Just dropping a quick note from the lovely wifi at Panera. Vacation thus far has been excellent. Fall is late this year, I guess, because I had beena ssured this was too late in the year for stunning fall color but the trees are a beautiful green, gold, orange, and red along the routes I've taken. Since last Friday, I've been to Maryland (Columbia, Baltimore, and Rockville), Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and now Flemington, NJ.

jalabert and I saw the exhibit, At Freedom's Door: Challenging Slavery in Maryland, which was an exhibit produced by a cooperation between the Maryland Historical Society and the Reginald E. Louis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture. By the way, if you're used to thinking of museums of African American history museums as hole-in-the-wall, holding-on-by-the-skin-of-their-teeth institutions, I hope you have a chance to visit the Reginald Lewis. The museum is brand new (~2 years old) and it's a true, modern museum in a a gorgeous, light-filled building and constantly changing exhibits. It's spacious, has a great gift shop (hey! this is important!), and the people were incredibly nice and helpful. Including the volunteer who drove us back to our car when the shuttle bus failed to return. I'm something of a museum snob and it's one of the better ones I've visited.

The next day we visited the Lincoln Memorial (awe inspiring and humbling), the Museum of Natural History (I'll grumble about the incongruity of the Ice Age giant ground sloths being adjacent to 4 myo Australopithecus afarensis another time), the National Archives (I saw the original Constitution, the Bill of Rights, AND the Declaration of Independence!!!!!!!!!), and a very short foray into the lobby of the Air & Space Museum. There's no way to do justice to the Smithsonian in only a day and I didn't even try. I'll have to go back at a later time.) It was an absolutely gorgeous day for wandering around outside, which was good since it's a minor hike down the mall to the Lincoln Memorial. Our current Idiot in Chief may not know what he's doing but the city's architects know how to make inspiring spaces. I took the time to explore the Vietnam and WWII memorials. They're both very moving in entirely different ways. More on that when I'm plugged in at a hotel. :)

yams69, his wife, their 4 mo daughter M, and I went to Philadelphia yesterday, my first time to spend any time in the city. It has been a goal of mine since I was a girl listening to Elton John's Philadelphia Freedom during the bicentennial. Saw the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall where both the Declaration and Constitution I'd seen the day before were hashed out. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Independence Hall is tiny I thought it was so much larger. :| I didn't get to see Ben Franklin's grave because we were too late but since they charge to see it, my disappointment was tempered.

I finally saw the Mutter Museum. If you're unfamiliar with it, it's essentially the teaching collections for 19th century medical students so it's macabre and involves a lot of "specimens." It's also a good intro to medical history and the efforts it took to convince people of the benefit of vaccinations. Very cool but also a bit disturbing. The human osteologist in me was utterly fascinated and I'd love to have access to the collections for study. And? I won't go into details but if you've ever needed modern treatment for bladder stones, all I can say is get down on your knees and thank your god that you didn't need that treatment in the 19th century.

We were having such a good time that despite my hauling a heavy camera bag everywhere, I never once remembered to take the photos of K, his wife, and gorgeous Baby Girl that I meant to. Bad, bad, bad me.

Today is an unknown as I'm not yet sure what immlass will be up for but tomorrow is transition day followed by the Holy Grail of museum-ing in the US for me: The Met and the Cloisters. :)