Month: September 2024

Today started fairly early! Off to the African History Museum, which we walked to as it was only 1 Metro stop away. Interesting enough, we took a different route that took us between the US Treasury buildings which are next to the White House, where there was a small Farmers Market set up! Very cool to see this on downtown Washington DC streets! The new African History museum is beautiful from the outside – it has a brown/burnished copper looking lace design surrounding it – I cannot find any information with regards to why this was chosen however compared to the other “stately” older buildings it really stands out!

On entering the museum, we procured a map from an volunteer and he was eager to talk to people – as a person of colour, he admitted that he did not know all about his history until he started volunteering for the museum and how wonderful the museum was! He explained how to get around it and then we were off to take the elevator down to the History section which is 3 floors underground. It is one of the biggest elevators I have been in as all the people are taken from the main exhibit floor where this section starts, down the 3 floors to the beginning of the exhibit and then ramps are used to get back up to the starting point. I found the display fascinating and powerful – some of the history I was aware of and some interesting facts were new to me, however it was all new to Andrew and he enjoyed it. Here are our pictures as we walked to the museum and then through, up the ramps of all the exhibits. Many of these pictures speak for themselves.

ow, walking back towards the hotel there was one last thing on my list to do and that was to visit the White House Visitors Centre – which is the alternative for people who are not American. It was an EXCELLENT display! It is in a part of the Treasury building which is quite beautiful and elegant and the informational displays are quite well done. Here are some of my pictures:

Now, on our walk back at the hotel we saw some pretty historic Washington DC Hotels, which I had to take pictures of!

Now, back at the hotel it is time to pack and get an Uber to the Marriott Hotel at the airport! Managed to pack and rearrange some things however I am going to have to optimize more for tomorrow’s flight! Off to bed early as we have to get up at 6am to get to the airport and fly to Montreal!

Today is Andrews day for the museum! We have been to 4 space museums and it is his turn! As Canadians we cannot have a tour of the FBI building (you have to be a US citizen) this is the 2nd best! We took the metro again and it is a building that sure sticks out with Spy Museum written on red on the side. Easy to see when walking there from the Metro.

You enter the building and are whisked to the 5th floor to begin your “experience” as an agent. The Spy Museum is very ADA and other conditions, such as autism and PTSD aware. They warn you that the elevator ride is very loud and has lots of visual effects so we opted to the one without any additional “features” so that I did not have any issues. Once upstairs, you pick up your agent badge and then proceed through the displays which were excellent! The only downside for us is right on our heels was a large group of tweens visiting the facility so it became very busy and loud very fast. We visited the 5th floor as you can see below and then I needed a break from all the “input” and my legs were getting really sore and I had not brought any medication with me. Along the way on the 5th floor you “checkin” with your agent badge and do various tests with the agent id – like your assigned cover name, city, assignment and various other pieces of data that are given to you along the way.

At this point in time, we took the elevator down to the entrance and skipped the 4th floor and Bond exhibit so I could get some quiet and a drink. We ended up in the Hiton hotel which was behind the Spy museum where I hung out for the next while, so that Andrew could go back and complete the 4th floor and the Bond Exhibit. I relaxed and spoke to a friend on the phone along with my parents and soon Andrew was back to retieve me! We decided to take the Metro back and the front desk told me that it was just down the elevator and then down the ramp outside. About 8 blocks later and a different Metro station as the 1st one they sent me to had no elevators, and in pain, we went down a LONG escalator, again with Andrew in front protecting me, just to get to the Metro as no one knew where the elevator was. While the Washington DC Metro system is nice and clean and seems pretty well laid out, I would give it only a fair for accessibility downtown – which is a combination of lack of elevators and awareness – like showing where they elevators are on maps.

Here are the pictures that Andrew took of the James Bond exhibit at the Spy Museum:

Now back at the hotel, we patronized the drug store next to the hotel to aquire some more Tylenol along with a heating pad to sooth my aching legs! There were some other items purchased like GF Mint Oreo’s which also helped with the situation! It was then back to the room for our left over dinner meal and to bed as tomorrow we are visiting the new Smithsonian American History Museum and then we are moving to the airport to prepare for our flight on Friday.

As we walked over to the Smithsonian American History Museum we saw the beautiful fountain display next to the Air and Space Museum along with the green grass of the National Mall leading up to the US Capital building. Looking the other way towards the Washington Monument, there was a protest/march gathering based on the number of busses that were surrounding this area of the National Mall. On ourb way down the street to the American History museum, there was an outdoor garden that we could walk through instead of walking down the sidewalk – so we took a slight detour to check it out! See the pictures of all of this below!

