Museum and Mary

Me, Mary Jacobson and Chrissy in a sandwich shop near Mary's office

Today I woke up much more refreshed. It was quiet in our room – a big difference from last night! We started the day going to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. It was my favorite so far. Yes, it’s the museum from the movie, Night at the Museum, Battle of Smithsonian.

We went straight to the Hope Diamond exhibit. Chrissy was a bit disappointed. She thought it would be a lot bigger, and I have to admit, it seemed bigger to me in eighth grade. The fossils were fascinating to me. I’m a huge fossil hunter, a skill I learned as a camp counselor. Actually our part of Ohio is very fossil-rich and many specimens were from our neck of the woods. OK, now I sound like a real geek!

The other highlight of our day was meeting Mary Jacobson in person! As you might recall, Mary (Strongest Mary) is one of the most colorful people in my book. Here’s a woman who was in a coma for two years and told she was going to die from cancer and now pulls trains, planes and automobiles for charity and Strong Woman competitions.

We were driving me when it occured to me that Mary works in DC at AARP. In fact, her office is blocks from our hotel. So I called AARP and we set up a lunch date. Mary is just how I pictured her, flamboyant and friendly. She was wearing really high heels, but she’s actually only 5 foot, 4 inches tall. Mary is determined to get us on Oprah, and I think her story warrants that. We both have big ideas for promotion, that’s for sure. I’m definitely going to come back here and try to get a book signing and local publicity here when the book comes out.

Tonight we’re headed on the subway to Dupont Circle with some friends of Mike’s who moved here. Signing off!