David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins

I went on a self indulgent trip today. I went to Washington, DC to do three things. My main interest was to see the newly completed and open to the public Hall of Human Origins at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. The second thing I wanted to do was sit in on a lecture by the two authors of "What Does it Mean to be Human," Richard Potts and Christopher Sloan. Potts conceived the presentation of this collection of fossils and artifacts of ancient humans in 1985. He worked with a number, almost an army, of people bringing it to fruition. The book is a companion to the display and the co-author, Sloan, is Senior Editor of National Geographic magazine. Both are experts in paleontology and paleoanthropology. Potts has worked on an archeological dig in Kenya East Africa yearly for a couple of decades, and Sloan is also one of the finest paleobiology artist ever.

The third self indulgent exercise was to visit a restaurant that I found by pure chance on the Internet last week called Ben's Chili Bowl. I am a major of fan of chili con carne sin frijol, or chili peppers cooked with meat without beans. In my opinion, chili con carne sin frijol is true southwestern chili. Ben's advertises chili dogs that are so good the dogs bark.
I parked at the Dunn Loring - Merrifield Metro parking lot, and rode the Orange line to the L'Enfant Plaza station where I switched to the Green line to the U-Street - Cardozo station. The Cardozo station is across the street, U Street, from Ben's. 

I found out just last night that French President Nicolas Sarkozy and First Lady Carla Bruni, along with two of Sarkozy's sons, had lunch at Ben's Chili Bowl Tuesday afternoon. How cool is that? I missed all the hub bub by one day. Probably just as well.

Ben's was opened in 1958 by African-Americans, and continues to this day to be run by African-Americans. My waiter today, both for lunch and dinner, was a beautiful young lady from Ethiopia. In the block just south of Ben's there are 3 (I took pictures of all three I was so amazed) up scale Ethiopian restaurants. Not being a fan of the food, I didn't try them.

The hot dogs were fabulous. I can't compare them with 7-11s because the chili (definitely chili con carne sin frijol) is darker and spicier, but I believe I would rather have Ben's than 7-11s. Except Ben's are about twice the price. No doubt partly because of their location. For dinner I had a large bowl of Ben's Chili, but it was not chili con carne sin frijol. It had a few, very few, beans in it. But it was to die for.

Ben's is a true hole-in-the-wall restaurant. It has an old time counter with stools beyond which the food is cooked right in front of you. Raggae music is playing so loud you have trouble communicating. Cooks and waiters all yelling orders. Just a fabulous place to eat. The black community is by far the largest clientele. The place was PACKED both times I went, and I loved it.

Now I need to put in a word for my wife, Georgiann's, chili. She has experimented and is making a great chili con carne sin frijol just for me. She has also experimented and is doing a fabulous job with home made pizza. Chili and pizza, I may not even have to go to heaven.

Between my stops at Ben's I toured the new Hall of Human Origins, took in the lecture about what it means to be humans, got my book signed by both authors and saw most of the rest of the Museum of Natural History. 

This is a bronze statue of a prehistoric human species female with child.

There are 5 wonderfully detailed bronze statues, a significant number of busts of prehistoric humans from different time, and lots of interactive stations that create learning environments for young to old.

I spent more money than I wanted to (mostly because I couldn't get the hang of my Metro Pass) and because I lost some money in a Metro Pass machine because I waited too long to respond. I will get that back, just have to go through the process. And I took in a 3-D I-max film that I hadn't planned on. It was filmed on the islands and in the ocean around the Galápagos Islands. Spectacular movie.

A great day was had by all. Me. Although I did get very weary of all the very rude kids in the museum. Most of them could care less about the wonderful exhibits and laid down all over tinkering with their hand held electronic devices and listening to music. Thankfully that part was in their ears, not out loud.