Anyway, we went into DC to roam the East Market.  It was a cute little open air market... lots of interesting commodities there to buy.  We ate lunch in a little 'French'-style eatery there along the market.  I had french toast... it was delicious.  :)  We spent a good deal of time there... I worked up a nice sweat from the heat and humidity... and a few of the others bought some tomatoes and plants...

Then we got back in the car and went to the National Arboretum.  Pamela was very eager to see some sort of flower, but it turned out that we were a little too late in the season to see the peak blooms.  In another section of the arboretum, they had a little pond thing with lots of goldfish.  And these goldfish weren't just your normal household variety... they were as big as the carp down at Smith Mountain Lake.  And they come to the surface and beg for food just like those darn carp.  These goldfish seemed more like yellow and orange carp than goldfish.

Anyway, after that, we went and looked through the Rose and Medicinal Garden.  They had all sorts of roses and lavender and herbs... they had a portion of this garden that was called the 'beverage garden' and here they have all sorts of plants that are used to flavor teas and liquors... it was amazing.  and all these plants were very good looking as well... not what I expected from say a coffee plant, etc.

By the time we reached the 'beverage garden' portion of this it was raining pretty hard... which was a nice relief from the heavy, humid air.  But it made it somewhat tough to look at plants... but there was one more little garden there that we wanted to check out.  The Bonsai Gardens.  This portion of the arboretum was divided into 3 areas - China, Japan, and North America... The China and Japan portions were quite amazing... we didn't get a chance to go see the North American section due to the rains getting harder.  Bonsai, if you aren't aware, is an artform more than it is a gardening method.  It is a manner of discipline.  The trees and plants have to be maintained in a certain way to get them to grow in such a miniature manner.  Its quite bizarre to see the miniature versions of trees that you've seen in full size.

After the bonsai gardens, we dashed back to the car and then drove around the park to kinda get a quick look at some of the stuff we didn't get to make on foot.  For example, they had on display 22 Columns from the US Capitol building.  And then in another part of the arboretum, they had the US State Tree Display.  One tree for every state was present.  That would've been very cool to visit if it hadn't been raining so hard.

Anyway, Since I got back around 5:30 pm, I've just been sitting around watching tv, waiting to see if I'd get a phone call from Mike or something with something to do tonight, but that hasn't happened, which is okay because this way I won't be completely out of it tomorrow and I can go in and take the metro to some places I haven't seen.  I think I might hit the Pentagon, Pentagon City, and Crystal City for sure.  I'd also like to go back to Georgetown in the daytime and see some of the shops there... but I'll see if I have time for that tomorrow