Just a few more days to go!

22 Oct 09—Today we went to the Museum of Natural History, another of the Smithsonian museums. Every grammar school within a 30 mile radius must have decide to have a school outing today so they could join us…I couldn’t believe how many school buses were out there when we arrived, but it is so big inside, we really never felt crowded. But it did make me think of a few things I have meant to tell you before, but keep forgetting.

First, I think there must be a whole lot more kids being home-schooled than I ever imagined. I say that because for the past week and a half we have seen quite a few kids with their parents going to the same things we are. They are not on a school outing, and as far as I know, they are not on school break either. Second, there is a family 4 spots down from where Cathy and I are, in a 29 ft trailer (the pull kind) with one small slide-out, who have 4 kids and 2 dogs and they are definitely home-schooled. I think they must be religiously based, because both the 2 little girls and the mother always have ankle length dresses on. They have been here as long as us, but the really amazing thing is that along with the 6 humans in that small trailer there is a medium sized dog, like a Labrador retriever, and if you can believe it a Great Dane!!! I cannot imagine how cramped they are in there.

So the Natural History Museum is quite interesting, and I can see why so many people would take kids here. There is everything from mock-up Wooly Mammoths to human skeletons showing the forensics of someone who has been shot in the head. They go back to like 500 million years ago, have a whole section on Darwin, and include every animal you can think of…they even have a section that shows how they can tell the difference between a man and a woman from very old skeletons. I took lots of pictures so the kids can see them, so if you have kids around, show them. And remember that all of them look better when you enlarge them by clicking on them.

I also took some pictures of the gold courses here for Hallie and Donna to see…they are quite nice. I can't remember if I told everyone, or ust Hallie that there are 3 golf courses on this base...I guess presidents in the past golfed hereso they had to build more than one. Quite nice!

This exhibit explains how they can tell the difference between a man and woman skeleton...it has to do with length of forehead, and something with pelvic bones.

This one shows how they can tell the difference between African, European and American Indian skulls.

This one shows an old skull with a bullet thru the head.

And this is just a couple old Neanderthals!

Here are the golf courses.