Second Day in DC: Columbia Heights, Sculpture Garden, Natural History Museum, American History, Columbia Heights, Ivanhoe, and Dinner with PC friends.

We laid about for a little bit then made the not at all far walk to Columbia Heights so I could see this area. Many of my friends say this is their favorite area in DC and I can see why. We grabbed an empanada and headed to the Sculpture Garden area to wait for Dave. Although a little chilly it was a nice day to just sit and look.

Once all together we made our way to the Natural History Museum. Alicia’s cousin decorated the Christmas tree and it was so fun to see all the owls. Not wanting to make Dave and Alicia endure the museum I chose to go at the museum alone. The coral reef display was the coolest thing ever and I want it in my house, the hope diamond is huge, the rock/mineral area is humongous, and the bone display was a little strange with cool forensic information.


It blows my mind the amount of wealth the Smithsonian has. With 16 free modern museums that are all professional and competitive I can only imagine the money that has been given / donated / budgeted.

After my quick stop I headed to the American History Museum. I was a little bummed that not all the exhibits were open but I got to see the First Lady’s dresses throughout history. What a random tradition the U.S / museum has. Also, I love popup books.

I took the long away back to the Metro pausing for stamps in my National Parks Passport, to look at the Washington Memorial, and see hundreds of Santa’s on the Mall. Still haven’t figured out why they were there. Who knew you could go to the top of the Memorial for free?

Once back at Alicia’s I met her housemates and got to do some reading in my book. I decided to read the classic Ivanhoe and have been loving it!

We made our way back out around 7 to meet up with Josh and Blake from Peace Corps. We met at this little modern Vietnamese place. The place was new and seemed to be doing well. The kitchen was little backed up so they brought us out some wings, and also tossed in another bottle of wine for the table. It was great to see everyone and after a few ours it was time to call it a night.