This morning I went to two very interesting classes. One about growing a sunflower house with preschoolers and the other about different science stuff I can do with the kids. The second class ended really early so I had a little more site seeing time today. I took a taxi to near the National Mall and ate lunch at a cafe called the West Wing Cafe that had sandwiches. I was starving so it seemed really good. I then walked to the museum of American History. Now, something to take note here is that the city maps are very deceiving. They make it seem like the buildings are closer to each other than they really are. All the buildings here are huge and take up a lot of space so, in other words, I walked a lot.
This museum had a lot of exhibits, too, but only one I really liked and that was seeing the original flag that inspired the national anthem. They have it in very low light because it is super old and in pretty awful condition. The history of the flag is very interesting and it seems miraculous that it's even in the condition that it is considering how it's been treated since the day it inspired the anthem. I asked the guard how guarded it is usually and he just said that a guard is only there when people are in the museum, but otherwise the whole museum is under 24/7 guarding.
The other part of the museum I enjoyed was the history of transportation. They had some pretty awesome old cars, including a Model T Ford. I kind of wishes my brother Steven was there seeing all of it with me, I think he would have liked it. A wow moment in there was seeing several full sized train engines, although if shouldn't surprise me so much because this IS the Smithsonian after all!
Next I went to the Air/Space museum. Walking in to immediately see full sized airplanes all over, huge missiles, and Apollo 11 cockpit was a little overwhelming. I didn't know where to start! At this museum I started really feeling like I got hit by a taxi so I didn't quite get out of it all that I could have. Most of the exhibits were of airplanes from different eras. One half of the museum is dedicated to space travel, stars, and planets. The exhibit on the astronauts was very interesting, although a little sad that they aren't doing that anymore. It's easy to see what direction they are heading. No more people in space, but rather robots in space. I have to admit, I was disappointed in the exhibit on space and planets. It looks like it hasn't been updated in years, mainly the videos they show. I mean, they still show Pluto in the solar system model. They do say in some way that it's not a planet, but it's just weird to me to have that included still. I think that their focus is on Bionic Man, Mars, and technology and that's why.
Something I thought a lot about today is how amazing of is that these high class museums are free to visit. Seriously, these are some of the best museums in the world by all definitions and they are free. It's incredible and I am grateful. (I guess they are paid for by my tax dollars, which means that their actually not free, but I finally got some return on those dollars.)
I went to one more class this afternoon but I was so tired and not interested in the topic that I didn't pay much attention to that one. I was exhausted but I decided I still wanted to go to the Crime and Punishment museum. I ate at a fast food Indian place that I actually really liked. It took. While for me to find a quick place to eat because there were lots of people on the street tonight be use there was a game doing on at the Verizon Center only a couple blocks from the museum where I was dropped off. Washington Capitols playing someone tonight. It was crazy and a little scary to say the least. It was worth it though. The crime museum is my second most favorite museum I've gone to. I wish I had more time there because I didn't realize how interesting it would be beside the CSI stuff I wanted to see. I learned a lot. The museum people didn't realize I was still I there when they shut off the lights. Fortunately, it was still light enough for me to run downstairs to quickly get a look at the actual set of America's Most Wanted. That was cool. I asked them about it and they said John Walsh would come in about twice a month to film down there until it was cancelled in April.
Lest I forget to mention it, my most favorite museum is the Natural History Museum. I didn't get to see all of that one either!
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