Count Down

Our last few weeks in Maryland are here and I still have a list of things I want to do before we leave. You would think that in almost two years we have been here I would have seen everything there is to see in D.C. but..... here it is with just about three weeks until we move and I am still trying to see what there is. This past week I marked a couple of things off my list. A have a couple of more of sights- the Bureau of Printing and Engraving and the White House Visitor's Center. 

The girls and I went to the National Arboretum on Friday and then yesterday I went to the National Holocaust Museum in D.C. I have a mixture of feelings and thoughts from the experience. At different points in the museum I felt like throwing up. In other places I was

bewildered. At the end of the exhibit there is a Remembrance Hall and I felt like I was on holy ground. I went by myself and took most of the afternoon. It was a sobering experience. 

Here are some pictures of the National Arboretum. 

If you are in D.C. it was great and worth the trip. 

The azaleas are in full bloom 

and absolutely beautiful. 

They are sisters- they just look very different. Kaley with her dark brown hair, dark brown eyes, and dark complexion. Anna has light brown hair or dark blonde some might say, blue eyes, and fair complexion. Their chins are similar.

These columns used to be at the U.S. Capitol but they now stand in this grassy meadow in the middle of the arboretum. Kaley is at the very bottom of the picture- do you see her? 

The arboretum has an amazing herb garden and bonsai collection. In the herb garden there were different sections displaying various plants arranged by topics such as medicinal, culinary, industrial, etc. I could have spent the whole day there looking at the various plants. 

I always thought Bonsai was a type of tree like Maple or Elm but it is actually a technique or art of growing miniature trees in pots. I thought this was really fascinating. They have a tree there- A Japanese White Pine in training since 1652 (not any of these in this picture). 

End of the adventure and all tuckered out.