The Smithsonians Remind Us

Besides seeing the monuments in this great city, my top priority was to take in as many museums as possible, so I started with the museum of pop culture Smithsonian.

Fonzie's Jacket, Archie's chair, Dorothy's slippers, Jackie's pearls, Abe's hat, and Old Glory were just a few of my favorites.  I could spend a week in this museum alone, but I had to be mindful of time since my stay in the city was only a few days.  I spent the most amount of time on presidential artifacts because looking backwards teaches us so much.  There were inaugural artifacts from several presidents as well as funeral programs, and significant pieces during each presidency such as the defiled file cabinet that caused, in part, the Watergate scandal.  Getting up close and person gives me a different perspective of history.

Next comes the Air and Space Museum.  How extraordinary to see the large collection from our NASA program as well as international programs.  Learning about the men behind the missions was fascinating.  Seeing SpaceShipOne was breathtaking!