Capital under the rain

Day 251
​Washington DC

More drizzle dictates what we do today. Parking is hard to come by near the national mall and we don't want to walk in the rain to make it to the museums. Driving past the national mall we end up scoring a spot on Constitution avenue. A short walk from the Jeep takes us past the department of commerce and towards our first museum.

The first place we spot is the museum of American history. We browse through for a couple of hours and leave the same as we went in. Over the last 8 months we have done so much that this feels like another day. The museum is nice but there isn't anything in here we haven't already seen.

At least there was an entire section in the American history museum dedicated to steam engines and electric generators. This captures a pretty cool point in time in my eyes. Steam power is awesome.

I'll spare you a bunch of photos our the museum. That is something you can go online and see thousands of pictures of. A factor that makes the Smithsonian stand out is that many of the artifacts shown are the real deal. We strolled past Ben Franklin's printing press and some of the original inventions of Thomas Edison. With American history satisfied we headed over to the museum of natural science. This was far less impressive. Mostly stuffed animals and a couple of fake dinosaur skeletons. Less than an hour in there and we were back out in the mall walking to the Jeep.

Since we are this close I suppose a trip to the White House is in order. Unfortunately Pennsylvania avenue was closed down and this was as close as we got. Bummer. 

Not to be deterred from viewing the city we opted to jump across the river and see Arlington National Cemetery. Parking in a garage was great to keep the rain off of us for a little bit. Once past security it was a brisk walk to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 

We arrived in time to see the changing of the guards and bared witness to two separate police officers ceremony. A sobering experience if there ever was one. Dozens of officers in uniform from all different parts of the country were there to pay there respects. A few others showed up with badges hanging in front of there hoodies to say goodbye to people they had never met. It was a silent walk back to the Jeep, and that's ok.