DC Trip, Day Three: I am not an animal!

Funny thing about a sunburn. It quickly turns one into a circus freak when circulating among the common folk — otherwise known as the unmarred complexioned ones. So, aside from still glowing like a mobile nuclear plant when I woke up, I really wasn't in any pain. In fact, I quickly forgot I even had an issue, unless I looked in the mirror, or happened to venture into the line of the sun. Then I felt like a suicidal vampire tempting fate. Um, does anyone else smell burning flesh? But, just about the time I'd forgotten about my burn, I'd quickly be reminded by some museum guide that I should really be wearing sunscreen (gee, ya think?), or informed by a gift shop worker that some people get cancer after such a bad burn (again, thanks ever so much, little miss sunshine!), or my ultimate favorite — the people who would stand behind me and whisper things like, "See? That's what happens when you don't wear sunscreen." People, the sun didn't fry my eardrums. I can still hear you. I'm RIGHT here! I am not an animal!

But, despite all that, I ended up getting to three museums today, starting off at the Museum of Natural History, where I could see my first dinosaur skeleton (holy crap those are big!), the Hope Diamond and the Easter Island Head that I've always wanted to see, among other things.

The cursed Hope Diamond at Museum of Natural History:



Easter Island Head at Museum of Natural History:



Dinosaur at Museum of Natural History:



Mummy at the Museum of Natural History:



Actual skeleton of a Jamestown Settler at the Museum of Natural History:



Then it was next door to the Museum of American History, where I got to see some of the President's inaugural dresses, the history of transportation exhibit, the pop culture exhibit (including Dorothy's shoes from the Wizard of Oz and Archie Bunker's original chair, among others) and an Abraham Lincoln exhibit.

The Seinfeld "Puffy Pirate" Shirt at the Museum of American History:



C-3PO's costume at Museum of American History:



Abraham Lincoln's hat in the Museum of American History:



After viewing the Lincoln exhibit, I headed over to Ford's Theater, where you can see the box seat wear Lincoln was shot. It was amazing to stand in the same theatre where such traumatic history unraveled. After the shooting, Lincoln was carried across the street to a boarding house where he later died.

Ford's Theater:



Ford's Theater - box where Lincoln was shot (note the orb - looks like someone is still watching the show):



Peterson House across street from Ford's Theater, where Lincoln was carried after being shot:



Interior of Peterson House:



Bed at Peterson House where Abraham Lincoln died:



Flowers outside my hotel:



By the time I returned to the hotel, I could barely walk. Seems to be a recurring theme on this trip. But by dinnertime, my roomie Serena and Kelli's roomie Carolynn had arrived. After an Italian dinner out, we came back to wait for Serena's luggage to be located. How the airline could lose one of her two bags on a non-stop flight is beyond me.

Oh well, tomorrow I'm off on a half-day trip to George Washington's Mt. Vernon estate and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (largest Catholic Cathedral in the U.S.).