Spies and Snow

Saturday we went to the famed International Spy Museum (www.spymuseum.org). The museum interestingly laid out the history of spying, with lots of stories, displays, photos, and spy equipment. Obviously, the best and the latest equipment isn't there, just the old and obsolete. But is was interesting. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed inside, so we only have the one in front of the building.

That's Dan, in case you couldn't tell, pointing out the sign board. You may also notice a bit of snow. We had 6-8 more inches so it made driving around town a lot of fun.

We didn't quite see everything inside so hope to go back someday soon.

Another Smithsonian

There are 17 museums listed on the main website for the Smithsonian, including the national zoo. (www.si.edu/museums) We have now been to eight of them. Don't know if we will ever hit them all, but there are a couple more we want to see, anyway.

Last weekend we went to the National Portrait Gallery. The National Portrait Gallery is a few blocks north of the National Mall, in what used to be the Patent Office. It is a huge building and once was the site of the Inaugural Ball after Lincoln's second election.

As the name suggests, it is filled with portraits, mostly painting but some photos and a few sculptures. They had exhibits of presidents, early notable American pioneers, Civil War figures, contemporary figures, and much much more. Hundreds and hundreds of them. It was almost too much to take in, especially if you took time to read the description of each one. However, we really enjoyed it.

Now we have culture!

Christmas 2009

We were so blessed to be in Seattle for Christmas and New Years eve/day. We were able to spend a lot of time with the fab five - Kacie, Shell, Nate, Callie, and Matt - as well as Bruce, Joellen, and Joellen's family. I could write a lot, but if a picture is worth a thousand words the following montage is worth about 44,000. Be sure your speakers are turned on and ENJOY the show.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We wanted to see many more of our Seattle friends while we were there but illness prevented that. We hope to see them next time we are fortunate enough to be back in town.

Many blessings to you all, our faithful readers, for the coming year!