Fourth of July in Washington, DC!

It seemed a little crazy, to head into the capitol city when hundreds of thousands of people would be there.  But it also seemed like a good story to tell, to be there with the crowds, cheering our patriotic cries.  We took the metro, meandered around The Mall, took a peek inside the Museum of Natural History to whet our appetites for future visits, and claimed our piece of grass for the fireworks.  It was a great day.

The metro runs both underground and above.

I was pleasantly surprised how much green space surrounded the Capitol and The Mall in general. 

It was ridiculously hot.
We had to stop every five minutes for  a drink.
Soon we were pouring our water into our hats and onto each other.

Yep.  This is what hot looks like.

This was a neat exhibit - The "Newseum" had outside a long display of the front page news from newspapers all around the world.  Very interesting.  They change it every morning.  I'd like to spend a good chunk of time inside.  It's a museum all about News!

The Smithsonian Castle.

Claiming our little piece of grass!  Many, many people,
but all cheerful and summer-adventurey.
The temps were much better at this point, too. The people sitting
next to us were from the Pacific Northwest, too!
We shared our watermelon.

 

It was a great fireworks show and we all ooohed and aahed with the thousands and thousands of others.  Getting back to our metro was ridiculously crowded with people, but so crowded that  everyone was kind and relaxed, knowing that there was no way we could get through so we might as well wave at the helicopters and start up conversations with the folks pushed up against our right side.  I saw one family hesitate at the top of an escalator since their daughter was in a wheelchair, but before they could even think the question, "how?", three men were picking up the chair and helping get the family down. We were home around 12:30 am.  With a story to tell.  We've been to DC for the Fourth of July.