I will admit that we are frugal; not cheap, just frugal.  When there are 19 fabulous Smithsonian museums available to explore at no charge, why pay to see another museum, if all we have are a few days in D.C.?  I never even considered adding non-Smithsonian venues to our list, because there was no way we would have the time to get to them.

That was then, this was now.  On our way to the American History Museum, we came upon the Botanic Gardens; always an interest to both me and Bruce.  If there is something colorful to photograph, I put on the breaks!  And, for those who know me and how fast I like to walk (Mom?  Bruce??), having me finally STOP is a welcome reprieve.

I was sure there would be an entry fee, though, and we really did intend on revisiting the American History Museum, so we could see the first two floors.  But, I popped in, anyway, just to check.  FREE!  It is a public garden and there was no charge to enter!  “O.K!”, we said; we’ll just pop in for a few minutes and take a quick look around…

Dozens of photos later, we finally left, because there was nothing more to see.  We had covered every exhibit- in detail.  My best photos are on my Fototime site, but I will share some of my favorites with you here:

Yeah, I know; this isn’t exactly a masterpiece, but it’s a cacao pod !  This is where chocolate comes from!  Seeds are harvested from the pod and left in piles for about one week to ferment.  Afterwards, the seeds are spread out in the sun to dry.  The farmer sells the dried beans to processing companies that roast and crush the beans into paste called chocolate liquor.  This is used to make that heavenly can’t-live-without chocolate.

Cocoa pods make me smile; I can’t pass one by without photographing it.