I had the great pleasure of attending the Nation Bicycle Summit in Washington, D.C. and my friend and I rented a house instead of paying outrageous prices for hotel rooms. We filled the house with 10 bicycle advocates and this made the cost quite negligible, it also put us close the metro station so we might attend seminars at the Reagan building. We also visited Senators and Congressmen and Congresswomen while there to promote our alternative transportation views as well as safe routes to schools for children. During all this we managed to visit the Smithsonian American History Museum as well as the Aeronautical and Space museum.
It was grandiose and really interesting, and there are never enough hours in the day.
When the bicycle event was over, Jim flew up to join me and we went to the Smithsonian to see the Mineral hall and gem stone area. I had gone last year, but this was new for Jim.
We met with Jeff Post and Mike Wise and went into the "inner sanctum" where the analytical machinery was kept and saw how they discern what a mineral is by these very modern means.
After a while we were invited into the "blue" room, aptly named because of the carpet colour. We saw some stunning minerals and new acquisitions from Tucson. Paul Pohwet joined us and we got to dig through some drawers of fabulous mineral specimens!
On the way to the blue room we walked down aisles of cabinets labeled with various minerals and stopped to look through a few of those also.
The floor was constructed to withstand the great weight of all these units by someone who thought ahead.
In the blue room we saw some awesome stibiconites, rhodochrosites, manganites and malachites. There were so many it was breath taking.
Shelf upon shelf was loaded with great rocks!
After some fun looking we went into the gem vault and saw wonderful gemstones, jewelry and antiquities. Jeff Post was kind enough to give us a great spiel of the history of many of the pieces. We left, after a number of hours, to return to the mineral hall to have a good look around. Jim has a new lens for his camera and wanted to try the macro features out.
We left to go meet with Fran Allegra, a judge that is a collector in the area. We went to his office, right by the Dolly Madison house, and had a nice look at his wonderful minerals. His security is the best, his office is surrounded by security guards as he is a federal judge.
No worries!
We then went to dinner at Georgie Browns, a wonderful southern U.S. flair restaurant. It had wonderful crab cakes and we were just hoping to get to eat some while in Washington.
Great conversation, catching up on family doings, and good food made for a wonderful evening. We went back to the house and said goodbye to those leaving early in the morning, we had a few reps from Hawaii there. Long flight for those poor folks!
Jim and I went back to the Smithsonian and we had rented a car, as we were out of the house that day and we made sure it was all locked up before heading out. Finding a parking space was no easy feat, but we found one for $10.00 a day, not bad.
We met up with Bob, Sarah and their daughter, Jessica. Jessica is a whiz with minerals and her knowledge is amazing.
We spent much of the day looking at minerals with them. Jessica is a delight and fun to be with, as are her parents.
We left the museum after declining a visit to Jessica's house as we were driving to Pennsylvania to stay at a hotel and visit John and Merle White the next morning. I plan to get back to see Jessica's pieces one day.

John White had recommended a hotel nearby and we crashed there after eating, we were pretty tired. After a nice night of quiet sleep ( Washington is a loud city, may I add?) and we head over to John and Merle's house for the BEST visit and great lunch. John cooked our meal and we had a nice local wine to compliment his very fine cuisine.
We had a wonderful time looking at his minerals, they were fascinating and we spent ages looking through his drawers, which he kindly brought over to us one by one.
It was one of the most memorable visits I have ever had, John and Merle were delightful to spend time with and I only wish we had more time. We had to leave and drive straight to the airport back in Washington,D.C.
Sadly, we departed with lots of promises of a return.
We made it with a few minutes to spare, had a quiet and easy going flight home. I had been gone for a week, it was the busiest week bar none. I had thought I was busy in Tucson! No. Much more so in Washington.
I love to lobby for healthy things, visit with other like minded people and learn more at seminars. I was a board member of the League of American Bicyclists last year, and am now the Texas Ambassador for the League.
But it sure is nice to change out hats and come back into the mineral world. What a fun time, and Jim and I had our 6th anniversary at the White's house, what a memorable time!
Visiting other's collections is a treat and an honour.
Can't wait to go back again, next year.
My thanks to Fran Allegra and the White's for making it special, and to the Gentlemen at the Smithsonian for taking time out of their busy day to host us.
Cheers, Gail Spann

In order to leave comments to this blog post, you must be registered