Homeward Bound: More Smithsonian!

It's 9am on a Saturday morning, and we're headed back to the Mall

Day Three

This morning we stopped at "The Castle" aka the Smithsonian Institution Building. There was a video orientation - starring Ben Stiller, of course - a scale model of DC, and a statue of James Smithson, who was the founding donor of the Smithsonian... created for the "increase and diffusion of knowledge." It also contains information on all the other Smithsonian buildings/museums and has a few exhibits from each (even from the National Zoo - they had a live video from the Panda exhibit!)

Some of our favorites...

Kristi Yamaguchi's skates

Peacock

Football used in Coach Bryant's record-breaking game

Next we headed over to the Museum of American History. On our way there, we realized that some serious set-up was going on right there on the Mall. Turns out that George Washington University was having its commencement ceremonies there the next day! Can you image graduating on the National Mall? We caught some of it on TV the next morning. Brian Williams of NBC News was the keynote speaker. But anyway, back to the Museum of American History... lots of video and sound recordings (which the boys loved) as well as donations of personal items from the Presidents and their families.

Drew & Sister checking out the guitars. There were a lot of artifacts from pop culture
and the early days of rock and roll.


They had an amazing collection of classical instruments, as well. Here is one of their many "Strads"


While the boys were otherwise occupied, Stephanie and I went to the First Ladies exhibit. This dress belonged to Mary Todd Lincoln. I walked past a picture of Mary Todd in this dress nearly everyday of my life, 1st through 6th grade. But today was the first time I realized that it's purple!


From the 30's & 40's exhibit

My favorite item on display was behind this wall - THE Star Spangled Banner! The flag that was flying over Fort McHenry when Francis Scott Key wrote his famous poem. "O! Say can you see..."
Of course, no photography was allowed.Over the years this flag has been alternately hidden and displayed, people have snipped off bits for souvenirs, it has been mended and restored... and somehow it has survived.The exhibit also included a digital version of the flag on a touch screen and recordings of various artists performing our National Anthem.

There's a back story that goes with this picture, so bear with me. Each time I go through American History with one of the kids, there are some impersonations that I do. I do them because they are relevant, because I think they are funny, and because my children get so annoyed with me. My three favorites are JFK (Ask not what your country can do for you...), Ronald Reagan (Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!) and FDR (The only thing we have to fear is... fear itself.) So we get to the Exhibit on the Presidents, and they have this podium with a video screen and a teleprompter where you can re-deliver some of the most well-known presidential speeches. Guess what the choices were? My favorite three! Of course I gloated, and my children groaned, and then I picked FDR and delivered my speech. And my daughter stopped rolling her eyes long enough to take my picture.

Picnic lunch - well, OK, hot dog cart - and then on to the Museum of Natural History. We saw all the stuff we expected to see - dinosaur bones, fossils, dead stuffed things - and they were amazing.