Left the memorials and walked back through the National Mall towards the National Museum of Natural History. I threw my knife in the bushes outside so that I could return for it after the museum. This place was great. We saw all types of crazy mammals, insects, and fossils. They have an working fossil restoration lab in the middle of the museum. The mammal section had a large portion dedicated to evolution. There is a model of the original mammal which all others are descended from; including us! It looked like a shrew. By the way, evolution is a beautifully fleshed out scientific theory which has been continually refined and supported for over a hundred years while creationism as a science is stupid and wrong.
Upstairs had an exhibit called Nature’s Best Photography. You can see some of the photographs here. Downstairs had an huge section on African culture and a whole room dedicated to Rastafari movement. This was awesome because up until that point in the trip Ryan and I had been calling everyone “Jah people” and yelling, “IRIE!” a lot.
We left the museum, I collected my knife, and we drove around the city. Saw a few glimpses of the White House and looked for somewhere to get drunk and sleep. DC had the worst traffic thus far. Driving through the shopping district of Georgetown was a bitch and a half. After circling the Vice President’s house twice we consulted our travel book and made for the Adams Morgan neighborhood. This area was a little northeast of George Washington University. After getting lost and driving down the same roads multiple times, we finally found a parking spot in front of a private school. Then Ryan peed on their fence. We walked around looking for gyros but eventually decided to eat at the bar we planned to drink at, Millie & Al’s. The service was awesome. I ate spaghetti and drank expensive Dos Equis. We finished our meals, had a few more pints of Guinness, and headed back to the car. There were huge crowds of bums and we almost forgot how to get back to where we parked. Even though the bar area was sketchy and full of shady people, our car was parked three blocks away in a neighborhood of huge, beautiful houses. I peed in a bush and climbed in the car for the night.
