National Museum of Natural History…….”Doing DC on a budget”

In this Smithsonian Institution you can explore the world’s natural and cultural wonders beneath a domed building.  Tens of thousands of artifacts and specimens tell about Earth and its evolution.  We saw a huge elephant (see photo below), a life-sized model of a female North Atlantic whale, birds of DC, fossils, skulls ,shells and minerals.  In the Dinosaur Hall we got to meet gigantic fossilized bones as well as a 40 foot long Tyranosaurus rex.  We saw a researcher working on dinosaur teeth aka….Dentistry in the trenches!

Second Floor was insects, butterflies, bones and reptiles as well as the Hope Diamond.  It’s one of the most famous diamonds in the world……a rare, blue color!  See below….

       The elephant in the rotunda of Natural History Museum.