D.C.

So the trip here was hell, but I arrived safe & sound a couple of nights ago. I say "hell" because I did end up driving through the night on Monday, and all the next day, before stopping in Des Moines. Four times I tried to grab a nap in my car at a rest stop, and only once was I successful, but even then I only dozed off for 15 minutes. Fueled by caffiene, all day Tuesday I went through wave after wave of being very sleepy and then wide awake. I was never happier to see a Motel 6.

Wednesday's drive was awesome. Nine hours of sleep put me in a much better mood, and I only had 16 hours of driving. Also, right around sunset, I went through some of the most beautiful terrain I've seen east or west of the Mississippi -- the Pennsylvania turnpike between Ohio and Maryland. I was in a model train set around every Bend and over every hill. I got to DC around midnight, and after some driving around, I finally arrived at my crappy Red Roof Inn right by the Capitol building. DC is hella confusing in a car -- arbitrary one-way streets, streets angling every which way, construction everywhere, crazy cabbies... but luckily after midnight there's hardly any traffic, so I figured it out.

Since then I've done a bunch of things: various Smithsonian museums (the Castle, National Air & Space, the Hirshhorn, Natural History), the International Spy Museum, the White House and surrounding buildings (Treasury, State, etc.), the Capitol Building, the Supreme Court, the Washington Monument, the Jefferson & Lincoln Memorials, the WWII & Vietnam Memorials, the brand new FDR Memorial... and probably a bunch of stuff I can't remember. Tomorrow I'm going to continue through the Smithsonian stuff I haven't seen yet. I'll be here a day and a half more...

Got some cool pics... will post them later tonight!