Morning Walk on the National Mall

It was too good of a day to not drive somewhere for a morning walk rather than hang around the neighborhood. Earlier in the week we went to Mason Neck Park. So we drove in to town and parked in our old Capitol Hill neighborhood. It was unusually quiet for a Friday, but there was a very long line in front of the Air and Space Museum that just reopened and a few very large groups of students. October is a really good month to visit DC because it is less busy - which I prefer. I was still on the look out for black and white minimalism scenes that could be used for the weekly photo challenge but I didn’t think we would come across anything suitable. Taking the same path we took so many times before when we lived on Capitol Hill we walked by the house office buildings and over to the US Botanic Garden. Everything seems to be in between seasons. The summer flowers are long gone and not much else is blooming now. There were seasonal pumpkins by the fountain in the main hall area. Then we walked to the Smithsonian castle gardens and the Hirshhorn sculpture garden. The arm sculpture against the wall might be a good option but it’s not very pleasant. And to our delight there was not only one, but three albino squirrels scurrying about on the mall near the National gallery of Art. Some of the modern lines of the gallery might be good. Then we passed by the Capitol reflecting pool on our way back to the neighborhood. We didn’t get very close to the dome so I tried using the RAW 48 megapixels setting to see if the photo would crop in without pixelating. It’s always memorable to return to the neighborhood. We loved there for thirteen years and do miss a lot about it. We are glad we can still come in to town and visit.