DC Aquarium visit

On Friday Cody and I went to visit the Aquarium here in DC.  It's housed in a rather odd venue--the basement of the Commerce building.  It also wasn't as big as we were anticipating. However, that being said, we did see a lot of cool aquatic life and some snakes (definitely not as cool as all the fish and the American alligators though).  Cody's favorite were the American alligators.  My favorite was probably the turtles that were giving each other a piggy-back ride.

One in two million lobster are blue. Here's a blue one!

An American alligator

Cody thinking with an American alligator in size perspective next to him on the other side of the glass.

Adventures with Meg

I guess the real adventure started on Friday when Cody and I returned from his Washington Seminar briefing at CAP (Center for American Progress) and decided that we wouldn't leave our apartment for the rest of the night since it was stinkin' hot and crazy humid and we would be out all day on Saturday visiting places.  Several times that evening as I sat on the couch and thought, "I'm sort of...bored," and then voiced that opinion, Cody would remind me that we would be out all day on Saturday getting hot and humid and shouldn't we enjoy the AC like we planned on doing?

We enjoyed the AC. We (okay, probably just I) didn't enjoy as much being stuck up in our apartment on Friday night.

However, we made up for it by like 100 times on Saturday.  Our day started around 9am when Meg Barber, one of Cody's best friends from BYU, showed up at the Barlow Center with her backpack to be stored in our apartment while we wandered around DC all day.

Stop One: The White House.  We first walked by the back of it, but Meg wanted a picture of the more famous front, so to the front we walked.  Cody actually hadn't walked to the front either, so it was a new experience for him, as well.  We couldn't get as close as one usually can because the road was blocked off for-who-knows-why (the only thing I could see was that the sprinklers were on), so we trudged a little bit further, walked across the grass and got a really far off picture of the front of the White House.

Meg and the White House from a long ways away

Stop Two: The Capitol Building. We didn't take a tour, but we did walk all the way up the Mall to get to the Capitol.  We were pretty tired and hot by the time we got to the building; however, we were able to get some pictures taken.

Cody, me, and Meg with the Capitol in the back

Meg and I standing outside the LOC

Stop Three: Library of Congress.  This wasn't on Meg's original list of things to see in DC but since it was right behind the Capitol and right next to the Supreme Court Building (both of which were on her list), we stopped and explored.  I was able to share some of the knowledge I had gleaned during my tour a month ago.  Cody and Meg ended up liking the LOC a lot more than they thought they would. Score for me for suggesting it.

Me and Meg with the LOC in the background

Stop Four: Supreme Court.  They are doing construction on the facade so it has a large photo of the Supreme Court building on a big piece of cloth. It was also closed, so no-go on going inside.

Supreme Court buildling

Stop Five: We the Pizza.  This was Cody and my second visit to this delightful restaurant, and Meg's first visit.  We each got the lunch special of two slices of pizza and a home-made soda.  Meg loved her soda; she even went so far as to say it was her favorite part about the restaurant and that for forever all sodas will be falling short of the We the Pizza standard.

Cody and me eating at We the Pizza

Stop Six: American History Museum.  We wandered around more this time than last time when Cody and I crashed on a bench, though I did use some of the time that they were looking at the Philadelphia exhibit (which I'd already seen) to read Jane Eyre.  After going through and looking at everything, Cody and I came to the same conclusion that we are rather disappointed with the American History museum in that it doesn't really have a ton of stuff there, like some of the other places we've or I've gone to visit.

Stop Seven: Barlow Center.  We came back, took off our shoes, sat down, drank water, and rested.  It was a great idea.

Stop Eight: Bobby's Burger Palace.  We were really looking forward to getting milkshakes here again, but I guess they'd just run out of milkshake ingredients.  While the burgers were delicious, we missed out on not getting a milkshake.

Stop Nine: Lincoln Memorial.  This was my first time on this trip actually going up and looking around in the memorial.  There were sprinklers going on in the front at the base of the stairs that anyone could enjoy; Meg took part in that novelty.

Meg playing in the sprinklers

Stop Ten: MLK Jr. Memorial & FDR Memorial & looking across the tidal basin at the Jefferson Memorial:  Since all of these memorials are on the circumference of the tidal basin, we were able to walk through the MLK and FDR memorials, but the Jefferson memorial was too far away for us to get to and get back on time for Meg to catch her bus.  We took some pictures, enjoyed the serenity of one of my favorite places in DC, and then walked back.

