I just got back last night from a long weekend trip to Washington DC. Kerry and I visited the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History, the National Art Gallery, viewed our countries founding documents at the National Archives and wandered around the various memorials located on the National Mall. The recently completed WWII Memorial is a nice addition that I hadn't seen before.

Saturday night we had an especially nice dinner at the Bombay Club - by far the best Indian food I've ever had and probably one of the top 5 restaurants I've been to. Sunday we walked along embassy row (Massachusetts Ave) and wandered around the Dupont Circle area. Monday while Kerry was at her conference I went to the Smithsonian's National Air & Space Museum.

I last visited DC about 7 or 8 years ago. It was interesting to see how much it had changed post 9/11. More areas are closed down to the public, there are more barricades on the streets, security patrols everywhere and restrictions on common things like backpacks inside the various attractions. In a way it reminded me of what I experienced a few weeks ago in Red Square.

I understand the need for national security in uncertain times like these but if we continue to allow our government to use fear as an excuse to strip us of our rights, ban carrying common necessities on our person and generally make it difficult to move about our own country we're going to end up looking more like the former Soviet Union than the United States of America. Fortunately I think things will improve dramatically in 2008 no matter who wins the election. Just my personal opinion...

Anyway, it was a fun trip back to DC and my photos can be viewed here. I always enjoy going to the Smithsonian Museums and can easily spend an entire day in any one of them. Just a FYI, the Museum of American History (my favorite) is closed until summer 2008 for renovation. The National Mall and Dupont Circle are great places to people watch. There's always something going on. I was also amazed by the diversity of restaurants in DC. Since every country in the world is represented in DC by an embassy or a consulate, you can find just about any type of ethnic food you want.

Next up a back-to-back climb of Three Finger Jack and Mount Washington...