Two short days in Washington, DC
After our marathon day (previous post) we slept in a bit, had a relaxed breakfast at Bread & Chocolate, and caught the bus and Metro to the Smithsonian Station (with one transfer, to the Orange Line).
From there we walked to the Air & Space Museum. This place is incredible. The scale is huge. Rockets, airplanes, lunar landers and re-entry vehicles, skylab and more fill the lobby areas. Side rooms include a hands-on exhibit -- which the kids love so much the adults can't get in edgewise -- to a complete exploration of Wilbur and Orville Wright. Oddly, my favorites were the more recent additions of the Gossamer Condor (first human-powered flight across the English Channel), the Voyager (first nonstop around the world) and Spaceship One (first commercial spacecraft). Two out of three involved Burt Rutan, who is the coolest aircraft designer since the Wrights.
Every exhibit here is amazing, because they have almost every unique item in aviation history.
From there we went to the Hirshorn Museum which had some cool stuff. There was a great video display of tops spinning in big crowds which is hard to describe but incredibly fun to watch. My usual experience with museums is that most of the work gets a glance, but the few that are fun really hold my attention. There were several fun pieces here. I also tend to appreciate those with the greatest craftsmanship and complexity. So the prized exhibits often don't get the reverence they presumably deserve.
We made our way back and had dinner at a nice Greek place in Chevy Chase, with Wendy and Richard.
The next day (yesterday) same pattern. We did the Natural History Museum and the Freer Gallery. The Natural History Museum had bad food, good Gelato and a wide array of displays. For me the Geology exhibits which range from explanations of plate tectonics, rock formation, earthquakes and volcanoes to displays of gems, including the hope diamond... was clearly the highlight. I'm fascinated by natural crystal formations.
There was lots from Northern California in this section... Gold from our own Grass Valley mining district, much about earthquakes and volcanoes (extensive mentions of the Lassen area), and the raising of the Sierra.
A huge display of animal skeletons was pretty interesting, and off to the side was a history of the Sikh culture and religion which I'd been curious about for some time topped it all off. After that, we came back to CC join up with my sister Wendy at Guapo's, in Bethesda. Great Mexican food!
From there we walked to the Air & Space Museum. This place is incredible. The scale is huge. Rockets, airplanes, lunar landers and re-entry vehicles, skylab and more fill the lobby areas. Side rooms include a hands-on exhibit -- which the kids love so much the adults can't get in edgewise -- to a complete exploration of Wilbur and Orville Wright. Oddly, my favorites were the more recent additions of the Gossamer Condor (first human-powered flight across the English Channel), the Voyager (first nonstop around the world) and Spaceship One (first commercial spacecraft). Two out of three involved Burt Rutan, who is the coolest aircraft designer since the Wrights.
Every exhibit here is amazing, because they have almost every unique item in aviation history.
From there we went to the Hirshorn Museum which had some cool stuff. There was a great video display of tops spinning in big crowds which is hard to describe but incredibly fun to watch. My usual experience with museums is that most of the work gets a glance, but the few that are fun really hold my attention. There were several fun pieces here. I also tend to appreciate those with the greatest craftsmanship and complexity. So the prized exhibits often don't get the reverence they presumably deserve.
We made our way back and had dinner at a nice Greek place in Chevy Chase, with Wendy and Richard.
The next day (yesterday) same pattern. We did the Natural History Museum and the Freer Gallery. The Natural History Museum had bad food, good Gelato and a wide array of displays. For me the Geology exhibits which range from explanations of plate tectonics, rock formation, earthquakes and volcanoes to displays of gems, including the hope diamond... was clearly the highlight. I'm fascinated by natural crystal formations.
There was lots from Northern California in this section... Gold from our own Grass Valley mining district, much about earthquakes and volcanoes (extensive mentions of the Lassen area), and the raising of the Sierra.
A huge display of animal skeletons was pretty interesting, and off to the side was a history of the Sikh culture and religion which I'd been curious about for some time topped it all off. After that, we came back to CC join up with my sister Wendy at Guapo's, in Bethesda. Great Mexican food!
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