And no, we didn’t get lost and just reappear now. I’ve just been wicked busy. Although, every time I go I'm reminded that I love DC and think I should live there. (Then I check housing prices and that goes away.)

Anyway, Apple and I met up at Flanders’s house on Saturday morning and drove up to the City. I did an excellent job of driving in the City proper and even got mad at someone for navigating DuPont Circle incorrectly. (Our hotel was on Connecticut Ave., northwest of the circle.) (Fun trick to play on people in DC: Tell them to meet you at the Starbucks at DuPont Circle. Watch in amusement as they try to figure out which one.)

It rained for the entire drive up and was still raining when we arrived. We parked at the hotel and walked down towards the mall. We decided to hit the newly re-opened National Museum of American History. It was crowded, but the new layout and exhibits are quite good. I’d have spent more time reading, but Apple is not so much of an exhibit reader. It’s all good. There were lines to get into see the Star Spangled Banner (we didn’t want to wait, and I’ve seen it before) and The First Ladies (again, we didn’t want to wait in line. I’ve seen it in the past and would have loved to see it again, but it was a 30 minute line.) There was also a line to get into the American Presidency exhibit, but we mistakenly entered through the back and skipped it. We didn’t even know about the line until we left the exhibit.

That night we headed down to the Tidal Basin; most of the Cherry Blossom activities had ended. Apple had read there was supposed to be music. No music. We did see fireworks however. Then we went and ate sushi for dinner.

Sunday morning we went to the National Zoo. We only had a few hours, so we didn’t see the entire thing, but I did drag Apple into the reptile house. I do enjoy the reptiles. (As long as Harry doesn’t let the snakes out!) We headed out of the City around 1:30 PM. We were heading down to Flanders’s parents’ house for dinner; they live about an hour west of Richmond. I knew how I wanted to get there (it’s similar to getting to Bob and Steph’s) but Elizabeth (that’s my GPS) was insistent that we take a different route. As such, we had to navigate to US-66 with a map of Virginia which had a very incomplete map of DC on it. Thus, we went all the way down to Constitution Avenue instead of taking K Street. Which, when there are signs saying that Mall traffic is congested, means it will take you an hour to get out of the City.

We’re planning on returning when Apple’s mom comes to visit. We want to go to the Crime and Punishment Museum and the Spy Museum . That will likely be a day trip.