L'Infant Plaza

Yes, he's more of a toddler at this point, but the title still seemed apropos considering our location today; aunt I and uncle S were working, so Meh, Zachary, and I braved the Metro into DC for a visit to the Smithsonian Institution. The Metro claims to be fully stroller accessible, though there were a few dodgy moments; on the way back we were fully stumped and had to shlep the stroller up an escalator and down a broken escalator (a.k.a. a long metal stairway) to get to our train; Zachary thought the bumping and jostling were hilarious. Suffice it to say, he was happily beside himself watching the trains approach - the combination light show (in addition to the headlights on carriages, circular lights embedded along the track flash when trains arrive), train horns, door chimes, and gusts of wind had him laughing and smiling. Aboard the train, he kept glancing over at me and bursting into a big grin in between chowing on goldfish crackers.

When we arrived at the Smithsonian, we started with a stroll through their gardens and then hopped into the castle for a quick look as it started briefly raining; the centerpiece there was a pile of props mocking up famous items in the Smithsonian's collection, as used in the recent family movie -- and yes, there was a giant gift shop display next to it hawking "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" souveniers. We moved on to the Museum of Natural History, where Zachary fell asleep about 5 minutes into the visit. We sat down for a nice lunch in their cafe, and when he was still asleep as we wrapped up, we started our museum tour with a sleeping passenger in tow.

First we visited the Hope Diamond and a really neat gemology exhibit, with all different shapes, sizes, and textures of various precious, semi-precious, and really-not-precious stones. Meh and I think we saw the Hope Diamond previously at an exhibit in London, but it really is ginormous. They're apparently planning to re-set it and currently have an online vote to choose the design. After wrapping up the gemstones, we visited some ancient and then semi-contemporary fish and mammal exhibits. We were trying to save the dinosaurs for the little man, but he was still out, so we ended up viewing the fossils as he slept on.

At last he woke up as we wrapped up the insect exhibit (the last major exhibit at the museum), ready for milk and lunch. We hopped outside to the National Mall, where the little man enjoyed some yogurt, raisins, and crackers, before we all headed back to the Metro for the trip back. He was happy and looking around through the whole walk through the station and train ride, though I unfortunately wasn't able to capture a video of his full excitement for the approaching train.

Refreshed from his long (I think another 2+ hours) nap, he had an excellent afternoon playing with bubbie, reading books, and playing with a series of toys. All in all, a very good last full day in Maryland -- tomorrow we head back to Seattle, so it's good to see him happy and well-rested in time for a big travel day. A huge thanks to aunt I and uncle S for hosting us, picking up all of Zachary's giant list of needed gear, feeding us (we weren't allowed to pick up a single meal), and playing tourist with us!