I spent most of the afternoon there at the National Zoo.  It was a nice zoo.  It had been so long since I'd been to one though that any zoo probably would've been impressive.  It did seem like a lot of the animals weren't there however. 

Oh well, as usual, I took plenty of pictures, so here they are, for your viewing pleasure.

Entrance to the Zoo

One of the Lion statues 'guarding' the entrance

The first section of the zoo I visited was the bird exhibit.

I was impressed by the Toucan... They're very regal birds... also a lot bigger than I'd imagined.

A stork! - what an ugly bird

Scarlet Ibis

Very Cool - looks like Florida.

Double-Wattled Cassowary

Then on to the Giant Panda Exhibit

I liked this little elephant

The Hippos were rather boring, but I guess if I had a pool to myself on such a hot day, I would be too.

The Camel with arthritis

Bald Eagle

Seal swimming

This California Seal impressed me

Amazonia exhibit - very cool big fish!

The monkeys here were too fast for my camera so the canopy will have to do.

Lion

Tiger.... I guess if I were a big ferocious animal at the National zoo on a hot day, I'd be asleep too.

Ape up in the tower!

Climbing down

Giant Octopus

My first Butterfly picture!

Gorilla

baby gorilla

Ape-love  (not really)

After the zoo I rode the metro to several stops hoping to find a bookstore, but no luck...  So I came back to my apartment and showered.

I also called my 4 mentees for the SLAM mentor program at Tech.  They all seem like cool people.  As of right now, they're all looking into aerospace engineering!  :)

After that I made some of my famous brownies and then drove to Springfield Mall.  I walked around until everything was closing and I picked up a soft-pretzel... they're my weakness I think!

Then I drove across to the Barnes and Noble... I picked up a new book.  (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon) This time its a long one and will take me longer than just a week... I hung out there until closing.  Then I decided to drive over to Old Town Alexandria and start reading my book.  I found a parking spot and walked over to the shoreline.... I started reading but couldn't concentrate and decided to lay down on the grass by the shore.  I ended up napping there until around midnight, then walking to my car and napping in the backseat some more....  By the time I woke up it was getting on to 1am, so I drove back to college park.