Off Day in DC

So I had a free day while waiting for my Dodgers to show up in Washington, DC tomorrow night, so I spent it soaking in the sights of our nation's capital.

I started at the National Air & Space Museum and worked my way across the Mall to the Natural History Museum and Museum of American History. It's all great, great stuff and it's a great way to spend an afternoon in Washington, by walking through the museums of the Smithsonian Institution.

The good people at the Smithsonian may need to check their facts, though. As we learned in Kentucky, there is no such thing as evolution. And Dinosaurs and humans lived together. And all of Earth's geological features were formed by the great flood. These two groups may want to get together for a meeting or something, because they both present two COMPLETELY different answers to the reasons behind life on Earth.

The Natural History Museum also features an exhibit on mammals, which is kind of like walking through a weird taxidermy zoo. There is a bison in the exhibit, and really, it isn't quite as cool as being about 20 feet away from an actual, live bison in Yellowstone. But to each his own.

I was bummed to see that the exhibit featuring Archie Bunker's chair and Fonzie's jacket was under renovation at the American History Museum. Two really, very important artifacts in American life.

The Air and Space museum is the best, and features a lot of cool models and simulators. I'm not a very big aviation or space stuff, but they are fields that I have at least a passing interest in, and it is very cool to see the artifacts from the Space Age, when America actually had the will to do something challenging and cool.

There is a television that continuously replays Kennedy's speech in which he declares that the US would put a man on the Moon by the end of the 1960's. It's a stirring, chilling speech, in that there is so much confidence and will to do something. Not necessarily because it was what was right or a smart thing to do, but because it was a challenge. It made me think that we need more challenges in today's American life. More "why not?" instead of "why?" There are always a million reasons to not do something, and we may be passing up great opportunities for greatness in favor of ease.

After enjoying the museums, I walked down the Mall and saw the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, and the White House. This again was all stuff I had seen in the 8th grade (except the World War II Memorial), but it was nice to see again through a more adult and educated lens.

After all of that, I met my old friend Christina at the White House and we walked all the way back to 6th Street and Maryland to my car and chatted and caught up on life. Always nice to see and chat with old friends, especially in a cool place like Washington, DC.

All in all, a very nice, relaxing, and rewarding day in the District. My Dodgers come to town tomorrow, and I also have a tour of the Capitol Building scheduled, so it should be a fun first day of Fall!