Friends

We went on our annual visit to Nature’s Best, the annual photo contest at the Museum of Natural History.  The competition is intense.  These are among our favorites, a most difficult choice with such an outstanding collection.

Our RV friends Paul and Carol were near DC and we were happy to get together and catch up on travels and family. 

 We met at the National Museum of the American Indian.  The cafe at the museum features food from various native tribes and it is a real treat to eat there.  After lunch we took a guided tour of sections of the museum. 

The introductory movie has three “screen”levels, the ceiling, the screen and a rock on the floor.  The effect is quite dramatic.

Our docent is from Bolivia and told histories of tribes of Northern, Central and Southern America. 

He emphasized that there were many civilizations here long before Columbus arrived and Europeans settled here.  Under the 1813 Doctrine of Discovery, Indians lost their right to land because of European “discovery.”  The Heye Collection contains 10,000 years of the history of the Americas.  The dog represents life and comes from 500 BC-AD.  The sacred eagle means power.

These wampum belts are  actually a contract between tribes.  They represent an oral agreement sealed with feathers, seeds, etc.  Each stripe means a recorded contractual term. 

“Nations” by Jenny Ann “Chapoose” Taylor includes the names of 456 tribes in the stripes and the 50 states represented in the stars.