Today was a rare Saturday off work for me, so Daniel and I decided to take the 2 hour, 40 minute trip to our nation’s capital this morning. It was the first time I’d ever been, so I was quite excited for the adventure.

We planned to visit both the National Zoo and a portion of the Smithsonian, but a combination of illness, getting a late start, and terrible traffic prohibited us from hitting both places. We spent a few hours at the zoo, though, enjoying the cool weather, “free” entry (“souvenir” maps are $2.00 a piece and parking is $16.00), and particularly the small mammal exhibit.

Global warming globe

I’m sure he’s thinking: “I want to kill you”

Tiny Elephant Shrew

I love zoo and aquarium exhibits, but I have a very low tolerance for screaming, oblivious, disrespectful children, of which there are always hoards. If your kid doesn’t care about learning, you can’t make them care by throwing them in the reptile room and hoping for the best. I also heard a dad exclaim to his daughter: “Look honey! It’s a Meerkat. Doesn’t it look like a little kitty cat?” No, it doesn’t look like a little kitty cat. The word C-A-T is clearly not even present in its written name. Don’t mislead your child in an attempt to relate a creature that’s fascinating on its own to your household pet. (Daniel would like to point out that “kat” is dutch for cat, but I doubt that this father was aware of that; for more information regarding the confusing origin of the title, check out Wikipedia). My ideal zoo is one with only curious, respectful adults.

We tried, and failed, to find parking in the downtown area in order to check out a few Smithsonian exhibits, so we headed out to Fredericksburg for dinner. We enjoyed our meal on the patio/alley of Foode, located downtown.

Yum

It was a hit and miss kind of day. The view coming into D.C. from Virginia is majestic and we’d love to visit the National Mall someday soon. Next time, we need a thorough plan, more time, and access to parking/public transportation (and I should also bring my nice camera along instead of my point and shoot).