This week has been fun. On Saturday, we went to cryptography museum. It was quite boring and a super long drive to get there. I learned that the old computers were really really big. For lunch we ate at a Thai restaurant.
Cette semaine était amusante. Samedi nous sommes allés au musée de la cryptographie. C’était très ennuyant et un voyage très long pour y aller. J’ai appris que les anciens ordinateurs étaient très grands. Pour le déjeuner nous avons mange à un restaurant Taiwanese.
continued… We followed a walking trail to The Constitution Gardens. The Gardens felt more like a park than a garden, with grass, lots of trees and a shallow lake in the middle.
That said, it was a lovely setting.
continued… We continued west to the Abraham Lincoln Memorial. As we approached it, we saw that it was under construction.
But we could still go in. A sign said they were building a basement to house a theater, exhibits and store.
continued… We moved on to the exhibit that Eric really wanted to see, Fossils. It covered 600-million years of history, and it was quite large. Eric was really interested and keenly read each and every display. Christi was ambivalent and half-heartedly read the displays that caught her attention. Keith was grossed out by skeletons and didn’t even want to be in the room. Keith constantly asked if we could leave yet and was frustrated when Eric kept saying no.
Since it was believed that life on Earth began in the ocean, it wasn’t surprising that the display on ocean creatures was large. Like in the Ocean Hall, they explained the evolution of many specific types of species. Scientists believed that in the early days of Earth, the world was very hot. Species evolved from simple organisms like algae and plankton into all kinds of complex species. The evolution helped them to adapt to their surroundings better, as well as to changes in their surroundings — either the species changed locations for one reason or another (ie to find food) or there was an environmental change (ie a salinity change). Some species left the water for land.
continued… After crystals, we moved on to gems. Gems were mineral crystals that grew naturally within the earth that have been cut and polished. The crystal room had had quite a few people in it compared to the other rooms we’d been in, and the gem room was jam packed. There were so many people that it was hard to get a good look at the objects on display. There were several extraordinarily large gems featured, including a literal crystal ball.
