The U.S. Botanic Garden

We spent part of yesterday (Saturday) at the United States Botanic Garden.  We also did this Thanksgiving Weekend of last year.  (See http://thedastrupdish.blogspot.com/2009/11/great-thanksgiving-weekend.html )  Last year's theme was "fairies" and they had numerous trains circling around the plants and displays.  This year's theme focused on "wonders and icons around the world."  There were not as many trains, but we did recognize the "caterpillar" from last year and, of course, "Percy" from "Thomas the Tank Engine."  All buildings are made out of acorns, nuts, twigs, bark, etc.

The U.S. Supreme Court:

Inside the East Gallery-The Garden Railway:

Petra, Jordan:

Taj Mahal, Agra, India:

Eiffel Tower, Paris, France:

White Heron Castle, Himeji, Japan:

Machu Picchu, Peru:

Learned how to put this particular plant "to sleep."  The kids rubbed the leaves and the branch relaxed:

McKenna taking everything in:

Allison, Madison and Parker in front of the bear:

The U.S. Capitol with all the gorgeous plants and flowers:

Inside the jungle, which has more than one level (you can barely see Allison peeking through the railing):

The Botanic Gardens sit at the base of Capitol Hill.  As we were coming out, this is what it looked like at sunset: