we wanted to see the newest museum and second stop, the National Museum of  African American History and Culture which was on a timed ticket entry only. It opened in September 2016 which was after our trip to DC last year. It was so well done (and heartbreaking to see in places) with three floors showing the time line from c. 1400 to present day, the slave trade and the struggle for freedom, segregation and civil rights. Two more floors covered visual and performing arts and community.

Day 3
Back to the National Museum of American History for the day and still didn't get to see it all. I liked the display on the First Ladies and their gowns  (well, I am a girl after all). One of the things Mark noticed was that the current First Lady, Melania Trump, doesn't have her maiden name (Knauss) on display. None of the staff had noticed or could explain why, so a question will be put forward to the committee.  Who said Mark wasn't a trouble maker?

In the evening we stopped by the White House to see the national Christmas tree and 56 smaller ones representing each state, territory and District of Columbia

Day 4
We spent all day at the National Museum of Natural History and barely scratched the surface.  I spent nearly two hours in the Gems and Minerals section which I found fascinating and displaying every conceivable colour, shape and texture imaginable.

We saw the Hope diamond and many other large stones

Then there was the natural world, dinosaurs and evolution, including Lucy a 3.2 million year old early human skeleton found in Ethiopia

We walked many, many miles every day which was evidenced by our achibg, throbbing feet, but it was worth it and we're so glad we did it.

Now we're off to Hawaii to relax and chill out...