We didn't spend any time in Washington DC on the third day, we had our sights set to visit the National Aquarium in Baltimore. I hadn't packed any shorts for the trip which I regretted once I got there and realized the heat we'd be experiencing. But the day before I had picked up a pair but fortunately things started cooling down and we even got some rain. We had a slow start to the morning as everyone was feeling tired from all the touring we'd been doing which involved a lot of walking.
We made a stop in Reston, Virginia to get something to eat while my sister's husband took care of work related tasks. From there it took maybe over an hour to get to Baltimore, I'm not entirely sure as I slept for maybe half of the ride. I'm really glad my sister has a huge Excursion so we weren't crammed into a small suv or something; I had the back seat entirely to myself! I was excited to visit Maryland simply because this was the first year I'd visited more than one state and this one marked the fifth this year!
The National Aquarium was pretty nice, there was a lot to see more than just fish. I had been to the Montery Bay Aquarium in California when I was thirteen and I recall that being pretty neat too but it was too long ago to compare the two. All I know is that both are definitely better than the aquarium we have in Denver, but oh well; a city can't have everything. We caught some shows as well which included a 4D documentary on the animals of the Arctic and a dolphin show. I was pretty surprised by the 4D show because you are watching a 3D movie but the fourth dimension involves wind blowing, spraying water, and jabs to your side from the seat among other things. I was freaked about about being poked by the seat though, I wasn't expecting that and it kind of pissed me off; I thought I was going to have to karate chop someone. The dolphin show was cool, but it always weirds me out that they can make these large fish do such things on command.
We finished up at the aquarium and ate at P.F. Chang's! I really like it there, I always seem to leave satisfied. It was dark now and before we headed to the car I wanted to get a night shot of this Coast Guard boat. I had to improvise a supporting surface for the long exposure to prevent camera shake, so I laid my camera along the side of the dock and hoped I wouldn't drop it in the water. It took about four tries before I was satisfied with the shot. I still think it kind of sucks but I wasn't going to stay there all night trying to take the picture.
The ride home was shorter as there was less traffic but the rain was coming down pretty hard. We got home to clean up and then headed to the movie to see Iron Man 2 which was pretty cool. I went to bed pretty late as I packed up all my stuff to get ready to leave the next day. Just like the way you dread Mondays as the first day of work, I was dreading my last day of my vacation; all good things come to an end.
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