This past Friday we packed up our bags and hit the road for our Nation's capitol! Our good friends Ben and Jackie Tingey, live in Alexandria Virgina, which is just a stone's throw away from D.C. They graciously let us stay with them, and act as our tour guides.
We got in around 8pm, and then we headed to the Tingey's favorite frozen custard place called The Dairy Godmother. It was a nice yummy treat! We got back to their apartment and chatted for awhile then it was off to bed! Ben slept great, but for some reason I woke up at 4:30am, and couldn't fall back asleep! I was excited when Ben's alarm went off at 6:30am- someone was awake with me now! For breakfast Tigger (Ben Tingey) made us a feast. We had deliciously nutritious scrambled eggs, cream of wheat, AND smoothies! After we were all ready we were off to the temple (the main purpose of the trip)! We have the privilege of being in the same temple district as the Tingeys! The Washington D.C. Temple is beautiful! And really big! It was great to go back to the temple, and on our way out the Tingey's ran into the man that sealed them a year and a half ago! Crazy!
After the temple, we went home and changed and walked down the street to a little Chinese restaurant. The food was pretty good (we were all starving), but definitely not as good as Saigon Cafe (in Provo). From there we walked to the Metro Station. Tigger was very good at navigating us through all the stops and whatnot- we would have been lost if it wasn't for him! Here are some pictures of us waiting for the Metro.
Our first stop at the National Mall (no- it isn't a real mall, don't worry I asked) was the Museum of Natural History Smithsonian. Now, if you want to attract a lot of attention, here is what you do- get pregnant, and trying going through a metal detector at the Smithsonian. The nice man checking bags didn't let me go through the metal detector, he directed me to the side. Confused, I did as directed, and a second guard, a middle aged black woman (named Cheryl) said to me, "Now what's wrong wit you??"
Me: I don't know!
Cheryl: There's nothin' wit you, is there?
Me: (getting really confused) No!
Cheryl: When are you due honey?
Me: In February
Cheryl then went on to tell us how she has a million kids, so she knew what the guard did. Because some pregnant women get scared to go through metal detectors (thinking they are x-ray machines), some polite men just let the expecting mothers go around. She then told us how she
always has to tell them that their babies are not made out of metal so they will be just fine walking through. I'm sure we would have heard her whole life story if we wanted her to. Instead we got the run down on how one of her daughters got her name, how she has 10 kids, how she can tell an Amish house from a modern one (secret is the Amish use candles, not lights), and then she even predicted for us that we were going to have a healthy baby boy. We told her she was right, it is a boy. She looked shocked and then said, "oh well you know how I know? Because you're all big out front. Turn around for me." So I did 360 for her and she told me that I was spreading a little, but definitely it was a boy because of the way I was carrying. We all thought this was pretty hilarious, and I wasn't quite sure how I felt about a stranger telling me I was "spreading" (whatever that means). At the end of this nice 10 minute visit with the security guard, her last comment to us was that we needed to bring our baby boy back there so that he can be part of the Smithsonian family. So there you have it. Our unborn child is already a member of the Smithsonian family. :-)
We went and saw 4 exhibits: The Ocean, Mammals, Dinosaurs, and Geology. Half way through the Mammals exhibit I hit a wall. My body was hurting everywhere, I was waddling instead of walking, and I was exhausted. We didn't spend much time in the Dinosaur exhibit- Tigger said he was satisfied he just got to see his T-Rex. The Geology exhibit was pretty cool- this one was Ben's favorite.
The Ocean
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| A Right Whale named Phoenix |
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| Double tusked Narwhale |
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| Ben getting eaten by a Great White Shark |
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| The Tingey's had the same fate... |
Mammals
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| The only picture I took in this exhibit.... |
Dinosaurs
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| Tigger's T-Rex |
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| The entrance |
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| This is where we had our chat with with Cheryl |
Geology
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| An emerald and diamond necklace... pretty. |
I was feeling pretty pooped by the end of our Museum trip, so we only walked to the middle of the the National Mall and took pictures from there. We even had our picture taken from guy promoting Non-profit organizations.
By the time we got back to the Tingey's apartment, I was sooooo tired. I felt like I had ran a marathon or something! But we packed up our stuff and hit the road again. We made it back to State College on all back country roads winding through the Appalachian Mountains... It was pretty hilarious. My GPS navigator on my phone picked the route for us.
We had a great time and can't wait to go back and see more!
