Carolina Girl

Sophie really enjoyed herself on her visit to Chapel Hill despite the heat. She renewed her commitment to being a Carolina fan in many ways, not the least of which was the campus tour she and I took together (constantly ducking into air conditioned buildings). On the tour she got to visit the famous Old Well, a symbol of the university. You can't see her well in this photo, but she's there, in the shade near the water fountain.

Video of Visit to DC

Here's Sophie in Washington, DC near the White House and at the National Zoo. I think she made a subliminal connection between the two places, concentrating as she did on the bars at the White House that seemed like they might be containing an affable but dangerous creature of minimal intelligence. But again, I may be reading too much into the matter.

Right click here to save the video above.

Visit to Baltimore and Washington, DC

We're back from our visit to Baltimore and DC. First we spent some time with Sophie's great grandma Wilson. She had a good time and was able to sport her Chucks (see above) for the first time.


Then we went down to DC for a few days. It was a good visit but quite hot. While Mindy worked during the day, Sophie and I explored the city a bit. We visited the National Gallery, where Sophie was most struck by a small exhibit of drawings, etchings, and woodcuts (especially the 17th-century etching featuring an elephant and a drawing she thought might have been of Mindy).


Here she is deciding whether she liked being dragged along to see Raphael, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, or El Greco less:


We also visited the Museum of Natural History, where the dinosaurs impressed Sophie enough for her to wave hello to them. On the mall, she posed briefly in front of a few main monuments. I've enlarged the photos to give you an idea of her reaction to each building. Interpret them as you want. I can't help but see:

a distaste for monumental architecture, especially of overly-large obelisks . . .


. . . a reverence for the vision and oratorical prowess of the former legislator from Illinois (ahem) . . .


. . . and maybe a desire to serve in the Congress. But who knows.


We also visited the National Zoo with Mindy, but more on that later. The reptiles and amphibians were again the big hit.