washington dc: mary livingston ripley garden

so, i have saved the best (to me) for last.  this is my last washington d.c. post and it is WAY photo heavy.  there is no way i could leave out any of these gorgeous flowers.  i'm so glad we decided to stay a few extra hours and i got to experience this place.  this is exactly how i would like my own garden to look.  maybe one day.  :)

and look!!!  a monarch butterfly sighting in the wild!!!  i was SO excited!!!  it has been years since i've seen one.  it's not a great picture, but it's a great memory. 

do you see the sleeping monarch?

joining in with annie and "how does your garden grow?"

washington dc: smithsonian sculpture garden

i had intended to leave d.c. at 3:00 to avoid rush hour traffic and get to our hotel 4 hours away in plenty of time.  after walking the monuments, however, g mentioned that he wanted to go see the imax.  we talked about it and ended up staying and leaving d.c. after rush hour (sorta) at 6:00.  i'm not sure if rush hour ever ends in d.c., but it wasn't too bad.  we didn't get to our hotel till 11:00 that night, but that was okay too since we had a reservation.  it's good to be flexible sometimes.

so, we had some time to kill after the imax and as we wandered the streets we got to enjoy several beautiful gardens that we wouldn't have if we'd rush out of town earlier.  in the flower gardens, g graciously sat on a park bench and waited on me to finish photographing all the pretties.  i was a little surprised, though, at how much he enjoyed this sculpture garden.  he came up with his own names for all the sculptures as we walked through.  such fun times.

washington dc: smithsonian butterfly garden

along the front of the smithsonian museum of natural history there is a bird sanctuary (if you look closely in the triceratops jaw you can see a nest!) and then the entire ally down one side has been converted into a butterfly garden.  it is such a gorgeous and tranquil place right in the middle of the city.