National Museum of American History – now we have reached the museum and have a map – lets explore! First we are going to the temporary Forensic Exhibit – this will be an introduction prior to our planned tour tomorrow at the Spy Museum!

American Presidents

The First Ladies of the USA exhibit

Now moving onto Hollywood, here is a glimpse of what they call “Entertainment Nation” –

Now we are taking the Metro back to our hotel after a 16,000 step day! Wow!

I have been looking forward to this day for quite a long time as I love visiting the Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC! The first time I visited it was in 1976 and at that time I was hooked! I have worked in the cities around Washington, DC several times and on a couple of the trips, while staying over the weekend, I have also been able to visit the museums, especially this one! One of the things that I like about it is how they keep their exhibits current, yet respect the aviation history in the USA and around the World.

We arrived at the Air and Space Museum about 10:10am which was within our ticket time slot, however the majority of the 10am crowd had already gone into the building and we were able to go in without lining up! The next timeslot was due to enter at 10:30am. Of course, the first exhibit we went to HAD to be the Wright Brothers – you should start off any aviation museum visit at the very beginning of flight! What an experience it was!

Shortly after entering the exhibit, I noticed that the original Wright brothers flyer plane was on display at eye level which is different than last time I visited, where it was hanging from the ceiling at the front of the building. This is also where the entrance was to the museum, where now the entrance is in the back. There happened to be a volunteer nearby so I confirmed with him, if that was the original plane, previously hung from the ceiling and he said it was. I chatted a bit more with the volunteer and then he told me that we should stay for his “talk”. This man was an aeronautical engineer (top the engineering pyramid) who had worked in the avionics industry and he knew his stuff! He talked about the Wright Brothers, what a plane needs to be able to fly, how the bicycle figured into what the Wright Brothers did and then about the plane behind him. So the plane had been taken down from the museum ceiling and as the original muslin that was covering the wings of the plane was falling apart, it was very carefully re-covered. The frame remains the same as the Wright Brothers built aside from the one stay that was broken when the plane flipped after the 4th flight. Here are my pictures of the Wright Brothers exhibit –

The next gallery we visited was all about flight (after the 1st flight) and the different things people have done to accomplish getting up into the clouds – from a lawn chair on a balloon, to early planes to drones.

Now we moved into the exhibit regarding The Planets in our Solar System – this was a very complex display and showed really just how small we are on earth compared to the whole galaxy! Examining all the planets and their respective moons and moons and planets yet to appear is quite fascinating!

Next we went to the “One Connected World” display which focused on aviation and space flight and how they connect the world – making it smaller yet more complex.

After a snack as it was lunch time, we walked around the upper lobby and viewed the planes from the ceiling. I was also looking for the military and commercial planes exhibit and I could not find it – then I clued in – half the museum was closed for renovations! Oh well, we have seen our share of planes over the last 2 weeks and I am sure this Smithsonian will open up and be even better and guess what? We can return! Due to that, there was only 1 exhibit left to visit along with the lobby area where there were 2 planes displayed. Here are my pictures of the planes in the ceiling and the 747, 727 and others that were on static display along with an engine or two…

Next we visited the Early Flight gallery which included what was done around the world in terms of early flight efforts, in addition to the Wright Brothers.

Now into the Transportation display – basically a display on speed no matter the craft. This exhibit was right up Andrew’s alley and he sure enjoyed it!

I do not usually take pictures in the washroom but I could not resist these two!

After we left the Air and Space Museum, as we were running EARLY as it did not take the whole day that I had budgeted for, we decided to walk over to the Museum of American History. I have always enjoyed this museum too, as it speaks to what has happened in history, partly in my lifetime. We stayed away from the American exhibits of war and things like that and just focused on the lighter subjects – like the US Presidents, First Ladies, Forensic Investigations and Hollywood through the years. See Part II of the day!

Today we are going to visit the Washington Monument and then we are taking a tour of the Capitol Building. Both we have tickets for, which are a new process since 911. I have been to Washington, DC four times in my life and visited several of the sights however one that has eluded me is the Washington Monument! It has either had long lines (twice) prior to free timed entry tickets or been under restoration. TODAY I am going to succeed and with Andrew get to the top! Today is a bit cloudy however I am sure we are going to see enough from the top!

The Washington Monument is 500 feet tall, however the elevator only takes you up to 500 feet where the viewing area is – yes those small windows that you see. Then you walk down (or take the elevator down) to 490 feet where there is a display about the monument and then you take the elevator the rest of the way down to the bottom. On the way down, you get to see (although they pass fairly fast) some inlaid stones that various people from the past and now states have provided to be put on the inside wall of the obelisk.

