I’ll apologize at the get-go: there are no photos of the Air and Space Museum, sorry. haha

But it was definitely part of another interesting (and ghastly hot) day — our last full day in the city. We have really enjoyed our stay in DC proper, and our hotel is very pleasant and convenient. In spite of the heat, we really have no complaints (as I sit here at 5:30 a.m., wrapped in a blanket).

I didn’t take this of course, but this gives you a nice perspective on it.

Day Three’s highlight for me was Washington National Cathedral — the 6th largest of its kind in the world.

We wandered through at our own pace on a morning when few tourists were there, for some reason or another. I loved it. There are many chapels in this enormous church, from the ornate to the miniscule (seriously, that’s the entire chapel in that photo).

Staff were cleaning the great altar, part of the tons and tons of marble and Indiana limestone carved into beautiful art throughout the structure.

The beautiful nave

Naturally, my favorite part was the choir, at the front of the huge nave.

We took the elevator up to the observation deck, where you can walk around almost the entire perimeter of the building to see great views of the surrounding cities. On the walls were placards telling the story of the 2011 earthquake that sent parts of the cathedral crashing to the ground below, and precipitating a multi-million-dollar restoration project to secure the structure from any future damage.

It was a hazy, humid day, but across the mist you can see the Washington Monument.

After touring the crypts and the gift shop, we hailed a taxi and headed back to the Smithsonian and had lunch and a tour of the Air and Space Museum. We hoofed it to Capitol Hill and took the tour there, and were a little disappointed to find that all the scaffolding on the outside of the rotunda dome was also present on the inside. Boo. There was some longtime rust that needed to be cleaned and repaired before it became a threat to the beautiful artwork on the ceiling, so they began the work several months ago, knowing that it had to be finished by the upcoming presidential inauguration.

We had planned to go to the White House, but by the time we were done with Capitol Hill and the museum, we were fagged out. So we made our stop for dinner and snacks, and went back to the Mayflower, where we watched a sad, frightening and beautiful documentary on HBO. After that, I read and the Thriller watched the White Sox on the computer.

Today, we pack up and leave for Mount Vernon, and then head out to Shenandoah National Park. I’ll check in with you tomorrow, fiends, hopefully to report that I did *not* come face to face with a bear or a snake. That would totally ruin my day.

ScaredyFink