DC trip, Part I

I mentioned I was going to see the parents as they visited my coast last weekend. We spent Saturday in DC, and saw a lot! In order to keep this manageable, I'm breaking up the day into bite-sized pieces. Today's installment: the bugs at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.

The museum on a hot June day. The banners are advertising their butterfly exhibit. More on that soon!

A nectar-sipping bug with a tongue 4 times its body length. Even my dad was impressed. And he doesn't get that excited about bugs.

Butterflies! My dad said he used to collect some like the yellow one you see here. They had some neat information on the evolution of butterflies, and a really cool fossil moth.

After the butterfly exhibit, we dropped by the Orkin Insect Zoo--truly my favorite part of the museum. There are all kinds of creepy crawlers, from spiders to water bugs to--more butterflies! We saw one coming out of its coccoon.

One of the gazillion tarantulas they had in the exhibit. This one has orange knees! There was a bird-eating tarantula, and one with pink toes.

Look carefully and you'll see a log covered in giant cockroaches. Something I wouldn't want to find in my kitchen at midnight. Say it with me--ewww....

Next installment: the mineral and gem exhibit!