A bit of history for the mechanical engineer specifically reading this, that we learned:

1. It was built to commemorate George Washington who was the 1st President of the United States from 1789 to 1797.
2. It is made of bluestone gneiss for the foundation and of granite for the construction. 
3. It is made of bluestone gneiss for the foundation and of granite for the construction. 
4. The outside consists of three different kinds of white marble as it was built in stages.  
5. It is both the world’s tallest predominantly stone structure and the world’s tallest obelisk,, at 554 feet 7+¹¹⁄₃₂ inches tall.  
6. It was the world’s tallest structure between 1884 and 1889, after which it was overtaken by the Eiffel Tower, in Paris.
7. Construction began in 1848 and was suspended from 1854 to 1877 due to funding issues and the Civil War. It was completed in 1884, and the internal ironwork, the knoll, and installation of memorial stones was completed in 1888. It opened on October 9, 1888.
8. The difference in shading of the marble, visible about 150 feet up, shows where construction was halted and later resumed with marble from the different source.
9. It is a hollow Egyptian-style obelisk with 15 feet thick walls at the base and 1 1/2 feet thick at the top.
10. The marble pyramidion’s walls are 7 inches thick, supported by six arches: two between opposite walls, which cross at the center of the pyramidion, and four smaller arches in the corners.
11. The top of the pyramidion is a large, marble capstone with a small aluminum pyramid at its apex, with inscriptions on all four sides.
12. The interior is occupied by iron stairs that spiral up the walls, with an elevator in the center, each supported by four iron columns, which do not support the stone structure.
13. The stairs are in fifty sections, most on the north and south walls, with long landings stretching to the east and west walls. These landings allowed many inscribed memorial stones of various materials and sizes to be easily viewed while taking the stairs, which were accessible until 1976.
14. The pyramidion has eight observation windows, two per side, and eight red aircraft warning lights, two per side.
15. Two aluminum lightning rods, connected by the elevator support columns to groundwater, protect the monument.
16. Fifty American flags fly on a large circle of poles centered on the monument.  
17. In 2001, a temporary screening facility was added to the entrance to prevent a terrorist attack.

So now let’s check it out! We walked the 6 or so long blocks from our hotel to the National Monument and arrived on time for our 2pm appointment.

What an excellent experience – a long time coming for me! Next I took some pictures of the reflecting pool that is between the monument (up higher) and down where Lincoln’s memorial is along with the 2 Vietnam memorials and a couple of others I cannot think of off hand. We then started walking towards the Capitol Building where we had a tour booked in about 90 minutes – it is a fair walk to get there! All of a sudden I heard a fairly loud helicopter and looked up and saw a Parks Police helicopter. The noise reminded me of the helicopters that fly low over Oak Street in Vancouver prior to landing at Children’s Hospital. Then there was a VERY LOUD helicopter noise that funny enough I have only heard that unique noise once before – when I last stood in front of the White House! Sure enough, there came the Presidential Helicopter (Marine 1) past the Washington Monument and landed behind the trees on the lawn of the White House. How cool was that to see when in Washington DC! Then we started walking at a brisk pace…eventually catching the bus that circulates the area to help us the last few blocks to in front of the Capitol Building and it’s reflecting pool.

We made it to the Capitol Building! Thanks to the bus trip (which we did not wait for – it came to pick up some other people and we got onto it) we walked past the reflecting pool and to the right side of the building where the entrance was supposed to be for the tours. Luckily a volunteer in the booth saw us and asked if I needed a ride to the entrance! It was up a hill and around the back – we would have been late for sure if he had not done that. It was actually a wheelchair accessible golf cart! I was very impressed! Too impressed to get a picture though! Downstairs we went in the elevator, through security and got our stickers and our elevator passes (for people who have mobility issues) and into the theatre!

Once we watched the VERY American movie about history we met our tour guide. With about 200 people on the tour – both individuals and groups – they are VERY organized! All people with mobility issues go down row 1 and are then followed by able bodied people after the other rows fill up. Tours go somewhere else. Then a tour guide takes each row for a tour.