Cody, me, and Meg by the tidal basin at the end of our long, fun day

It was a really fun, action-packed, touristy day.  We loved spending time with Meg, even and especially because of her excitement, stories, and wassal-ing.

Meg "wassal-ing" like Bilbo in The Hobbit

Botany, Art, and Native Americans

This week my big adventures have included visiting the Botanic Garden and Conservatory, the Hirshhorn Gallery, and the Museum of the American Indian.  On Monday when I visited the Botanic Garden, it was also the day that the famous titan arum was starting to bloom, and apparently, it is still blooming, four days later.  However momentous an occasion, I'm really grateful I didn't have to walk around the conservatory with the aroma of onions and rotting flesh.  It was interesting as I walked through the Conservatory to feel the different temperatures and levels of humidity as I went from one simulated area of the world to another.

In the Jungle area of the Conservatory

In the walkway from the Jungle to the Southern landscapes part of the Conservatory

Tradescantia pallida, "Purple Heart", spiderwort; found in the Southern Landscapes area of the Conservatory

An orchid; found in the endangered-orchids part of the Conservatory

Close up of one orchid

The Hawaii section of the Conservatory

One of my personal favorites--in the Ancient Plants section--I love the dinosaur!

After spending some time inside the Conservatory, I made my way outside to the Regional Garden.  At the Botanic Garden they pride themselves on their use of natural methods of fertilization and getting rid of pests, rather than using chemicals and pesticides.  They try to make it very plain that you can garden and have a beautiful garden, without having to use chemicals that harm the environment.

Flower Fountain outside the Conservatory, going into the Regional Garden area

Giant dragonfly

A nice swampy area

American White Water-Lily

Later in the week, after doing research on Tuesday and Wednesday, I was able to venture forth again.  This time I visited the Hirshhorn Gallery--not just the garden this time--and was able to see some more of the modern art in DC. 

Venus of the Rags, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Italian, 1967

 This piece made me laugh!  I love that Venus is trying to find some clothes to put on!  And isn't that what every laundry room looks like? I think it's a great take on a "classic" piece.

Wall Drawing #1113: On a wall, a triangle within a rectangle, each with broken bands of color, Sol LeWitt, American, 2003, acrylic

 I think I just have this thing with color. There was an exhibit called "There and Back" that I took four photos of because it shows the progression of one color to another. However, with this piece, I love the vibrancy of the colors, the rigidity of the lines, the way it seems 2-D and 3-D simultaneously, and the different lengths of the color bands. I just really enjoyed this piece, besides the fact that it is HUGE--it fills an entire wall.

1950-M No.1, Clifford Still, American, 1950

 Another example of my crazy love for blue. It looks sooooo much lovelier in real life. The contrast between the blues is more subtle.  I just love blue.

Sanctuary, Gerhard Richter, German, 1988, oil on linen 

 This was an fascinating piece to look at. It looks kind of crazy in a photograph, but in real life it is actually more crazy.  It seems like there is very vivid underpainting of color--the greens, blues, oranges--and then this thicker, almost still liquid looking overpainting of the reds, darker orange, black and brown. And then over that there is still another layer of blackish-white and redish-orange specks.  The brush strokes are very deliberate and thought out--except at the far right where the artist is able to make it look like the paint is dissolving into nothing. It is sooo cool! I really, really enjoyed looking at this painting.

Untitled (Dog), Peter Coffin, American 2012, Mixed Media

 This is apparently the world's largest canine. What I couldn't get a picture of was of my hands-down favorite piece in the entire gallery. It's also by Peter Coffin in the Here & There exhibit. It is called Untitled and it is an animated projection on paintings from the Hirshhorn collection.  In the handout I got it reads, "Where does the brain 'ping' when looking at art? Sound, music, and superimpositions 'animate' works in the collection, encouraging new ways to consider them."  I loved this work!  There were 11 or 12 framed canvas paintings hanging on the wall in a darkened room. There was a projector aimed at each wall/painting that would superimpose images onto these paintings, with music and noises to accompany it. It was done masterfully with colors seeming to jump up out of their place on the painting and move about the canvas and onto the wall, or to have a shape painting have the colors and shapes react in response to a classical piece of music playing.  It was engaging, surprising, and insightful.  I wish I could somehow share it with all of you, but I can't.

