Seeing (A Few of) the Sights: Washington, D.C.

     The day began as many do: by picking a direction once I'd left my door. I found my way to the Capitol, but all photos taken there are horribly backlit by the rising sun, so we're pretending they didn't happen. I proceeded to randomly wander the town. I checked out the shops in Union Station (because that's where the Taco Bell is) and picked up my Metro card. I was in the building for a solid 10 minutes before I realized I'd been there before the last time I was in D.C.
     I did some shopping for a thing or two at the D.C. Walmart. Architecturally interesting, that one is. With the temperature as crazy as it was, I headed for a gelato shop to check one of the things off my D.C. Bucket List. Along the way, I found a Naval Lodge (Two posts, everybody. It took two posts for this to get Masonic).

I wanted to try Earl Grey Tea gelato, because I've heard amazing things. They didn't have the exact flavour, but I got Black Tea ice cream. It was good, but missing the bergamot that makes life worth living. I wound my way around the Eastern Market, a church or two, and several residential neighborhoods. Got some cool shots of East Capitol Street leading up to the Capitol; inspired me to try and find the vantage point from the NCIS intro, but I haven't done that yet.


As the day wore on, I became aware of an exhibit going on that was to end this weekend. Since I figured certain localities will be packed over the weekend, especially with the holiday, I thought I'd check it out now. So I headed for the Metro.

From the bottom of an escalator that went on for years.

Here's a trash puffin. It's maybe 8 or more feet tall made
100% out of beach trash, from shoes to kids toys, plastic
bottles, nets, etc. 

The exhibit was one on plastic pollution in the ocean and subsequently on beaches, a topic I'm really interested in ("Washed Ashore"). An artist had collected both tons and tonnes of trash from beaches and made them into sculptures of animals whose lives were endangered because of this pollution. The pieces were being shown around the National Zoo, so I wandered as I checked 'em out.

 Several of the enclosures have these large, squat, metal cylinders next to them. This one happened to be next to the Red Panda enclosure. It's actually a giant ViewMaster with facts about the animals, their habitats, and the scientists who study them. And I got to pet the fur of a Red Panda. Double win.




Nothing introduces the photo here quite like --> this. There was even a traffic jam in one of the little tubes, as a baby naked mole rat was napping in it and its tiny siblings had to crawl all over it to get to the salad.

I know some "screaming hairy armadillos."

I initially misread this as "Aliens Swamp Monkey." The
correction was disappointing. 

"Keep off of the Dinosaur" is why Uncle Beazley and his triceratops
kind are the second greatest dinosaurs. #skybaxforever #pterodactylsrule

     And with that my feet were sufficiently tired of being used so ill, so I returned back to my room having spent almost a solid 12 hours out and about exploring. My wanderings added several things to my to-do list, so I've got some new attractions, exhibits, and monuments to which to look forward!