We decided to spend a second day in DC to explore more of the city. 

I'm happy we got a more authentic look at the city on the second day. We drove in and out of town on a back route that took us through the city's residential areas, where we got to see streets and streets of great row houses, like these. We also got a chance to eat at We, the Pizza, which seemed to be populated by lots of locals stopping in for a slice after work and relatively free of tourists. 

This great fountain and statues, called The Court of Neptune Fountain, was located outside of the Library of Congress, which was another huge, multi-building complex. The piece was apparently completed in 1898, which is even more mind-blowing when you consider all the toplessness. 

King Neptune himself. 

One thing I really like about DC is all its green space. It's a big difference from New York City, or at least what I remember of it from my last visit. Every corner you turn seems to have a green lawn, trees, or garden. This area, behind and off to the side of the Capitol Building, was an magical discovery. The petals were falling to the ground from these pink magnolia trees creating an amazing soft carpet. 

As always, thanks to Dave for this amazing photography. I think we're going to try to begin selling some prints, maybe in our Etsy store. 

We made a stop in the United States Botanical Gardens, which was a really neat tropical oasis. It reminded us a lot of our neighborhood in Florida with many of the same plants we had growing. We also stopped in the Native American museum for a bit. We had planned to explore more of the Smithsonian museums after discovering they were all free, but we simply ran out of time. There was so much to see!