Jenkins Family Road Trip Day 3, July 3

Sunday, we were more rested and decided to go to Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. It was also a learning curve for us to figure out the subway system in D.C. While waiting for our train I wanted to get a shot of Dave and the kids. Took a bit, but I managed to get one nice one. WooHoo!!!!

And in 0.2 seconds it went to this. Knew it was too good to last. *sigh*

After a bit of a walk in the D.C. heat, we think its hot here right now, nothing compared to D.C. in July. They had people selling bottled water everywhere. Some people you wondered where they got their water. I think this time of year D.C. sells more bottled water than souvenirs.

But I am side tracked once again, we arrived at the Air and Space Museum and Dave was just a little excited.

One of the first things Dave wanted to take the kids to was all the space exploration artifacts. He was like a kid in a candy store. It was fascination seeing the Apollo 11 pod, and to see where the astronauts actually sat, you cannot be an astronaut and claustrophobic. They are sitting in such tiny spaces during flight. I had Daniel stand next to it to give an idea of the size. My camera had a hard time picking it up, but you could see the damage it sustained while re-entering the atmosphere.

Of course there was a Hubble Test Telescope, and no Dave was not allowed to take it home. One large telescope is enough, and besides we have no room and I draw the line at one sky shed in my backyard.

They also had an entire section on the Wright Brothers outlining their life stories, and all the incredibly hard work they went through to build the first aircraft that actually flew. Turns out their father didn't have a handy or technical bone in his body, they learned from their mother who loved to tinker around herself. They were very close to their sister Katherine who travelled with them after they become famous.

Here is the Spirit of Freedom in which Steve Fossett few around the world in. A little too small for my tastes in travel.

Amelia Earhart's Lockheed plane that she flew across the Atlantic and nonstop across the U.S. in. Along with a jacket of hers and flying goggles.

Dave was excited to see this. Apparently this is a full scale engineering test model of Voyager. I believe a couple were sent to explore Saturn, Jupiter, and Uranus. I will have to ask Dave to verify if my memory is correct.

After a long day we headed back to our hotel and while waiting for a table to free up at the Open City Restaurant across the street. I decided to play with my camera and take some photos of the passing traffic.

This particular road was closed due to construction, yet we never ever saw any workers working on said road the whole week, and they had a police officer there at all times "guarding" the do not enter area. At first we couldn't figure out why they needed 24/7 police presence at a road that is barricaded incredibly well, you would almost need a tank to get through the barriers. But witnessing some really really bad drivers turning on a red, trying to turn down the street (I have NO idea how the missed the giant illuminated "DO NOT ENTER" sign with the police and flashing lights) we understood.

Open City was a wonderful cafe that served home-made dishes at excellent prices. Laura said the cappuccinos there were the best she ever had. But it was always busy, especially on weekends. It appeared it was full of customers from the time it opened at 6 a.m. until it closed at 11 p.m. And all their food was made in house, no pre-made frozen and put it in the oven you get at most places other than fine dining.

We ended up eating breakfast there as often as we could. Their veggie Rancheros omelet was amazing, and portions were generous. Daniel loved their Buttermilk waffles of course.