The O'Briens: Honeymooning: Bring out the Umbrellas!

This morning we woke and again partook of a most wonderful and free breakfast! When we went back to our room G suggested we snuggle for "five minutes" before we starting to getting ready for the day. Our "five minute" snuggle quickly turned in to a morning nap! TWO hours later we woke up quite refreshed, but a little disappointed we had wasted so much valuable sightseeing time. We quickly got ready for the day and headed out by one o'clock. To our dismay the weather had turned from sunny and warm, to cold and rainy. Luckily I packed our umbrella! Our first stop was to the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. However, all the tours for the rest of the day had been filled. Feeling disappointed, we walked all the way back across town to the Museum of Natural History. By the time we made it to the Smithsonians my hair was frizzy and my shoes were drenched! We had to wait in a 20 min. line before we could even get into the museum. (apparently everyone had the same idea as us: get indoors and out of the rain!) The Museum of Natural History was so cool! We saw dinosaur bones and animals from all over the world! One of the cooler exhibits had a real mummy! The museum had a special 50th anniversary display for the Hope Diamond. That rare blue diamond is over 45 carats! Needless to say I left that exhibit with sparkles in my eyes!! We spent a good two and half hours at the Natural History Museum. Next on the agenda was the Museum of American History. This is a MUST SEE for any DC trip!! It was so interesting and fun to walk around and see all that we have accomplished as a country. We saw Dorothy's Ruby Slippers, C3PO, The Star Spangled Banner, Julia Child's kitchen and so much more! My favorite exhibit there was the inaugural dresses from all the first ladies. They even had one of Martha Washington's gowns! G really like the 'Americans at War' exhibit. It detailed all of the wars Americans have served in and showed models of all the planes they flew, the uniforms they wore, the weapons they used, etc. etc. In the Vietnam section of that exhibit we were able to find all the planes his Grandpa flew. We really appreciated the September 11th since it was the first conflict G and I actually remember. We had so much fun there we stayed until closing, we were among the last few people to leave the museum. Still very cold and rainy we started our search for place to eat dinner. Little did we know that most restaurants in DC apparently close quite early!! It was only 7:30 and every place we passed was closed! On a Friday night! So cold, tired, and hungry we headed back to the hotel. The front desk gave us a list of places we could try that were in walking distance. We decided to try the 21st Amendment Bar and Grill, since it was only a five minute walk from our hotel. It was DELICIOUS!! We headed back to our hotel with full, warm bellies and smiles on our faces!