Something Squirrelly this Way Comes

This past weekend, as I mentioned last week, my folks were in town. We played tourist (well, I played tourist - they actually were tourists) and visited the monuments and toured the museums. We even stopped at the National Zoo which isn't close to The Mall. Thankfully, there's the metro.

It was hot on Saturday and just got hotter and muggier as the weekend went on. My brother was very thoughtful and loaned us a fanny pack that holds two bottles of water. I brought my own 34oz bottle of water. Yet every day, we ran out and had to buy fresh bottles. Icey cold and delicious bottles of water. Mmmmm.

We even managed to get tickets to go up into the Washington Monument on Monday. Ticket office opens at 8.30 and we got there at 7.30, there was already a line. We were still able to pick a time (12.30). We walked from the Wash. Mon. down to the World War II Memorial, Korean War Mem., Lincoln Mon. and Vietnam Mem. We still had a couple hours before our slotted time for the elevator ride to the (almost) top of the Wash. Mon. So we decided to head back to the Natural History Museum and check out the dinosaurs and mammals. When we had stopped there on Saturday it was packed with people and moving was difficult. Monday it was still crowded but you could turn around without hitting someone.

Here are a couple of maps to give yall a better idea of the places we stopped at (not in order, sorry). Too bad I can't add the heat & humidity so that yall could really get a feel for our weekend. ;)

US Botanical Gardens
National Museum of the American Indian
Air and Space Museum
National Gallery of Art (West and East buildings)
Natural History Museum
National Museum of American History
Old Post Office Pavilion
Washington Monument
National World War II Memorial
Korean War Memorial
Lincoln Monument
Vietnam Veterans Memorial
National Zoo

We also stopped in Old Town Alexandria and walked around on the waterfront some on Sunday afternoon. It's mostly shops and restaurants, some art galleries and antique stores down there. It's a nice area though. Some cobblestone streets, brick sidewalks, old buildings.