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Hi everybody!

Dear Mrs. Boekhout and all my friends back home-- sorry I haven't written for a couple weeks. I hope this letter makes up for it, because it's all about my first trip to Washington, DC. Mrs. Polly took me along on a one-day and one night business trip, so I only go to go to one place: the National Air and Space Museum. But don't worry. Later this week I get to go to Washington, DC again and this time we are staying for several days so we will be able to see more things.

The web site for the National Air & Space Museum is here
http://www.nasm.si.edu/

We went with a very nice lady, Mrs. Carmee Lim, who came all the way from Singapore! See if you can find it on a globe. Mrs. Lim runs an organization called Parents Advisory Group on the Internet. She teaches families how to use the Internet safely. Here is their web site http://www.pagi.org.sg/index.html

Here is a picture of us both in front of a model of the Space Shuttle! And here's more info on it
http://www.nasm.edu/galleries/gal114/SpaceRace/sec500/sec540.htm

From there we took a trip to the Moon! Well, not really. Here's a photo of me next to a full size copy of the Apollo Lunar Module. These were used to explore the Moon in flights during the years 1969-1972. There's also a picture of more of the exhibit, but I'm riding in Mrs. Polly's backpack for that one so you can't see me.
Find out more about this exhibit here
http://www.nasm.edu/galleries/cchoice/lm2/lm2.htm

AND
here's a photo of me next to a REAL MOON ROCK. It's made of basalt (I did not see any ba-pepper anywhere--ha ha!) and was collected from the Moon in 1972. It is nearly FOUR BILLION YEARS OLD.
I was pretty excited to touch it with my hoof. Do you think this makes me the FIRST MOOSE ON THE MOON?
You can find out lots more about the touchable Moon rock here
http://www.nasm.edu/galleries/gal100/moonrock.html

I also got to stand next to a copy of the Mars Viking lander. In 1976, its twin became the first spacecraft to operate on Mars.
http://www.nasm.edu/galleries/gal100/viking.html
Here are some pictures taken from that first Mars landing
http://www.nasm.edu/ceps/etp/mars/viking/viking_views.html

We waited in line to see a life-size model of Skylab, the manned space station which was abandoned in 1974. It re-entered the earth's atmosphere in 1979. http://www.nasm.edu/galleries/gal114/SpaceRace/sec500/sec510.htm; here are some of the rockets on display nearby.

We then went into the gift shop to get a souvenir pin (I have quite a collection I'm bringing back with me!!) and I stopped to talk to some stuffies. See the HAND in the left side of the picture? Some kids came over and said "Look at the cute moose! Is it for sale?" But Mrs. Polly saved me. Whew! That was CLOSE!!!

I am glad to be back in my warm bed at Pollywood farm. Guess what! Today was Easter and my friend MiniMoose and I played outdoors for a while. Here are some of the crocuses we found in the front yard.

The Pollys always have an Easter egg hunt, and guess what-- one of the eggs was hidden in my stuffie bag with me! The clue was "My, what big antlers you have!" Stephen guessed it right away! Here is a picture of me next to a pretty egg tree. There are ribbons and white rabbits on the tree. My other buddy, Kukui, is in the picture too. (I think she LIKES me!)

I hope everyone is having fun there! I will be coming home before you know it!

Love, Monty