The Smithsonian, Snow, Studying and Shindigs: Daniel Came to Visit Me!

Last week at work I spent more time on very similar projects to what I had already been working on but it was difficult to stay concentrated on work since Daniel was coming to visit at the end of the week. He arrived on Friday evening and we took a walk around the National Mall. The weather stayed cool and manageable and we saw most of the monuments. I finally got a chance to take a closer look at the MLK memorial with less people around which made me like it even more. The quotes were interesting and some were still very relevant today. The Lincoln Memorial was our final stop on the walk and as we were descending the steps a couple got engaged! There was a large middle school group nearby and they showed their approval of the engagement with cheers and clapping. We arrived back in the area of the UCDC center and ate dinner at Nando's which was just as good the second time as the first.

On Saturday we walked to the Old Post Office. This is the best alternative to going up in the Washington Monument (which is currently closed due to the recent earthquake). The views were fantastic from the top, according to the National Park service we can see 10 miles in each direction. I enjoyed getting a new perspective of all the buildings I had been seeing from the ground. Apparently Donald Trump has purchased this building and plans to convert it into a luxury hotel. Currently it is a large space vastly underutilized and costing the city lots of money so hopefully the hotel can save the city some money and beautify the building. Next, we visited the Jefferson Memorial--my first time this trip! It seemed easy to walk there but we had a moment of doubt when we appeared to be walking on the highway that we may be going the wrong direction. Luckily we were right on track and arrived at the Memorial. This is definitely one of my favorites. I liked looking over towards the Mall from across the basin and I got a chance to admire the geese hanging out by the water. We walked back to the Mall en route to a museum when snow started falling. The wind really picked up and we experienced more of a snow assault than snow fall. We sought shelter in the National Museum of American History and took a look at the Victory garden from inside the Museum. We had some food and apparently they use some vegetables from the garden in their dishes. How resourceful! We took a look at several exhibits but the notable highlights were the Philadelphia ship and the First Ladies Dresses. We finished off the evening back at my apartment where some friends were hosting a crepe party and my roommate had made a tasty cauliflower dish.

We spent most of Sunday in Georgetown and walked all the way there which is a few miles each way. We made a stop at Baked and Wired and had an awesome cupcake and spent some time over by the water which was really cold but a nice sight to see. We also wandered around Georgetown University more than I had ever before. Unfortunately this was Daniel's last day here so he had to catch a plane back home but not until after a long metro fiasco where the line we needed to take was running on a different track than usual and it took us about three times longer to reach the airport than it would have without any delays. He made his flight and also returned safely home.

This week at work I have been wrapping up some things for a program taking place in Michigan in April. I printed and cut some of Lewis and Clark's sketches out and created my own lesson plan having to do with the Native American Indian tribes that Lewis and Clark met along their trail. It was a new challenge that I had never experienced before and it isn't 100% complete yet but I still have something to show for it. Today I attended a lecture on facilities management at the Smithsonian which was pretty interesting. I learned about how they dealt with the damage from the earthquake and also a pipe burst incident at the American History Museum when President Obama was visiting.

The rest of my week will be focused on working on the rough draft of my research paper and anticipating the arrival of my parents who will be visiting for the weekend. Looks to be an interesting and fun next few days!