Our visit to DC was punctuated by a series of sparkling gems: wonderful moments and delightful experiences, creating lasting warm memories.
**Treasures of American History Exhibit: The National Museum of American History is currently closed. As a result, 150 exhibits were selected for display at the Air and Space Museum. The size of this exhibit was just perfect. When I am confronted with endless displays, my mind fogs over and my appreciation for individual items fades. This 'just right' sized exhibit showcased iconic representations of our country's past: the original Kermit the Frog puppet, 
R2D2 and C3P0, Dorothy's ruby red slippers, MASH's sign post, a piece of the original plutonium that was used to develop the atomic bomb, and the top hat Lincoln was wearing when he was shot. The final piece, for those of you who have been watching the Colbert Report, was Steven Colbert's portrait moved to this exhibit for just 13 days, after being hung for a short period between the bathrooms in the National Portrait Gallery.
**National Museum of the American Indian: A fairly new museum to the Smithsonian mall is beautifully designed with flowing lines and no corners. We visited the special exhibit of Native Women's Dresses. Initially fascinating, these exhibit included so 
many dresses it soon became repetitive and redundant. The best part of the museum is its superior food offerings at the Mitsitam Native Foods Cafe which offers authentic foods from five different regions of the country. We sampled duck, salmon, flat bread, and a jicama salad.
**The National Zoo: To see the Pandas of course. 
We were fortunate in that the youngest member of the group, 2 1/2 year old, Tai Shan, ran down near the front of the enclosure and then sat down for an extended breakfast of bamboo. We were there early and the crowds had not yet arrived, so we enjoyed a long visit with Tai Shan. My other delight was discovering that the triceratops statue of Uncle Beasley is now on display at the zoo. When my son was young one of the highlights of our visits to D.C. was climbing on Uncle Beasley, who stood guard in
front of the Museum of Natural History. He was removed from the mall over 15 years ago and not available for viewing for a period of time. So I was thrilled to see him once again standing proud for everyone to see, although it is no longer possible to climb on him. Seeing Uncle Beasley brought back warm memories of my son at 4; dinosaur days, building museums of blocks that were populated with an extensive dinosaur collection, carefully separated by their eating habits.
Stay tuned. More to follow.
project. So we located the G.S. trefoil and the magnificent Space Window that includes a piece of moon rock from the Sea of Tranquility brought back by the crew of 
Apollo 11. We also located the head of Darth Vader carved high atop the exterior of the cathedral. Apparently a contest held in 1980 invited children to design decorative sculpture for the cathedral. The third place winner was the head of Darth Vader.
