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| 3/31/26 Smithsonian National Zoo |
My most frustrating time of the DC trip was our visit to the
Smithsonian National Zoo. Famous for its resident pandas, the zoo is probably crowded
throughout the year, but never more so than during spring break aligning with
peak cherry tree blossoming. Could we have chosen a more congested time to
visit?
Although I managed to sketch a few animals here and there,
it was extremely challenging just to move through visitor traffic, let alone
stop for a sketch. To make matters worse, temps in the low 40s during the early
part of the trip had suddenly changed to the mid-80s! I wasn’t quite ready for summer!
As expected, the panda exhibit was the most congested of all,
but the well-designed viewing area made it relatively easy to get a good look. Delighting
everyone, this panda spent quite a while sitting on his comfy stump, chewing
bamboo. (See my Instagram post for a video of this cutie.)
After an exhausting, grueling day swimming upstream
through a continual river of humanity, we all needed a break. Lucky for us, the
district’s best donut shop was only a few blocks away! It was the highlight of
my last full day in DC.
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| One of the zoo's stars |
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| Donuts make everything better! |
The rest of this post is a collection of sketch journal randomness during my travels.
Using DC’s excellent Metro system daily gave me lots of commuters to sketch.
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| 3/27/26 light rail ride to the Seattle airport |
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| Waiting at SEA |
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| 3/28/26 First of many DC Metro train rides |
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4/1/26 Looking for lunch at DCA before our flight back to Seattle, my brother-in-law
and I found unexpectedly good sushi at Matsutake Sushi! |
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| Waiting at DCA |
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Yes, I did get some peanut M&Ms -- a "shareable"
size bag that I didn't share! ;-) |
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| Mandatory gate sketch |
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