Lookit the Elephant!

I should mention that we took the kiddies to the Museum of Natural History on Tuesday. I will also mention that a simple walk across the mall from the Smithsonian metro stop to the museum was Sahara-like. It is bloody hot down here, and I don't care for swamp-like humidity. The museum itself was fine, save a few overwhelmingly PC exhibits. I think the museum community is pretty reliably left, so it's no big surprise. Mrs. was unimpressed with their description of "Wealth in Africa" as being centered (other than on actual money) on "friends, family, etc." No mention of poverty. No mention of internecine warfare. Whatever. There was a section of the museum labeled as "Western Culture", which turned out to be a gift shop. Intentional? Meh. I would've expected a "westerners have ruined the world" lecture, so crass commercialism was a relief in comparison.

The only other exhibit of note was the "Arctic!" exhibit, which is only notable for the excessive! use! of! exclamation! marks!!!!!! throughout. The hyperactive, handwringing, overblown description of man's destructiveness (and no, we didn't actually go through the wretched thing) led me to refer to it as the Al Gore exhibit.

A few expensive tchtochkes later, a brief panic when we couldn't locate youngest, and then home.