Washington, DC (USA)

[it was Daddy-Daughter day today, although only Mollie wanted to get up early enough to go with me to the office... - we did leave a little later than I normally do, but there was no one on the train and we made it into the City quite quickly (0900) - Mollie was pretty proud to work with me, helping with some of my projects and playing with her Webkins during some breaks I had - my officemates were good sports, welcoming her as a new engineer - we ate lunch (Subway) in my office and she had fun drawing on my white board until around 1400 - after that, we left my building and started exploring the city - we started at the National Botanic Garden (near the Capitol) - at first, I was worried to see the huge line, but it turned out to only be for those people who wanted to see the model train arrangement - we went in a separate entrance and marveled at the beautiful flowers and amazing trees in that building (it was quite warm, too) - after around 45 minutes there, we walked down to the area near the Smithsonian Castle where I knew there were some art galleries that Mollie hadn't visited - we even went in the Hirshorn Gallery (modern art) and Mollie noted several "pieces" that a 10 year old could have executed (although, it might not have been his/her choice to paint a big square canvas blue...) - we moved over to the Sackler Gallery, where there was an outstanding exhibit called "Roads of Arabia" - most of the items were on loan from Saudi Arabia - there were some old doors that were once used on the Kabaa in Mecca - we enjoyed some other things before we left (walking through parts of the Freer Gallery) - by 1700, we had made it back to the Metro Station and headed home - we were both tired by that point, so we didn't stop for happy hour (lol!) - Mollie had lots of stories to tell, but the teens mostly just said "meh..." - still, Dad was pretty happy to show off his work!]