Accidental Trip to DC

We went to an open house in a town called Takoma Park on Sunday. The three of us because we'd all be living there.
 This town attracts us because they are the only town in the area that bans mosquito spray. The same spray that my neighbors use every three weeks and is killing me. Canada has also banned it. But not our neighbors. Anyway....

Dashed hopes, the town is very hilly and I have a back problem so we had to rule them out. DH asked what next, and I said just keep driving since we were finally out of the house and all together. Let's see what we see.

 Well what we saw was DC. The border of Takoma Park touched DC. And we'd never been to this section. There was a sign for Lincoln's cabin but we never found it. There was the National Cemetery and the National retirement home, and beautiful neighborhoods. We drove and ended up on the mall.
<=  look at this view!!

 DC is getting ready for a concert on Tuesday for Vet's day and
what a preparation. Miles of portalets. JumboTron's going up. I've never seen one being assembled before. 

So we found a parking place along the Smithsonian parkway and took an evening stroll.

As soon as Cole realized where we were he started dancing in the back seat!
I LOVE this place!!

Natural History click to enlarge and view banners!

He may be lame or sick but when he sees where we are he's ready to run. It's so much fun for a poodle person to see their dog happy again.

We walked along barricades skirting along closed sidewalks amid a lot of people.

This place is always buzzing with people from around the world.

That is so much fun to me. Plus I love old buildings. This is the edge of the Castle where you can walk through a specimen garden.
I wanted to see what was happening in the Fall as we usually come down in the summer or Winter.

There were quite a few odd things growing and quite a few city-dwelling critters to keep Cole interested.

We were walking along, taking pictures and YANK! (He's taking this harness thing to the extreme and using it to pull us behind him) Daddy, ever patient waited while Cole surveyed the situation and I took flower pictures. When I wanted to continue the walk, Cole reminded us, the critter. was. still. there!!

While he decided whether to tear apart the large metal bins, I took a picture of this little shop of horrors plant, busy reproducing...

Weird, thorny, fuzzy fruit going from dark green to a brilliant orange. The color of Fall. (nope, Cole is still watching. He can hear it squeaking like a toy. I don't want him to catch it)

copyright reserved to LeeAnna Paylor

 Just to keep this post creative, and you know I live the creative life, The reflection in this gazing ball was awesome in person. I took a mental picture (to test the ole memory synapses) and this camera shot. I want to try to interpret it in paint and then in fabric. I love it.

That's our Monday mischief today. Check out the others at (snoopysdogblog)