The second episode of our big "Back East" trip took place in the heart of the United States of America: Washington D.C.  We spent two days basically cramming in every possible thing that we could.  It was definitely difficult, but the memories will always be cherished.

  A lot of the time was spent in museums- Holocaust, Natural History, American History, Air and Space {No, Mom.  Not Aaron Space}, and the Gallery of Art {Well, at least we tried to go there.  Somehow, when trying to find the car and take it back to Mom and the other kids, Dad, Rachel, and I managed to get lost.   We had gotten the car by then, but lets just say that when you accidentally get on the free way there's no U-turns to be taken.  I love everything that's artsy, so Dad dropped Rachel and I off at the Gallery of Art.  ["Are you sure it's open?" "Yes, it's still open for a while!  You girls just go have a little fun on your own."  "Sweet.  Just call me when you find them and get back here.  See ya!"]  Except, of course, the museum had in fact been closed for at least 45 minutes.  So we got to instead have fun wandering this giant city while we waited for Dad to cross the bridge to the other side of DC, find our family, and then find us again. }.  For some people I know, it would've be torture.  But I was fascinated by all those things, big and little, that have been so carefully preserved in the museums.

  In the Natural History Museum...   I know it must sound creepy, but, while it was sad, it was kind of cool to see some of the skeletons of people who lived centuries- if not millennia's- ago.  So many questions filled my mind.  Here were their bodies, but what love and dreams and beauty perished with them, disappeared into the depths of the earth as their spirits ascended into the heavens?  What were their stories?  Perhaps this is why I blog/journal- I don't want to be forgotten like all those people, whether they lay sealed in a glass case in a museum or still rest peacefully in their graves.  

  Also, it was almost surprising to see some of the creatures in other parts of the museum.  I guess we will never cease to discover what the earth has hidden from the eyes of man. 

  One of our highlights of the museums was at the American History Museum.  The first thing we saw when we walked in was a section called "The Star Spangled Banner."  Well, we were all shocked when we discovered that it was the Star Spangled Banner.  The very flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write what would soon become the greatest country's National Anthem.  And not only had I known that it still existed, I hadn't even known that it was so spectacular in the first place!  It lay in a dimmed room beneath a wall of glass.  How reverencing it was to see I can't even describe- just that it was beautiful, in great condition considering its age and the fact that it saw a war, and enormous.  No wonder we were given a twinkling of hope on that famous day in 1814!

  The saddest part of our whole vacation was in the Holocaust Museum.  I don't want to go into detail, but I will say this.  Do not ever take advantage of the freedom you were born with.  So many innocent people perished in the dark days of the Holocaust, swallowed by the evil wrath of the Nazis.  And do not allow your mind to be twisted by those who try to say that it never happened, for it most surely did, and we can Never Forget.