New Thing #84 - Celebrating 35, 'Merica & Friendship - Day 3

July 3, 2014

We were up relatively early today, since we didn't get too cray cray with birthday festivities. (The cockroach I saw near the kitchen at Elephant & Castle last night might have put a damper on our merriment.) Brenda remembered late last night that she had one last medical test to do before she leaves the country, and it's scheduled for this morning. It worked out okay, because Megan and I planned on going to the National Archives to see the Charters of Freedom. Brenda has seen them about a billion times over the last few months, so she didn't seem to keen on standing in line again.

Not to mention that it's hot as balls out again. How did St. Louis manage to have such gorgeous weather for the holiday weekend, and we essentially got the armpit of the jet stream? Fortunately for us, the wait outside only lasted about 20 minutes, and around half of that was in some kind of shade. Through security we went and up to the Rotunda for our first visit. We had another 15-20 minute wait there before we were allowed in the Rotunda to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

To prolong the life of the documents, it was dark in the Rotunda with no pictures allowed. Some jackwagon should have thought of that years ago when the DOI was displayed for THIRTY-FIVE years exposed to sunlight in the Patent Office Building. I'm glad someone finally realized it's kind of a big deal and thought to make a more permanent home for it that didn't include over-exposure.

The security guard tried explaining to everyone that there was no order in which the documents had to be viewed. You could see them at any point, when a case was mostly empty of people. That didn't stop most people from heading left (myself included) to start at the beginning and work our way around the room in chronological order. I wasn't sure what else was going to be displayed, and I figured I should see the documents in the order they were written. Once I realized the outlying areas were mostly letters and other official looking documents, I headed straight for the DOI, only to find myself wading through a mountain of people all waiting for their glimpse of history.

The Constitution and BOR weren't any better, so I (im)patiently waited my turn. Except no one was really taking turns. As soon as someone tried to leave, eight new people tried to squeeze into that one spot. I eventually gave up trying to be polite, and just went with the flow and made my way in to see the elusive document. It's sad to see it so ridiculously faded, but chances are good that modern technology will preserve it for many years to come.

The Constitution and BOR were much easier to read, and I really enjoyed looking at the handwriting and typography of the documents, as much as I did the actual substance of the text. Such gorgeous type, and it was all done by hand. Impressive.

We stopped to bask one last time in the history we were surrounded by, and gazed at the two giant murals on the walls (which are among the largest single-piece oil-on-canvas murals in the US, fyi), before we left. There was so much more to see in this building alone, but I felt like we came for what we wanted to see (those three documents), so we headed out to meet up with Brenda for lunch. (I didn't realize until after that the Magna Carta was also there, but in a different room. Bummed I didn't get to see that one.)

We did walk by this building, and I was happy we did so. They show the FBI building on Bones all the time. Don't judge me.

Brenda had finished her test early and was grabbing a mid-day brew, so we stopped to grab her for lunch. We happened to run into a very nice bartender who sort of admitted he was a Democrat. I don't think he really felt comfortable labeling his political affiliation, but once we showed him the rules for Birthday Bingo, he happily obliged for a picture.

Fist-bump a Democrat. Check.

Lunch was at Chop't, a ridiculously stressful salad chain. There are about eleventy million different salad combinations, the people behind the counter talked very softly - but moved around at lightning speed - and I had no idea what was going on. I managed to order a salad, which they prepared in front of me, and then "chopped" it up into more bite size pieces before I paid a billion dollars for it. I immediately had buyer's remorse when I finally found the other salad options that seemed more my speed, but it was too late to turn back. I ate my stress-filled salad, which was actually not bad, and stewed over the fact that I was basically owned by an over-priced salad bar. Dammit.

Sadly, it hadn't gotten any cooler while we were at lunch, so our afternoon plans included as many indoor activities as we could manage. First up was the National Museum of Natural History. (Side note: I never knew that was the official name. I always called it the Natural History Museum.) It was obviously packed, but at least it provided a much needed respite from Mother Nature's wrath.

There was no way we were going to see everything this museum had to offer. It was entirely too large, and there were entirely too many stranger kids and stranger teens in our way. We hit the high points, and tried to at least skim each different section. Like yesterday, I was bummed that I didn't see Ben Stiller roaming around the grounds. Although I suppose I should have waited until the night shift…

No Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson or animated skeletons. What a waste. ;-)

That's a full size whale hanging from the ceiling, if that gives you any indication of the size of this museum.

Inappropriate! But it still made me giggle.

What does the fox say?

The Hope Diamond. The picture is blurry, but it was the best I could do with 35 other people trying to take a photo of this as it was spinning. 

I have to admit the skeleton exhibit was equally fascinating and terrifying at the same time.

Kinda cute.

Who knew this was what a turtle's bones looked like?

Seriously creepy.

The lone dinosaur in the exhibit. Which was lame. They're currently expanding this part, but still, I was pretty disappointed.

This was my first documented attempt at photo bombing a tourist. Turns out, I'm pretty terrible at deliberately trying to ruin someone's photos.

So, way back when, I thought I might become an archaeologist and dig up mummies and other such history for a living. That was before I realized I'd have to live my life digging in the dirt, and I figured graphic design was a more suitable major. The reason I took this photo is because the "mummy" exhibition was very disappointing. They have a better collection at the St. Louis Art Museum. Boo.

They do have a mummified cat head though. Put one in the win column for D.C.

It's no T-Rex skeleton, but that's still a big damn elephant.

Second photobombing attempt. Only slightly more successful. I managed to stand there for a few seconds before I moved, but I was very uncomfortable doing so. Dammit, I'm just too polite!

Classic Brenda.

We finished up here, and headed over to the American History Museum (also known as the National Museum of American History) where our first stop was to see the flag that inspired the Star-Spangled Banner. And it was incredibly moving. I had no idea it was that large, and that parts of it had been removed as souvenirs over the years. No photographs were allowed, but if you're ever in D.C. I highly recommend stopping in to see this exhibit. Truly exceptional.

Absolutely loved this art piece. Loved loved loved it. And the flag exhibit was behind this wall. Well done, museum.

After that we moved from floor to floor checking out everything from the dresses of the First Ladies, to Julia Child's kitchen, and the ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz. We didn't come close to finishing the museum before the day got away from us, and we decided to head back home.

Julia Child's kitchen.

There's no place like home. Side note: Judy Garland had small feet.

One of my tasks was to uncover a national treasure. Not really sure how I was going to (legally) do that, so I asked if donating to a national treasure was acceptable. Menda approved.

When we walked outside, the sky looked like this.

Since the sky was looking all foreboding and scary, we made a mad dash to the metro to head back home. On the way, we were all pretty exhausted and made the executive decision to stay in and binge on pizza and movies. The weather forecasted a nasty evening, and what better way to ring in the 4th of July than with a back to back National Treasure and National Treasure 2 marathon. Yes. So much yes.

It never actually rained quite as badly as they predicted, but we had a wonderful night in with lots of wine, pizza and the giggles. I call that a successful night.

I figured out a way to "Uncover a National Treasure". Yes, that's Nicholas Cage in NT. And yes, I'm uncovering the TV. Boom. Nailed it.