We took in more Washington DC sights yesterday and today.

First we went to see the National Archives, including the original Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and many other original historical documents. And no, that's not a flash picture. They're very touchy about that! The displays were well done and in good condition, in spite of the fact that we visited most of the sights along with approximately 20% of all 8th graders in the entire country.

One of my favorite places is the National Air and Space Museum on the Washington Mall. It is simply incredible how many historic and totally cool aircraft and spacecraft they have. To see the actual Spirit of Saint Louis, the actual Wright Flyer (the first airplane to fly), the actual X-15 rocket plane (the first to break the sound barrier) and hundreds of others just gives me goosebumps.

And it's awesome to see the actual Apollo 11 space capsule ("Houston, we have a problem"). It did make it back to earth and here it is. Wow!

That evening our friends John and Susan Schmuck from Glen Ellyn, IL visited us with their daughter Elizabeth, whom works in Washington DC. John will cruise with us back down the Potomac. Nice to see longtime friends when you're out cruising for so long. You know, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that cruising is fun.... Oh, wait...! John actually was a rocket scientist!