The wife and I had to get passports for an upcoming trip to Switzerland, and we took books. Because we made the decision to go late in the scheme of things, and I took my time getting around to it even after that point, we had to go to the passport office in DC instead of risking doing everything by mail last minute.

She is working on Atlas Shrugged and I took along The Demon-Haunted World and Better to Never Have Been.

The upside, we were in and out in less than 45 minutes. The downside, we had to pick them up two days later. No reading was done.

So this is the modern equivalent of making your guests sit through a slide show of your vacation. The advantage you have, you can close the window (or tab).

We went to the American History Museum, Natural History Museum, whipped through the Space Museum and ended at the Freer Museum. Below I’ll post a few photos from each and sparse commentary.

AMERICAN HISTORY

Ida Loves Frankie (but not as much as Dracula)

I wish I could reproduce the lab as my living room.

Scopes trail display…

On “interactive” display was titled “What do you think driving will be like in the future?” Visitors would write or draw on paper (they’d run out) and drop it in through a slot. and staff would pin up ones they wanted to highlight.

This is one they wanted to highlight, "THERE WILL BE NO MORE CARS & PEOPLE WILL ALMOST BE EXTINCT..."

NATURAL HISTORY

Cephalopods, ATTACK!

A reproduction of the Code of Harramubi stele

• If any one ensnares another, putting a ban upon him, but he can not prove it, then he that ensnared him shall be put to death.

• If any one brings an accusation against a man, and the accused goes to the river and leaps into the river, if he sinks in the river his accuser shall take possession of his house. But if the river proves that the accused is not guilty, and he escapes unhurt, then he who had brought the accusation shall be put to death, while he who leaped into the river shall take possession of the house that had belonged to his accuser.

• If any one brings an accusation of any crime before the elders, and does not prove what he has charged, he shall, if a capital offense is charged, be put to death.

• If a Builder builds a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built falls in and kills its owner, then the builder shall be put to death.(Another variant of this is, If the owner’s son dies, then the builder’s son shall be put to death.)

• If a man give his child to a nurse and the child dies in her hands, but the nurse unbeknown to the father and mother nurses another child, then they shall convict her of having nursed another child without the knowledge of the father and mother and her breasts shall be cut off.

• If any one steals the minor son of another, he shall be put to death.

• If a man takes a woman to wife, but has no intercourse with her, this woman is no wife to him.

• If a man strikes a pregnant woman, thereby causing her to miscarry and die, the assailant’s daughter shall be put to death.

Native American, European and African skulls... what, there's a difference?

We bought tickets to the IMAX 3D movie "Deep Sea 3D". It was totally awesome until I fell asleep. Really. I'm getting old. Fuck. I now have more appreciation for my father.

The lamest interactive exhibit, ever.

Time to relax

While I took this video, an employee was going over a handbook for a new hire. He discussed the section “How to deal with questions about evolution”. He said how you must be tactful, but in no way do they equivocate when it comes to the reality of evolution. It seems there’s a FAQ type section here… help employees answer questions like “If the earth is only 6,000 years old, how can what you said be true” and “You are a liar, and an anti-christ!”

Our take on it...

Hope I can believe in, all others pay cash

Warning, this is what $20 will get you at the Nat. Hist. Mus. Cafe.

We came a week too soon!

First edition On the Origin of Species

Skulls are awesome…

AIR AND SPACE

Ida is more of a space nerd than I am.

Comforting illustration of a Near Earth Asteroid.

Ida was incapable of taking more than two steps out of the gift shop before ripping open her Space Ice Cream. In all seriousness, I can't tell if the museum was just an excuse to get freeze-dried neopolitan.

Hail to you Lindbergh!

FREER GALLERY

All I wanted to do here was sit in the Peacock Room for a while. I first saw photos of this on teh internets a few years ago and was just awed. I dunno what about it strikes me so, but it does. I enjoyed just sitting in it. It was the last stop before getting back into the car and driving home and that was perfect.

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3. San Fransisco, Sacramento – Art, Bowling