Day 11- 3rd May - Washington DC area

It rained today so at Jim's suggestion we did the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Annex at Dulles Airport and then as a bonus did a bit more. Quite a bit more, it ended up being a very good day.

We headed off just a bit after 8:00am and stopped at Dunkin Donuts for brekkie.

At 10:00am we were at the Smithsonian after working our way through DC traffic. $15 to park, free entry.

This display is just awesome - there must be 100's of aircraft with some real history. Too many to go through but I guess the highlights are a Boeing 707, an Air France Concorde and a Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the Enola Gay - this is the plane that dropped the first atomic bomb, code-named "Little Boy", on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. There is even a Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird, the fastest plane ever which flew at 2,124 mph and when flown on its last flight in 1990 took just 64 minutes to get from LA to Washington DC.

This museum is a must for any aviation buff. There are planes on the ground, hanging from the ceiling - very impressive display.

It was originally intended that we would head back to the hotel after the Smithsonian but Jim suggested that we head into DC and check out the Pentagon Memorial.

We ended up having lunch at the Hawk and Dove, an old time Capitol Hill power lunch/bar that used to be Jim’s hangout when he lived/worked in DC.

Then on the way out of town, we did a photo op at the steps of the Capital Building and then stopped at the National Archives, We found a parking spot right out front so dashed inside and we got to see the Constitution, Declaration of Independence and other documents.

Jim really is the best tour guide, he lived in DC for years and what he doesn’t know is not worth knowing.

Lastly, we stopped at the Pentagon Memorial; this memorial honours the 180 plus people who were killed there on 9/11. I was there last year with Scott but wanted Rayls to see it. You can see the reconstructed part of the building, the marble is different, and hasn't aged. Each person killed is represented by a bench and there is a little reflecting pool underneath each one.

On the way back to the hotel we did a Wal-Mart stop and dinner at IHOP.

Thanks to Jim and Bette for doing so much for us and special thanks to Jim for doing his blog before mine so I could cheat off his.

Another good day – tomorrow we will do our DC walk.

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