Smithsonian Castle Visit; Photo Exhibit

Erica was really excited to see the Smithsonian "Castle". Two great things about this facility among the various Smithsonian Institutions. 1.) They open at 8:30 am, compared to 10:00 am for most of the other buildings. 2.) In the West Hall, they have a sampling of exhibits from the other Museums; this is great for someone who does not know where to start with the Smithsonian Museums.

Another reason why we wanted to start there was they were exhibiting the results of Smithsonian Magazine's annual photo contest. (Link to website.) All the photos were amazing,
but three caught our attention.

The first was a news vendor in a small booth selling newspapers. The man's face is surrounded by newspapers. Erica noticed that the papers were in Hungarian.

The second was a degraded trailer home. Erica thought it looked like a structure she knew in Bombay Beach in Imperial County CA. When we read the caption, we found out it was the exact location that Erica remembered. (Decaying trailer, Garret Suhrie (Los Angeles, CA), Photographed March 2008, Bombay Beach, CA)

The third was a close up picture of multicolor plant leaves. As you look closer, a small frog was hiding in the leaves.