Adventures in Washington, DC (I)

On December 23rd, we took part in a new family tradition for which this is the second year. We went to see “The Polar Express” at the National Museum of Natural history’s IMAX theater.

Have you ever been to an IMAX theater? They are really fantastic! We saw this same movie here last year, and enjoyed it so much, we had to do it again this year.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with the geography of Washington, DC, the museum is located on the National Mall, about three blocks from the FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover building.

Before driving into the city, we figured we had better go to dinner, so we went to a local Italian restaurant and had some pasta, but we didn't have too much time to dawdle, as we needed to get up the road.

We drove into the city a couple of hours early so we could have an opportunity to walk through the museum’s exhibits. Before we got inside, however, we were going to have to find a place to park, which, if you have any experience here in DC, can be kind of tough on a Saturday night. The cool thing is, that I suppose since so many people had gone out of town for the holiday, downtown DC was kind of ghost-like, and I found a great parking spot on Constitution avenue, about 50 yards from the doors of the museum!

Olivia really got a charge out of the Sea Life and Mammals… we didn’t really have as much time as we would liked to have, so I promised Olivia that we would come back during winter break, since I would be off for the whole week.

It was time to go into the theater, and we got great seats. Susan and I agreed that the copy of the film must have been re-mastered or something, as it was much sharper, visually.

The story was every bit as touching as it was last year and my favorite part was when Santa Claus comes into the square at the North Pole and all of the elves start singing “Santa Claus is Coming To Town”

Anyway, it was a fun night, we saw a cool movie on a huge screen, in 3-D, and Olivia had a great time.

We made the ride back to Prince William County, in about 30 minutes, listening to, and singing along with the Christmas Carols on the radio.

A fine night, indeed.

NOTE: As I am typing this at my desk, and not from the local jail, you can assume that I didn't commit a felonious act against the smarmy twenty something couple that made a few really snarky comments during the movie. I also didn't take the loudly ringing cell phone from the really stupid bitch woman behind us who couldn't figure out how to make the phone stop ringing during the last few minutes of the film.

(by the way, the smarmy twenty something guy with the unattractive girlfriend was really pasty-looking and needed a haircut (and a beating) badly.