My next visit was to the Museum of the American Indian.  I first viewed a film on the fourth floor that talked about and showed the relationship that Native Americans have with the Earth and how it is a part of their culture, livelihood, and art.  I walked through some of the exhibits and finished off by eating in the cafeteria.

Sculpture in one of the alcoves in the Museum of the American Indian

Navajo taco

Friday Night Date

On Friday night, Cody and I went on a date to the National Portrait Gallery, and then afterword we had pizza at a new restaurant, Ella's, and concluded by watching True Grit back at our apartment.

This was the first art museum that I've been to with Cody since we've been in DC, all the rest I've visited on my own. It was really nice having a companion as we wandered through the museum.  We didn't take any pictures of the Civil War area or of the portraits of the presidents (though some of my personal favorites were President Clinton's, the one of President Kennedy done by de Kooning, and the unfinished portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart), but we did take some pictures on the top floor of some of the 20th century pieces.

License plates from every state writing out the Preamble to the Constitution

A huge driftwood horse and me

Cody and one of our favorite pieces--a neon light outline of the US with TVs showing images related to each state (i.e. Kansas has Wizard of Oz playing, Utah has images of driving through the national parks, etc.)

Don't remember what this is called, but I really liked it

My Quattro Fromagi pizza

Cody's four meat calzone

Gettysburg outing

On Saturday, the interns here in the Washington Seminar group got to go on another outing, this time to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania (note: pronunciation is like get-iss-berg; it's a soft "s" and a short "i" sound; Wikipedia has a nice pronunciation you can listen to).  We first went to the Visitor's Center to view the movie and cyclorama--really cool!  It is one painting, completed in less than a year, that was designed so that when you stand in the center of this 360* painting, it's like you're looking out at the battlefield and surrounding area.  We also had two hours to walk through the museum on the Gettysburg battle that is housed at the visitor's center.

After eating our fill at the General Pickett's all-you-can-eat buffet, we went on a bus tour of the Gettysburg battlegrounds.  It is really huge and it was neat to be able to go through all of it in a matter of hours, with a competent tour guide giving us info about the battle on the way.  

Inside the Gettysburg battle museum

The Eternal Flame

View from the tallest lookout spot

Me at the top of Little Round Top

Cody at the top of the tallest lookout spots in the park

View from the top of Little Round Top

The unknown soldiers buried in the Gettysburg Cemetery

Finished the NGA & visited the Natural History Museum

I've done it! I finished exploring the National Gallery of Art! I took more pictures than I'm posting but I'll be using them for school projects, not to talk about, so here goes my last post about the NGA:

Pandora, Odilon Redon, 1910/1912

I loved the way the paint was applied in this painting.  It reminded me a lot of Minerva Teichert's art.  I liked the contrast between the muted colors in the background and the thicker paint and brighter colors in the foreground, especially the front right corner.

Four Dancers, Edgar Degas, 1899

The thing that impressed me the most about this painting was the movement of the dancers and the loose interaction between the paint and the black lines outlining the girls. In the audio tour, the curator suggests that Degas painted this almost like stop-action photography--that this is really just one dancer adjusting her strap and getting ready to dance.

Thoughts on the Natural History Museum:

• It was fun, however, I don't know if I've ever wanted to have kids with me more at a museum than I did as I wandered through this museum. Kids would have a blast at this museum!
• Cool displays.
• Interactive features in every part--button pressing with video explanations, touching replicas, etc.
• Needed a ticket to go into the live butterfly exhibit, but it is free on Tuesday to get a ticket. Score!

Dinosaur & Ancient Life section

Ocean life section

Center atrium

Mammals section

These next few photos remind me of when I was given a chrysalis in September 2009 and given instructions on how to care for it until it became a butterfly. I named my butterfly Yo Yo, in honor of Yo Yo Ma and his piece Butterfly's Day Out, which is my favorite song. It was a Painted Lady butterfly and I was so excited that I hadn't killed it.  The first picture is of my Yo Yo. The rest are from the live butterfly exhibit.

7 September 2009, Yo Yo, my Painted Lady butterfly

Live butterfly exhibit