Washington D.C. in a weekend!

OK...so it's been a while since I posted so here it is...I'm currently in D.C. on business and have been for the past week or so. Over the weekend I was able to go site seeing in the Nation's Capitol.
It was very cool to see the monuments and the Capitol building. I didn't make it inside the Capitol but just being on Capitol Hill was very cool. On Saturday I started out riding the Metro into the city. While I was waiting for the train I was intrigued by a young kid about 10 or 12 wearing a t-shirt with a logo that was upside down but said "Roe vs Wade." I wasn't sure what to make of it so I took a picture. When I was getting off the Metro at the L'Enfant Plaza station I noticed a lot of people with different Pro-Life type signs and clothing. It turns out there was a rally in the Mall called TheCall 2008....don't know what it was exactly about other than Pro-Life but it seemed to be a religious/political rally.
I went straight away to the National Air and Space Museum. It was very cool! After an hour or so in there I wandered next door to the National Museum of American Indians. There were some really interesting exhibits of arrowheads, bead work and so forth. It was also cool because there was an exhibit with some craftsman carving a canoe in the main area as you entered the museum.
After the American Indian museum I wandered across the National Mall to see the National Gallery of Art. I didn't get very far before my camera battery died so I stopped in the Gallery Cafe and had lunch. After lunch I set out to find a place to purchase batteries. There was virtually no place to buy batteries in the tourist area of the city! In my pursuit of batteries I walked from the Gallery of Art back to the Air and Space Museum up the hill past the Capitol into the Library of Congress back outside around the Capitol and down the hill on Constitution Ave. I found a Kinkos shop so I stopped in to ask directions to the nearest place to get those little suckers that were eluding me. At last I found a CVS pharmacy on 8th and E. Armed with my batteries and now a working camera I headed to the National Archives to have a look at the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. As I approached the National Archive I passed through the Naval Memorial which was a nice plaza with a cool fountain.
At the National Archives I had to stand in a queue for close to an hour just to get inside. I wandered though the Public Archives and checked out the exhibit there then I stood in another queue to view the documents. I didn't get good pictures of them because I really haven't figured out how to take good pictures in the dark!
By now I was getting quite hot and tired but I still had so much to see! Once I'd completed the goal of viewing the Nation's Documents I headed off to the Washington monument via the Gallery of Art Sculpture Gardens. The gardens were awesome and some of the art was mind boggling... as in I wasn't sure what to make of it.
I continued on down the Mall toward the Washington Monument...(I had already seen the monument a couple of nights before but in the dark! It was glowing and spectacular!)
As I strolled past the Washington Monument toward the Lincoln Memorial I glanced to my right and noticed the White House through the trees...It was really cool to see but I didn't have time to take a detour!
I continued on toward the Lincoln Memorial passing through the World War II Memorial and past the Reflecting Pool. As I approached the Lincoln Memorial I was astounded at the number of people on the steps....It was like a swarm of insects....I was quite in awe as I stood at the feet of Pres. Lincoln. Next stop was the Viet Nam Memorial which was quite moving and brought tears to my eyes several times.

One thing that caused me to get teary-eyed was a pair of army pants with a note paper clipped to them that read something like "Evans, my dad got these pants from you the day you died so was never able to return them to you, I'm doing my part to help him out, Dennis." At this point I had spent all my energy and my emotions so I headed to the Smithsonian Metro station to head back to my home away from home.
The next morning I headed out again with a plan....First I'd stop at the Gallery of Art and see what I missed the day before, I'd stop at the Museum of Natural History to at least see the Hope Diamond at the recommendation of a close friend, then I'd head over to Arlington Cemetery to see the two Pres. Kennedy's graves and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. I exited the train at the Smithsonian station and headed for the museums. I was able to see several Monet, Van Gogh, Rembrandt and other famous artists' paintings. It was very enjoyable.
After the Art Museum I headed to the Natural History Museum. I found the Hope Diamond and also viewed a bunch more fabulous gems and jewelry then I wandered through the Gems and Mineral exhibit. I also saw the Bone exhibit, Mammals, Dirt and Butterfly and Insect exhibits.
Once I had seen all I wanted to of these museums I headed to the metro station to make my way to Arlington Cemetery. I can honestly say I can't think of many more serene and solemn places. I was moved by the reverence and respect that so many visitors in once place can show. The Kennedy graves were interesting and moving. I then wandered up the hill to the Arlington House (Robert E Lee's residence) It is an interesting museum now. The gardens are very simple but very sweet. I then followed the path back where I had come from and headed down the steps and across the cemetery to the Tomb of the Unknowns where I was lucky enough to witness the changing of the guard of the Tomb. It was quite the ceremony.
After 5 hrs of museums and the Cemetery it was time to head back home and rest up for the next week of work.....What a trip!