After my trip to the National Cathedral I made my way back to our hotel. Having walked multiple miles, most of that in the heat, I was completely exhausted when I got back to the room. Laura, on the other hand, had just gotten out of her meetings, and was ready to explore. so, we found ourselves back on the Metro and headed toward the Mall and the Smithsonian museums.
On the way we stopped for lunch at the Pentagon City Mall. The area was overrun with middle-schoolers in matching T-shirts. This, apparently, was the week for school trips to DC, and we ran into crowds of students the entire time we were here.
We got off the Metro at the Smithsonian stop and waled out onto the mall. Large white tents were being set up for some activity, and we feared some big event on the mall for Saturday. Regardless, we walked across the Mall to the Museum of Natural History.