Shenanigans in the Sculpture Garden with Mark and Cristina: A Photo Essay

No, YOU talk to the hand.

Girls Day Out

Emily's mom came down from Virginia Beach for the weekend, and I have *GASP* TWO WHOLE DAYS OFF!!! So Emily and I decided to have a "tourist" weekend and do some of the things in DC that we've been wanting to do. Personally, I've been wanting to go to the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery. The great thing about the Smithsonian museums is that they're free. You can read a brief and bizarre history of how the United States acquired the money to build these museums from a British scientist named James Smithson, a man who had never been to the United States, at http://www.si.edu/about/history.htm .

The museum was great. A nice museum to attend on a rainy day (Hurricane Ernesto has generously bestowed some dreary days upon us lately) when you're not in the mood for anything heavy in content. There are lots of great portraits to look at from American heroes to presidents to athletes to musicians. And if you see someone's face you don't recognize, and you feel like reading a little bit about them on the placard next to the artwork, you can. That's about the extent of it.

There was also a special exhibit labeled "Funney/Strage", and no I didn't mispell that! This exhibit featured the art, photographs, videos, a sketches of William Wegman, who's work "parodies all things familiar". He's best known for his work with Man Ray, his Weimaraner.






When we exited the Portrait Gallery, the sun was shining again. It was beautiful.
Some images from the day...

The Placard reads: The face of the future presidency.