September 19, 2008

Friday 19~~~We rode the Metro bus from the park to the subway station, from there we rode the subway into Washington, DC to the Smithsonian National Air and Space. We walked around and looked at the planes with the beginning of aviation the Wright Bros first plane to the actual Apollo lunar module the Eagle. then we went to lunch, and to a movie in the IMAX Theatre. The first one was "The Black Hole", it was very interesting especially to Sharon who has never heard of the black hole. Next we took the tour of the museum, Kent loved every minute of it, but Sharon found herself sitting with the wives of the men who were with Kent after an hour of airplanes and spaceships. It was way too much standing in one place for so long for the ladies. Everything in the Smithsonian is the real thing, no duplicates or substitutes. The one picture is the Wright bros. first plane, the red plane is Amelia Earhart .The spaceships are so tall, it looks like they must have built the building around them. The tour lasted about 3 hours, then we went to the cafeteria for an ice cream bar and finished the day with another movie about the Air Force fighter program. We were so tired and hungry when we got off the bus and walked home we felt like going straight to bed. This job of being a tourist is very hard on the body with all that walking and standing in one spot and then when we get home, we spend time figuring out how much we can cram into the next days travels. Sharon made a quick dinner of her famous hamburger stew and corn bread and that perked us up enough to watch our soap we tape everyday before going to bed. Tomorrow will be another long day. We are driving about 140 miles to 3 different National parks.