Taylor was our tour guide and she had at least one degree in Art History and she was VERY knowledgeable about the Capitol building – some of us asked some hard questions and she had the answers! In terms of accessibility they have escalators and stairs for people to use and then us with the orange passes are taken by another volunteer to the elevator, somehow they know who are guide is, they put us in the elevator, push the button and get out and then the elevator opens up and the volunteer tells us Taylor’s tour over here. We were also wearing earphones so we could all of a sudden hear her talking. We visited the crypt which is under the rotunda where some state statues are located along with an empty grave for Washington, then we went up to the rotunda and talked there for a while about the pictures, the ceiling and artwork (where Taylor was in her element) and then to a room next to the rotunda where more statues were located. At that time, all other tours were gone and Taylor realized we were the last and the building was closing so very quickly we returned to the start location of the tour and it was promptly over.

Regarding statues – each state (and perhaps protectorate like Guam and Puerto Rico) is allowed to display 2 that is only TWO statues at the State Capitol building. Our tour guide told us lots of neat information like they have to be voted on by the people of the state etc and most are there as a citizen proposed them. They also cannot be changed too regularly as they are expensive and a pain to move around! In this last room was the newest statue, which I cannot remember which one it was but I recognized the name and also was Rosa Parks, who was the only statue that the Congress has voted on and instituted in the gallery. They are having some issues with the statues though and that is why they are spread out on the crypt floor and also in this area – they are heavy and the floors were starting to crack! Actually, we were there on a Monday and on the Tuesday a new statue was being installed somewhere in one of the rooms – as we had to use the elevator to get out we saw the start of the preparations on the Monday night as no tours were being held the next day!

We then walked to the Capitol Metro station and took the train back to the Metro station (about 5 stops away) to our hotel! The Metro in Washington DC is SO CLEAN and seems safe to be on. The cars are way cleaner than the Skytrain in Vancouver! The only challenge is accessibility and the lack of accessibility directions. You might say I have ridden some very LONG escalators with Andrew as my protector so my walker would not fall, as we just could not find the elevator for that station!

Fairly late breaking in the planning of our vacation, I found out about the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia. It is the companion facility to the National Air and Space Museum that is already on our list of things to do in Washington, D.C. At the Udvar-Hazy Centre there are hundreds of planes and space crafts, along with thousands of smaller items like engines, on display in a hangar-like building. My plan was to visit this museum when we flew into Washington DC at the beginning of September, however as our flight was 2 hours late and as the facility was soon to close, we had to postpone the visit to when we returned to Washington DC. Oh, how I misjudged just how wonderful this museum was going to be! We had plans to do BOTH this museum AND the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC today and we only made it to this one near Dulles Airport as it was so good! We also returned the rental car and then took the metro back into DC to our hotel.

First, the entrance and overview of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Centre at Dulles Airport.

Okay, I promised my father not to post the precisely 312 pictures that I took – I think I can narrow them down to make a good compilation! From the entrance on the 2nd floor, to my right were mostly military based panes. To the left are commercial planes, following with space being in the back of the building. Finally, we went up to the 3rd floor to take some sky shots. Here are overview shots from the 2nd floor entrance balcony before we went down a nice LONG switchback ramp 🙂

Time to go down to the 1st floor and check out the military side first!

Now we will walk over to the other side of the hanger where things really get fun and BIG! In between the BIG planes are some other countries planes and some early flight apparatuses…

The Concorde was also in this hall with the other commercial planes, however due to its size, was hard to get a good picture of it. Here are a couple of angles! While this is an Air France plane, it has been about 40 years since I have stood under a Concorde – that was a British Airways one, with the Queen and Prince Phillips on board, while it took off from YVR at 6am one Richmond morning. My dad and I almost dropped our cameras as the pilot turned on the afterburners and the ground shook at that point in time!

Now we move to the centre of the hanger and this black stealth plane – beautiful sight!

Now for the awesomeness that is at this museum – I present the Challenger – the most used space craft in the history of the US Space program! While this display was a bit less awesome than the one at Cape Canaveral with the Atlantis – it still was awesome to see this close! First though a tour around the shuttle…

Now, let’s look at all the displays from the 3rd floor! A panorama image that I took… Entrance straight ahead and shuttle is behind me.

Now we have left the building and are on our way back to the hotel in Washington, DC. Hmm, $100 US Uber or taxi fare or take the Metro for a total of $9? Well, the Metro won!

Food – gluten free and awesome! Ordered from a local pizza chain which had high ratings for Celiac safe meals. Andrew of course had pizza and beer. Oh and that is apple juice NOT beer!

Tomorrow – we are off to discover Washington, DC. Thanks for making it to the end of this day – for someone who loves airplanes and flying, it was a surprising experience finding this museum and all that it had to offer and on top of it all – it was FREE! Also going from over 300 pictures to 100 was a bit of a challenge!