Around DC
Katie and and I took advantage of the nice weather to walk down the bike path into “The District”. Our original plan was to visit the National Aquarium. It took us a while to find because it’s strategically hidden in the Department of Commerce Headquarters. Why is it in the Department of Commerce? Obviously it’s a tribute to the dolphin army the US uses to ship eletronics between Asia and the underground dolphin ports in California.
We picked the “National Aquarium” because we were under the assumption it was part of the Smithsonian museum network (and thus free). This is not the case. The aquarium charges a $7 entrance fee. If the aquarium were on the water, had some outside viewing areas to entice me in, or were not in the basement of the Department of Commerce building I might have considered the $7. But, alas, not of these were true so we immediately made a 180 out of the building. Unless they had an octupus like that in The New England Aquarium it probably wasn’t going to be worth it.
We opted instead to hit up the Air & Space Museum - part of the Smithsonian … and free. I’ve been in the museum a few times but tend to linger in different areas each time I visit. This time was the “Beyond the Limits” gallery on the second floor. Beyond the Limits shows how computers have been involved in flight over the past 50+ years. My fascination rested firmly on one display case (which a picture of is attached to this post). The case has four items: 1) an aluminum ashtray shaped by specifications in the APT language; 2) a “numerical control” tape used in a machine tool; 3) an F-100 jet engine mount; and 4) a beat up plastic Mouseguitar Jr. children’s toy. One of these things clearly isn’t like the others. An employee at the Museum of American History must have been transferred – kicking and screaming – to Air & Space and decided to make his new ”dungeon” a little more hospitable with a few items from his lost home. So, next time you’re at the Air & Space Museum keep your eye out for a KitchenAid mixer or two hidden among the rocket engines.
On our walk home we ran into some Girl Scout mothers selling Girl Scout cookies (at least I assumed that’s what they were – the actual Girl Scouts were nowhere to be seen. Maybe they just purchased the cookies from the Girl Scouts at a bulk rate and resold the stock at a profit. If so, then kudos to them.) I couldn’t resist buying a box of Thin Mints and Samoas (or Caramel deLites – depending on where you buy them.) To keep up the sugar theme we stopped for gelato before finally arriving back home.
