Washington D C

Hi all,  We have been in Wasington for 5 days now.  We have not seen everything, as that would take a long time. The Smithsonian is a collection of Museums that take up much of the National Mall, which is the area between the Washington  Monument and the Capital Building.  It is something like 40 museums in total.  Many are huge.  We have been in 3 major museums,  The Air and Space Museum, The National Museum of Natural History, and the National Museum of American History.  All have taken a full day to see.  You could do it faster if you skimed through. 

The Wright Brothers Flyer, The Air and Space Museum

 



The Lunar Lander, an exact replica of what is now on the moon, left behind by the first men to walk there.

You could go into the cockpit of a 747.  They also had the capsules from space missions of Apollo, Gemini , and Mercury.  Boy, they were close quarters!  They had part of the original  US Skylab that you could go inside of.  You could also go into a flight similator, but we decided against that.  Chris and his claustrophobia and I'm just someone who doesn't like flying upside down. 

One of the Sculptures from Easter Island.  National Museum of Natural History

A real mounted Elephant, in the Natural History Museum

A butterfly attached to Chris' Butt.  I guess he still has it!  Lol

This was a butterfly display, they were all flying around and attaching themselves to people or the flowers in the display.  It was lovely.  They were from all over the world.

The Hope Diamond.  it is a blue diamond from India, 45.52 carats. 

There were Mummies, and a great bone exhibit, also a genome exhibit, which was well done.  Also fossils and the story of how life evolved from the sea to Dinasaurs, to the sea again and finally man. 

Then today we were in the National Museum of American History. 

 The first Apple Computer, 1980-

Kermit!

They had the First Lady's Inaugaral Ball dresses through the ages, including Michelle Obama's dress, Archie Bunkers Chair, Bob Dylans leather jacket

It went back though time in all different aspects of American culture, from travel included a covered wagon up to a modern car and semi truck, a steam train up to a modern subway, a sailboat to a container ship, on and on.  They had the beginning of highways and a exhibit on Route 66. 

The other thing we did today was go to the Canadian Embassy!  When do you get to go to your country's Embassy? 

 Bill Reids, Black Canoe

Anyway, we went in, said we were Canadian and would like to see our Embassy, but we were told there is a display area, but it was closed until Sept. 15th, so they wouldn't let us in.  We were quite disappointed!  But we saw Bill Reid's Black Canoe, which was worth the visit.  If you think it looks familiar, there is a copy of it, a jade green one, in the international section of the Airport in Vancouver. 

So that's it.  We got home at a reasonable hour, made dinner and are ready to head out tomorrow.

So til next time.  so long.  We are going to be heading west - for the first time in many months!