the education of henry

Day 19: National Mall and Air and Space Museum

2023-10-02

One thing we realized when we got to Washington, DC, is that everything is under construction. Our working hypothesis is that the whole city is getting some work done before the 250 birthday of the country.

We were on the Mall as the sun was coming up, so we had to dodge a lot of joggers and bikers moving around the paths and monuments. We started outside so early to get a jump on the day, since museums and other places do not open until 10:00 but the monuments are open at sunrise.

Driving in to the city in the morning.

The Washington Monument - first look.

The World War II monument.

At the reflecting pool.

At the Vietnam War Memorial.

The Lincoln Memorial.

The Korean War Memorial.

Another shot of the Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial.

The Smithsonian castle.

The statue behind me is Joseph Henry, he was the first secretary of the Smithsonian.

At 10:00 we got in line at the Air and Space Museum with our timed tickets. It was very busy, even though they just opened.

Right inside the door, Mom found the Enterprise.

And Dad and I went to see the X-Wing.

So many airplanes!

At the Planetarium. Which was probably a mistake for Dad, since it made him feel sick.

This disc has microscopic etching with lots of information on it.

The Freedom 7 capsule.

Alan Shepard's space suit.

The Apollo 11 capsule.

The actual vest Gene Kranz wore during the Apollo 13 mission.

This is the box they cobbled together at Mission Control so they could tell the astronauts how to fix the ship.

Checking out the model rockets.

The spacesuit Neil Armstrong wore on the moon.

This is the first military aircraft.

Playing with the Wright Flyer simulator.

The little square in the display case is a piece of the original Wright Flyer that Neil Armstrong took into space with him, and then returned to the Smithsonian. It only took 66 years to go from the Wright Flyer to walking on the moon.

The original Wright Flyer.

We found a LEGO astronaut in the gift shop.

Riding the bus with Dad.

And riding with Mom. We have tickets for a hop on/hop off bus.

We ended our day at the Holocaust Museum. Dad and I went in to see Daniel's Story, which is the children's part of the museum. I found it very disturbing. We did not take pictures of the inside - it didn't seem appropriate.

We finished up the day a little earlier than we thought, and traffic was light getting back to the hotel, so we had plenty of time to relax in the evening.

And that was our first day in DC! Thanks for reading!