Oireachtas and Washington, D.C.

 My new solo dress, just for O's (Oireachtas). Which will be worn afterwards, but I needed a new one for O's.

Joseph and I in the Hall of Human Origins, in front of a display of casts of skulls of Homo sapiens, and our ancestors on back.

U.S. Capitol

Hall of Human Origins

The last common ancestor of all mammals...and this thing was about 4 inches long.

Leopard in the Hall of Mammals

The outside of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (yes, this is the place that the movie Night at the Museum was based on, despite the fact that movie is supposed to take place in New York)

Washington Monument

Mom, Joseph (my fiance), and I went to Washington D.C./Baltimore over the weekend for Oireachtas, which is a regional Irish dance competition. I competed for the first time in solos, 3rd time in Teams, and it was Joseph's first time at Oireachtas (he also competed in Teams). It was also the first Oireachtas I've been to that we haven't taken Dad and Reese. But we flew to D.C. and taking 5 people was going to be a bit expensive.

The area around D.C. (we stayed in National Harbor) is gorgeous. Inside D.C....not so much, but there is so much nifty stuff to do. I loved all the museums, but we only had time to go to one before flying out. I FINALLY got to go to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Sadly, the Western Civilizations area, the area I REALLY wanted to go to, was closed for renovations. But it was still an awesome experience, and I can't wait to go back. We went through the Hall of Human Origins, which is really nifty as an anthropology major, and through an exhibit that is only there through February called Written In Bone, which had a forensic anthropology lab at the end which was really nifty. The exhibit showed how disease (syphilis, cerebral palsy, etc.) and accidents (like car crashes, bullets, etc) affect the way bone looks, as well as trying to discover why so much of the population of the original Jamestowne settlement died so very quickly. It was really nifty. We also ventured through the Hall of Mammals, and did a quick tour through an exhibit on the ocean (on the way to the Hall of Human Origins). Also went through the dinosaur fossils section pretty quick (I wanted to see if there was anyone working in the FossiLab. On a Sunday afternoon...no, there wasn't.)

It was cold. Very cold. LOL