Washington, DC – Part Two

In my previous ‘Part One’ post, I talked about the logistics of visiting DC and a basic rundown of the things there are to do. Today, I will talk about what we did while exploring in our backyard.

I had no idea we visited this many places until I started looking at the pictures and forming an outline for this post. I am going to have to break this ‘series’ up into three, maybe four parts because there is so much content to cover! I have a tendency to overdue things just a tad bit, you think? No wonder my kids hated me by the end of the summer!

This will mainly be a photo essay. I’m not going to go into detail about every place we visited. But I will link to the main website and give a basic rundown. Just click on each header for more information.

Chinatown

Chinatown in Washington, DC is small in comparison to others I’ve visited. San Francisco was the most authentic I’ve seen in relation to true Chinese culture. While in DC’s Chinatown, we ate at an okay restaurant not really worth noting. We mainly snapped pictures quickly before hopping back onto the hop on/hop off bus. As you can see by the picture below, there is a Metro stop right at the main gates.

United States Botanic Gardens Summer/Winter

The kids really like the botanic gardens and we’ve been there several times both summer and at Christmas time. So I’ve included some pictures of both. Thankfully, we have not been there when the corpse flower was opening but my kid crew would like to, not me.

They have several programs open to the public. Some you need to register in advance and others you can catch on the same day. There was a cooking event going on one of the times we were there. We also listened in on a talk about the cocoa bean. Pretty cool. Below is the entire crew plus my husband. He works in DC so he joined us at the end.

The display they had for Christmas 2016 was pretty neat. They used all natural material to create replicas of the historic buildings in DC, right down to the White House. I would like to go again sometime but the line snaked well outside the building. Definitely a very popular exhibit.

 

National Museum of the American Indian

For some weird and inexplicable reason, I have one picture from this museum. I know I took more pictures but occasionally they seem to drop right out of the icloud and disappear. It was a very cool museum and definitely worth a visit.

National Museum of Natural History

This is a classic folks and one that you must visit if you come to DC. Think Hope Diamond, huge elephant, and so much more. There is so much to see here and it could easily take you two days to cover it all. Especially if you come in spring or summer.

Any and everyone who has lived in DC for a while has taken a class field trip here. Either themselves or with their kids. I’ve done both. I came here with my class as a child and I’ve visited several times with my own children. I am a rock/mineral geek so that is what the bulk of my pictures consist of.

There is a butterfly pavilion (there’s a fee) and lots of hands on activities for kids. There are also many, many collections and exhibits. There are also guided tours and guided activities going on all the time. Have you ever held a tarantula? Well here you can do just that (eeeeeek!). There are also live tarantula feedings to observe. Don’t miss this museum.

National Museum of African Art

The National Museum of African Art has a interesting history. It was originally known as the Museum of African Art. It was located in a townhouse that had been the home of Frederick Douglass, the African American abolitionist and statesman. But in August 1979, the museum became part of the Smithsonian Institution.  They have several events going on every day and some neat exhibits.

National Air & Space Museum and NASA

I will finish today’s post with two agencies that are near and dear to my family. Why? Because I worked for one entity and my husband worked for the other. Also, you can find out information on both at the Air & Space Museum. I have been to the Air & Space Museum many times, for a few luncheons and to stretch my legs when I needed to take a break from my desk job at the Federal Aviation Administration located next door.

If you are into anything having to do with flight, then this place is your go to. You will find everything from the ’50 years of Apollo’ to the first airplane. There’s even the lovely freeze dried ice cream for you to buy at the gift shop (which is actually quite good albeit pricey}.

I didn’t take a single picture of the museum that day as it was soooo crowded and I’ve been there many times. What you see above are stock photos. But I do have three crew members who became astronauts at their dad’s workplace on ‘Bring  your child to work day’ so I will leave you with that :-).

In Part Three we will visit many art museums, one which will play tribute to ‘The Burning Man’. We’ll also find ourselves in the Octagon House and taking selfies outside the White House. I hope to see you there.

{HUGS} from the Crew