DC: Week 3

This was a busy week for touring! MLK day was a fun adventure for us in that we hit the National Museum of Natural History, the National Aquarium, the Jefferson Monument, the FDR Monument, the new MLK monument and . . . saw Mission Impossible 4 on the Smithsonian IMAX theater! It was a great holiday and a neat time to be in DC.

When we go to the Mall we have found it is the fastest to just walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. Each time we walk by the President's house. Yesterday there was a Catholic group saying "Hail Mary" at the fence over and over, and later a group of protesters with Syrian flags and pictures of Hitler. Pretty interesting house guest I reckon.

I really love the Washington Monument. We learned this week that each state donated a stone to the statue, and Utah's has inscribed on it "Holiness to the Lord" with a picture of a beehive. I think that is fitting to describe Washington and all he has done for this country.

I had never seen pictures of the Jefferson Memorial. For one reason or another it is not as well known as the Lincoln. It is really beautiful over the small bay that you walk around and I thought this picture was pretty awesome.

The Natural History Museum. Also the venue for "Mission Impossible 4" on the IMAX theater.

The new MLK monument has generated some controversy because of the quotes put on the actual statue. None the less it was neat to be there on the great man's birthday. Many other folks and TV crews felt the same way I think.

Friday we went to the Newseum. It was, perhaps, my favorite one so far in that they had a really neat gallery of all the Pulitzer Prize winning photos, historical newspapers and TV reports, and just really interesting stuff. We went with the class that I go to here at the Barlow Center each Friday.

Saturday we went to the Natural Aerospace Museum and then later in the day we enjoyed a quartet from the Air Force Orchestra at the John F Kennedy Center. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera. But we will be returning there often so I can remedy that problem.

Starting tomorrow is my first full week at my internship. I am enjoying it very much and learning some great skills. It is somewhat of a surreal experience to look out the window and see the towering monuments and dome of the capital, but I am getting used to it. All in all, it has been a great week 3!