The legendary titan arum bloomed at the U.S. Botanic Garden a few weeks ago. We had been watching the giant flower (largest in the world) all week on the webcam, waiting for it to bloom. It doesn't bloom regularly or often and only stays open for about 24 hours once it does bloom. It's called the corpse flower because it smells like rotting flesh when it opens up. It finally started opening on a Sunday evening, after the Botanic Garden had closed for the day. So Monday morning we made sure to arrive early, knowing there would be a big crowd. When we arrived, there was a mass of people already waiting for the Botanic Garden to open. Luckily, we were one of the first few groups in and only had to wait a few minutes. The line grew longer all day and many people had to be turned away at the end of the day. Celebrity flower for sure.
It was pretty amazing, standing eight feet tall. We were disappointed that it didn't really smell. (Because who wouldn't want to smell rotting flesh?) Apparently it smelled pretty bad right when it opened Sunday night but had worn off by the time the flower paparazzi arrived.
Nice, Oliver.
We still had some time on our parking meter so we stopped next door at the National Museum of the American Indian. We hadn't been here for a few years and a lot had changed inside. The kids were excited about the children's area and we spent most of our time there. It's crazy to think that this museum hadn't even opened yet when we first moved here nine years ago.
