You would think that after torturing our kids with an epic walk around DC J and I would have taken it easy on them.
You would be wrong.
When the taxi dropped us off at the Air and Space Museum it was go time for the Smithsonian museums. The boys perked up quite a bit after lunch and were happy to spend time exploring all the amazing displays and exhibits. The truly amaze me with their resilience.
We could have spent all day at the Air and Space Museum alone. There were so many wonderful, monumental, revolutionary things to behold. I have many, many pictures that I won’t bore you with. I’ll just say that I am a museum/history/information junkie and I loved every second of being there.
I will share this one photo though. Oh, to be a stewardess in the 1960’s!!! How cool is that pom-pom hat? Don’t get me started on the serape. Fabulous! Airlines should bring this stuff back. I could maybe do without seeing the go-go boots and hot pants making a comeback though…
We stayed just long enough for the boys to catch story and craft time. A lovely Indian lady read a myth about how the constellations were formed. The the children were given black paper, crayons and star stickers to make their own Big Dipper to take home. My boys loved it! They made two drawings each.
*****
On our way to the Museum of Natural History we made a little detour through the National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden to relax by the fountain. It was a hot afternoon and the brisk water felt so refreshing on our tired feet. We stayed for quite a while people watching. There was a lone duck in the water circling around like he was king of the fountain As you can see, many other people had the same idea…
*****
We eventually made it to the Museum of Natural History where we saw everything from dinosaur bones to the Hope Diamond. The building that houses the museum is stunning. I spent more time admiring the architecture than anything else. I had had enough of rocks, fossils and moths after about an hour and suggested that we head toward the American History Museum before it closed for the day.
*****
This was my primary reason for wanting to stop by the American History Museum.
Julia Child’s kitchen!
I love to cook and remember watching her show when I was little. I enjoyed the movie Julie and Julia too. So, I just had to see the kitchen for myself. It was quite a custom set up for its day. The quirky touches, like the painting of three cats hanging from the cabinet door, were charming.
For some reason, all I could think about was her cooking up aspics in this very room. Aspics gross me out. Gelatinous meat? Why?
Anyway, it was cool to also see the shunned Greenough statue of George Washington. By coincidence, mom had given me a copy of Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol several weeks before our trip. I finished reading it right before we left. So, it was interesting to see the statue discussed in the book in person.
I went to check out the pop culture artifacts while J took the boys to see the locomotives and ships.
I rejoined my family in the transportation section of the museum. We spent a lot of time roaming around the old cars, trains, trucks and buses. I found the audio accounts of a rural bus driver and his family particularly fascinating. I listened to all three stories trying to imagine what it was like to travel 1 hour from a farm to school each morning with only a hot brick wrapped in newspaper to keep you warm.
It was all very interesting. I love this kind of stuff but it doesn’t make for very fascinating blog reading so I tried to stick to the highlights. Stay tuned for more DC trip stories including an Internet person I met I.R.L!
Adventures of Four 