Yesterday the power went out in the hotel (even though it had power during the storm) on a day that, according to the news, broke 1000+ records for high temperature, including our hotel area (washington dc) and they declared a state of emergency. We survived (staying in the hotel all day), and just before we went to bed, the power came back on.

Today we swam in the hotel pool (which was closed the previous day due to the power outage) then took the metro to georgetown where we ate dinner. while waiting for a boat tour, we ran through a fountain (as many other kids were doing, picture below). When the boat finally arrived, it turned out they only took cash (not credit cards), so we took a bus and the metro to the hotel.

Yesterday we took a tour of the Capitol. We walked through an underground tunnel to the Capitol, stood at the center of Washington D.C. (picture group 2), saw the original supreme court,went inside the Capitol dome (picture group 3,4),saw the original supreme court and senate,and witnessed the house voting (unfortunately no cameras were allowed). When we left the Capitol, we went to the national gallery of art (picture group 6). We then went back to camp, and had almost fallen asleep when we heard sirens and another loud noise, when the camp police came near our campsite, we asked him what it was. He said that there was a storm with 50-90 MPH winds approaching. We quickly packed and locked the trailer and drove the car to a nearby hotel (leaving the trailer at the campsite in case the storm struck before we arrived). Just as we got to the hotel, it started to rain and we saw lightning in the distance. We checked in and took the stairs too our room (the power went out for a few seconds during the time we would have been in the elevator (if I hadn't thought of that and taken the stairs))
The next day we were worried that the trailer (still in the campground) was destroyed. Unfortunately our trailer was in the last place in the loop so we had a lot of time to see the damage that the storm had done (blowing down trees and destroying tents). In fact, the campground was closed because of the damage and because there is scheduled to be another storm tonight. When we finally arrived at our trailer we were relived to find it intact (picture group 7-end) although one large branch either barely missed the trailer or hit it and slid off(seen in pictures). We then took the trailer to a new camp area (a picnic area used as a campground substitute for today)

Yesterday we went back to the zoo to see the orangutans live demonstration (of their intelligence). Unfortunately it was cancelled for that day (why today?!) so we saw another demonstration of mole rats (which are not actually moles or rats, and live underground in colonies), we also got photos of other animals(group 1). We went to the American Art Museum and saw a exhibit on the War of 1812(picture group 2). We then listened to a presentation about the art of video games(picture group 3)(not to be confused with the art in video games)

Today we went to the Supreme Court to hear the decision on health care. We were interviewed by 3 news stations (KCRA, Voice of America, and a radio station that didn't say their name). We then went to the Post office museum, followed by the Hirschhorn Art gallery(picture group 4,5)

On Monday went to the spy museum, where we were not allowed to take pictures ( as we learned after our first (first group below)) in the museum it had a test at the ginning and end to remember the information on your particular character as well as information on the history of spying.

We then went to the Smithsonian art museum (conveniently located directly accross the street) to see an exhibit on the art of video games, Where we saw games from a recreation of Pac-Man (the game system was so basic (more basic than the original, it only had one sixteenth (4kB) the memory of the original game) that there was only one ghost at a time (blinking rapidly between ghosts) and the collectible dots looked like walls) to modern Xbox 360, wii, and play station games (and everything in between). While the we saw a game even my mother liked (called flower, for play station 3, hopefully she will get a play station for that game)!

The next day (yesterday) we went to the national zoo (picture groups 2- end, below)

Yesterday we went to more museums. We first saw an exhibit on life of the early seas. Next we went to an exhibit on the origins of man. I liked seeing the different branches of human evolution, how they were different and how they evolved (homo erectus -one branch- lived almost two million years, nine times longer than homo sapiens (us) have been around!) Next we went to the Air and Space museum. I liked the interactive exhibits on the effects of thrust, weight, lift and drag on flight (although I knew everything already). When we left we took the metro back to our car, got dinner (spaghetti bolognese) and went back to our camp, where my mom tried to convince the camp host to clean the restrooms.

Today we briefly went to the natural history museum, followed by the Washington monument and world war 2 memorial. Our final stop of the day was the air and space museum.

edit: missing photo added

The day started off badly. I spent an hour on yesterday's blog but when we went to a cafe with wifi (so it would post faster) the (weebly iPhone) app closed and I had to start over from the beginning which took another hour. When we finally got started, we took the metro to the Smithsonian museum of natural history, where we spent the day. While there we saw fossils of ancient sea life(picture group 1), dinosaurs,and mammals(also group 1), as well as modern insects(picture group 3). Later, while we were eating, there was a thunderstorm and I got slightly ensoggied (wet) on the way to the car. When we got back to camp it was still raining so we retreated into the trailer.

Yesterday we saw the Natural Bridge (picture group 1) and then we went by an old mill (picture group 2). We then drove through the Shenandoah National Park. We went to the Greenbelt Park campground near Washimgton D.C.at which point it was too late to write the blog.

Today we went to Washington D.C. by subway and walked near the White House. Although I was melting from the heat we managed to get photos of the White House and the Washington Monument (picture group 3). After this we went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History (picture group 4-6) where we ate and then looked at exhibits on inventions of technology and other things. We had dinner at a restaurant and then returned to camp where we took pictures of the fireflies (group 7, taken with I phone app slow shutter cam).