Ahhhhh, we made it to D.C. I managed to muster up enough strength to head out the door of our hotel, back to the Metro, and into the Air and Space Museum for all our benefit. They had a super cool exhibit on 50 years of space travel that is possible now that the Soviet Union is no more. The centerpiece, in my opinion, was the display of the hookup of the Apollo-Soyuz spacecraft, which occurred in 1975. The two tin cans from the ends of the earth met in space by way of an adapter that allowed the two crews to shuttle back and forth for a while. A number of the museum's displays need to be overhauled, and, indeed, many wings of the place are in the process of being updated or changed out. It was still kind of fun to see the funky late seventies-early eighties ideas of what dynamic museum displays were like.

We hopped across the street to the Hirshhorn Museum, a move that was done for Mommy's sanity, and I found that the little guy really got into some of the sculptural works. He was also mesmerized by a little Rube Goldbergian flick called The Way Things Go - nothing but chain reactions for 30 minutes, folks. The kid's attention span was something other art lovers remarked upon in passing, but all I could see, in the end, was that it most likely gave my son a lot of ideas that won't reveal themselves until a time in the near or distant future. It takes a pyro mama to know a pyro baby...

So we headed back to our hotel room, where I found this bit of information about the building in which we were staying at a reduced price, thanks to Priceline. The things I find when I'm actually looking for information about how not to be charged $35/hour for internet usage in the hotel's business center:

In the early 1970's, the Metropolitan Hospital occupied the site that is now the Renaissance M Street Hotel. Psychology was one of its specialties, and in particular, how the mind might affect the body. Adherents of Sigmund Freud, a number of the doctors were fascinated at the possibility that dreams could impact a person's health and more so, their daily interaction with others.

Findings indicated that the more vivid and timely the dream the more apt the patient was to positively relate with family life, their peers and work pressures. It was the advent of a new era in psychology - understanding the relationship between mental and physical well-being. Embraced by the medical world, the research offered the business community a new way to impact their customers. Creating a positive, tactile experience could affect a like mental reaction. No industry embraced this theory more passionately than the hospitality industry.

At the new Renaissance M Street Hotel, we uphold these tenets in a way that psychological pioneers would surely applaud. Distinctive amenities such as high-definition television throughout the hotel and state of the art guest room bedding and technology foster an experience that transcends the ordinary - the stuff that dreams are made of.

Oh, joy. Just what I need. A promotional blurb about my lodgings that gave the place an aura of having velvet straitjackets in hidden nooks and crannies in case they were needed to enhance your enjoyment of the distinctive amenities. I picked up one of those in-room guidebooks that was sure to be filled with the attractive attractions of the DC area and the numerous shopping opportunities awaiting me as soon as I stepped out the door and found this little article about our secretary of state's clothing choices:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived at the Wiesbaden Army Airfield on Wednesday dressed all in black. She was wearing a black skirt that hit just above the knee, and it was topped with a black coat that fell to mid-calf. The coat, with its seven gold buttons running down the front and its band collar, called to mind a Marine's dress uniform or the "save humanity" ensemble worn by Keanu Reeves in "The Matrix."...Rice boldly eschewed the typical fare chosen by powerful American women on the world stage. She was not wearing a bland suit with a loose-fitting skirt and short boxy jacket with a pair of sensible pumps. She did not cloak her power in photogenic hues, a feminine brooch and a non-threatening aesthetic. Rice looked as though she was prepared to talk tough, knock heads and do a freeze-frame "Matrix" jump kick if necessary. Who wouldn't give her ensemble a double take -- all the while hoping not to rub her the wrong way?

Ugh.

I took a nice nap instead. Lord knows I needed it.