Washington DC: Day 2

My friend was kind enough to let me ride with him into Fairfax (the closest place to get onto a train). My friend had to go to work by 8 am so I was in DC by 8:30. It was amazingly quiet. There were not many people out and it was just a nice peaceful morning.

I started out by wandering over to the Smithsonian Castle. The castle is actually just the visitor center. There's an introduction video that tells about the museum and what highlights are where. It's definitely a good place to start seeing the museum.

Something I did not realize was that the Smithsonian opens at 10 am. However, the castle opens at 8:30. Since I was there so early I walked around the capitol building and took pictures. It was a very nice morning.

My first museum of the day was the Museum of the American Indian. It was really interesting and informative. The only problem was that it was huge! I wandered the halls and saw the little movie on the third floor and continued to wander. I was there for about 3 hours and maybe saw half of the place. Honestly, I don't think I saw half.

Next on the agenda was lunch. By this time I was starving. I went to check out the cafeteria at the American Indian Museum. It was way overpriced. They were wanting upwards of 15 bucks for an entree. I had to decline. Besides I wanted to get some food from a local place.

Like most animals I decided to return to proven hunting grounds. I went back to the area of Pennsylvania Ave where I ate the previous night. I continued past Good Stuff and went to where the restaurants phased away. I was torn between pizza or burritos. As I was debating I noticed a pub. I like local pubs. I've always had good luck with them, so I decided to go for it.

The Hawk 'n' Dove is a nice and friendly bar. I liked it and will go back when I have the chance to visit DC again. I walked in and was greeted by the bartender. I sat at the bar and asked the bartender what he recommended. I ended up getting a Bell's Two Hearted Ale. It's a hoppy beer and though I don't usually dig hoppy beers, I had three. Lunch consisted of an open faced turkey sandwich. It was good. I definitely needed the fuel to continue on my touring.

After lunch and the beer I headed over to the National Air and Space Museum. This place was huge. I saw the highlights: the Wright Flyer, the Apollo Command Module, and lots of other attractions. They have so much information on flight it's crazy. If you want to see everything, you need at least two or three days to do it. Another highlight was the planetarium. For 9 bucks I got to see their show on black holes. It was interesting, but in my opinion a bit high for what it was.

It was a really good day and a nice introduction to Washington DC. The following day was even more fun.