ALA - Friday

The stuff I did on Friday wasn’t actually at the convention center, but it was related to ALA. My friend Mike and I went into DC and I had to get my hair braided for the honor dance that afternoon. Unfortunately, at the salon I chose, none of the hairdressers knew how to do a french braid! Luckily, the receptionist knew how to do something close, so she ended up braiding my hair. Afterwards, we went to NMAI and met up with Renee, a member of my tribe who works for the museum. She gave us a bit of a tour and we chatted about genealogy, tribal matters and other interesting things. We grabbed lunch at the cafe (which is ALWAYS excellent), then she went back to work and Mike and I visited the Identity By Design exhibit which was amazing.

That afternoon was the Honor Dance, so I dressed in my outfit and joined in. Mike took pictures which I put up this evening (http://flickr.com/photos/hhd/tags/nmai). The dance was wonderful. The area around the circle was full of people, and on all of the floors above you could see people looking over the railing to watch below. It was fun, but a bit daunting. After the dance, we headed to Silver Spring and ate at a tasty Thai restaurant, then hung out at Julie and Jason’s (where I’m staying) the rest of the evening.