Then we headed to the International Spy Museum just south of the main mall. Inside we saw lot of detail on spy gadgets, double agents, methods, and famous historical spies. You're supposed to take time and stop at all the kiosks and apply what you learned, but it was very crowded, even on a Tuesday and we just went around to see what interested us the most. We liked a short movie on agents and handlers - the people who work with the spies to keep them undercover.At around 2pm we headed to Ford's Theater, where President Lincoln was shot right as the Civil War was ending. Everyone sat in the actual theater and a site Ranger provided information about events leading up to the assassination and then details about the actual event. Even though he was shot in the head at close range, he was transported alive across the street to a house where he died 9 hours later. You can tour the house and also a civil war museum, but we didn't get the tickets for the museum or want to stand in the long line to go into the house, so we left. But the theater part was very interesting, free and I would suggest it to any visitor in the area.
We headed up the block to Madame Tussaud's to see the wax replicas of all of the Presidents and other celebs. Being in DC, this Tussaud's focused on the presidents and historical figures and less on the pop culture icons we saw in the NYC one. It was also a little smaller. I had gone with the kids in NYC, but Shellie was working and had never been. We spent about 45 minutes there, taking pictures with the celebs and presidents and then headed down the street to our next event.
We arrived at Kraken Axes for our Axe throwing event an hour earlier than our reservation, but the nice people there let us move up the time. After getting some drinks (always good if throwing axes), we paired up with our instructor who showed us the basics. After a short period of time we were throwing bulls-eyes all the time (just kidding, but we were hitting the target fairly regularly). We teamed up kids vs adults and it was an even match. We will have to go again when we are back in Austin.After axe throwing we headed to dinner at Hill Country Barbecue Market which was only a couple of blocks from Kraken. Walking in the door felt like we were instantly back in Austin - the smell and atmosphere were so familiar and unlike being in DC. It's like Rudy's where you order by the pound. We thought it was pretty OK and hit the spot. I even got Shiner Bock on draft.
Since we had saved an hour earlier, it was still only a little after 6pm. So we headed to see some of the monuments we had not yet seen. It so happened that on Tuesdays during the summer there is a military band and marching demonstration in front of the Lincoln Memorial. So we watched that - mostly Shellie watched and the kids and I explored the vast monument - we went behind it where it was quiet and you could see the bridges over the Potomac. We also got some pictures in the monument,
After the concert, we went to the Vietnam Memorial which was awe inspiring how many soldiers died during that war. It was still not dusk, so the memorials were not yet lit up, but I can tell it would have been very nice.
We tried again to catch the DC Circulator and this time we did it! Took it to the Capitol and walked home to find our room not made up for the second day in a row. Bix and I fled to the pool while mama raised hell with the cleaning staff.
Tomorrow: Natural History Museum, Pentagon, Nationals game
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