Thanksgiving in Washington, D.C.

We did something a little different for Thanksgiving this year. Instead of having a big Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving day, we ate our Thanksgiving feast on Wednesday and then went down to the city on Thanksgiving.

Washington on Thanksgiving was perfect. The weather was great, the parking was free, the crowds were low, and all the Smithsonian museums were open. (They are only closed on Christmas day.) It was a great day, and I can definitely see us doing this again in the future.

We started the day at the Botanical Gardens. Every year they do a train garden for Christmas. This was our first time seeing it, and it was really interesting.



The kids really liked the rest of the botanical gardens too.

We asked someone to take our picture by the big Christmas tree in the botanical gardens and this is what we got. I guess they wanted to make sure the whole tree was in the shot.

After our tour of the Botanical Gardens we went next door to the American Indian Museum. They have a fun children's area there, and the small crowds made for a fun time.

Our final stop was the Renwick Gallery. The Renwick was the nation's first art museum (meaning it was the first museum dedicated to art and just art), and it had just undergone extensive restorations. To celebrate the reopening, the museum invited nine American artists to create site-specific pieces for the gallery - basically one work for every room. The exhibition, Wonder, has been a huge hit. I know that we told all our friends to go. Every room was astounding. I've thought a lot about it over the last few months.

Tara Donavan, Untitled

 Patrick Dougherty, Shindig

Janet Echelman, 1.8
 

The kids were pretty done by the time we got to the Renwick. Luckily, the big gallery featured this light show on the ceiling and lots of comfy pillows so that people could lie back and watch it. The boys stayed in the big gallery and Nate and I took turns sitting with them and exploring the rest of the upstairs rooms. Then we took the kids through the rest of the rooms one at a time.

Jennifer Angus, In the Midnight Garden

Angus's work was definitely one of the more memorable pieces. The whole room was covered in bugs--real bugs that were arranged in pictures and patterns. The bright pink walls were created with the cochineal insect of Mexico.

Maya Lin, Folding the Chesapeake

Gabriel Dawe, Plexus, A1

 Leo Villareal, Volume (Renwick)

John Grade, Middle Fork

It's really hard to pick a favorite from the exhibition. Every room was remarkable. For more amazing images check out the website.