National Arboretum

On the advice of a local friend, we spent an afternoon at the National Arboretum. And excellent advice it was!! It is a real gem in the city, and probably the most "off the beaten path" thing we did of note. If I had only two days to spend in DC I probably wouldn't go, but if I had a week, definitely. Especially if the day was a lovely spring or fall day - crisp in the shade, some pleasantly warm sunshine, a light breeze wafting by. Instead, the day we went felt like this:

I think it was actually 100 degrees, and so humid you just wouldn't believe it. But still, we had a good time. The boys checked out the carp and their creepily huge mouths.

One of our favorite parts of the arboretum was the bonsai exhibit. Some of the displays really were amazing - very beautiful and artistic.

In the center of the arboretum are the original Capitol pillars from before it was burned in the War of 1812.

There was a great sensory garden full of herbs and edible plants we were encouraged to taste. I have some ultra sensitivity to mint. I can barely walk by a mint plant without getting all dizzy and lightheaded. Weird, huh? Especially since my sense of smell is usually close to nothing. We also walked a ways through a "fern valley," which was lovely but as far as we could tell was another name for "woods." But I guess it's all native species.

We didn't spend as long as we would have liked because we were all about to melt in the heat; there were lots of other areas we didn't get to explore. But if you're in the area, check it out. It's free, beautiful, and you'll have the place almost to yourself.