August 26, 2004. A surprisingly nice day in late summer for Washington, DC, and a great day to take a trip to its Natural History museum!
Now I know some of you think museums are boring and a waste of time. Allow me to correct you. They're actually crowded, very warm or freezing cold, and full of dead things. No, I'm joking. I had a fantastic time, and hope to go back soon to see the other half of the museum.
Here are a few pictures from the trip. To see a larger image, just click on the thumbnails below.

The front entrance, advertising special features, and showing off two Panda statues.

A closeup of 2 of the 150 Panda statues wandering around DC.

An inside shot of the main lobby. I cheated and combined three photographs into one. The first two floors held all of the exhibits - we barely saw half of them!

Something about this turtle skeleton fascinates me. I suppose it's because I usually see turtle shells intact, even after its owner has er, moved on.

I will never be able to look at squirrels the same way again. If I ever write a novel or create a horror film, it's going to have animated squirrel skeletons in it.

A staring contest between Brian and a dinosaur. Their concentration was unaffected by the tourists who kept getting in the way. It's a true battle of wills. . . this could take a while.
Take special note of the shark sillouette on the wall in the top right corner. It's a shadow of a shark, but a real shark jaw in front of it!

The Hope Diamond, a thing of beauty that I could not fully capture with my sorry digital camera skills.

This lion has been staring at that giraffe for ages, thinking "hmmmmm, lunchtime!"