National Arboretum

I went climbing this evening for the first time since Rachel was born, which I think is a good indication that we’ve adjusted to life with the baby and we’re getting back to business as usual.  Although I guess that is easy to say when dinner keeps arriving at your door every other day and you don’t have to worry about shopping or cooking.  This past week we’ve had some nice visits and great meals dropped off by Susan, Ivy, and Sonya and Malcolm – leaving us with a full refrigerator of leftovers.

I’ve been reading and enjoying A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson, about his experience hiking the Appalachian Trail.  It is funny and interesting, but includes many depressing statistics about the thousands of species of trees, plants, birds, and other mammals that have become extinct in the last hundred years or so.  With that in mind it was nice to go to the National Arboretum this morning, which was one of the last things on my list of major destinations in the DC area that I wanted to see after leaving my job.

The Arboretum is over 400 acres of trees, shrubs, gardens, and trails, and it is just a couple miles from the Capitol.  I’ve driven by it many times but never realized how big and how nice it is.  It’d be a great place for walking or running if you had more time.  With a two year old and an infant we weren’t able to cover too much ground.

Rachel slept the entire time in a pouch that Danielle was wearing.  Joseph tore around the trails with plenty of energy.  In the background of this picture you can see some old columns that were part of the U.S. Capitol for a long time, and were moved to the Arboretum when an extension to the Capitol was built in the 1950’s.

It was a gorgeous day – high 60’s, sunny, breezy.  I was grateful to be unemployed and outside.  It was so nice I went back out with Joseph this afternoon for a long stretch at a playground.