Day 4 -- National Museum of Natural History

           

                      The Rotunda of the Smithsonian              Me with that famous 14-foot tall elephant.

                         Museum of Natural History                  The hide, weighing two tons, was donated by 

                        (photo taken from the 2nd floor,             Hungarian Josef J. Fénykövi. When it was 

                         home of the Minerals and Gems            unveiled in 1959, it was the world’s largest 

                         section, and the Hope Diamond)           land mammal on display in a museum. 

Founded in 1846 with funds from and according to the wishes of Englishman James Smithson  “under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” The museum opened in 1910. It was among the first Smithsonian buildings constructed exclusively to house the national collections and research facilities. And it is one of my two favorite Smithsonian museums.

It has information and exhibits on everything -- the oceans and ocean creatures, dinosaurs, gems and minerals, human origins, a live butterfly pavilion, mummies, a living insect zoo, and much more. This was my third visit and I still haven't seen everything.

The two must-see sections for me are the Gems and Minerals and the Human Origin sections. So the plan was to get there early, before all the school kids show up and see Gems and Minerals first, then lunch in the museum cafe, and finish with Human Origins.

Gems and Minerals first because the Hope Diamond is in that section and everybody wants to see that so it gets crowded pretty early. The 45.52 carat blue diamond pendant surrounded by white diamonds is beautiful.

At least as impressive is the world's largest, flawless
quartz sphere.
It is 242,323 carats, weighs 106.75 lbs.,
and measures 12.9 inches in diameter.
For comparison an NBA basketball has a diameter of 9.55 inches.

        

And if you like amethyst, they have a huge geode chock full of the lovely purple gems.

Minerals naturally come in all shapes, sizes, textures, and colors.

 

                                         Copper                                     Gypsum

 
Willemite and Willemite, Calcite

The museum's cafe was not operating at full capacity and only had packaged sandwiches which would not do, so we hit the street looking for food. There are, of course, food trucks but one of the guards at the museum suggested a food court not far away.

As it turned out, the food court is in the Ronald Reagan Building which is right next door to the William Jefferson Clinton Building and they're both across the street from the Trump International Hotel D.C. How's that for Washington being a small town?!

On the way to lunch, we passed the Environmental Protection Agency.

 

Keep in mind that Washington D.C. is beautifully landscaped. There are well-tended flowers and shrubbery and trees everywhere. 

The infamous EPA head, Scott Pruitt had not yet gathered his marbles and gone home. Remember he's the guy who contracted for a $43,000 phone booth in his office and a dozen pens for $1,560 among other boondoggles. 

These are the planters outside the EPA building.

Impressed? No, neither were we.

Oh, well, we had a good lunch.

I had pastrami and corned beef on rye. The grandsons had chicken sandwiches, which were apparently not too different from their routine Chick-fil-A usuals, so they were pleased. I don't remember what son John had, but, as I remember, he was pleased, too.

Then it was back to the National Museum of Natural History. 

I found a seat along the side of the Rotunda and people watched, visited, and rested while the boys checked out the exhibits they wanted to see.

I joined them for the Human Origins exhibit. I have long been fascinated with the study of hominins. Once many years ago we took a vacation to Houston to see Lucy's bones. Lucy is Australopithecus afarensis. She lived about 3.2 million years ago in what is now Ethiopia.

I learned lots that trip, not the least of which is I do NOT drive in Houston. Public transportation makes D.C. a wonderful town to visit.

NMNH's Human Origins exhibit is the best I've seen. There are numerous bronze sculptures of various hominins. This is a Neanderthal offering son John a bit of roasted meat. 

Although generally accurate, this sculpture is much smaller than Homo neanderthalensis. The average height for males was 5' 5" and for females was 5' 1". The depiction of them cooking their food, is, however, accurate. 

What I especially like are the forensic reproductions of heads. They are accurate and set on pedestals at their average heights, so you can look them in the eye, as it were.

This Homo erectus female would have been about six feet tall. So I looked up to her.

Like all the Smithsonian museums it is open to all, free of charge.

A History Vacation -- Day One

Dome on the United States Capitol

Day One of a History Vacation:

Five years ago I went with the girls (my daughter, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter) on a History Vacation to Washington D.C. The granddaughter was 12 and old enough to enjoy and benefit from a vacation that focused on museums and monuments.

My grandsons are now 14 and 9, so it was time for them and their father, my son, to go on their own History Vacation. In June, I flew from Denver and they from Dallas for a week in our beautiful Capital City.

Washington is definitely a walking city. There are so many people from out of town and what little  parking there is is pricey, so driving is not only fiscally disheartening, it is emotionally daunting. I can't imagine trying to navigate an unfamiliar town in heavy traffic where most of the other drivers are also trying to navigate an unfamiliar town in heavy traffic. With the Metro, D.C.'s subway system readily available at reasonable cost, there is no need to drive there. It is safe and clean and there are always people ready to help you find your way.

We stayed in a hotel in Crystal City which is just outside D.C. on the Virginia side of the Potomac River. The hotel shuttle runs from the airport to the hotel every ten or fifteen minutes and is free.

Crystal City must be the hotel and apartment capital of the world. Look out any window or down any street and mostly all you'll see is another hotel or apartment building. There is one large shopping mall with little malls and parks scattered about.

My son John is most adept at using his smart phone. He pulled up multiple options for our dinner that evening -- within walking distance, say 15 to 20 minutes. We settled on Nando's Peri Peri. I tend to avoid chain restaurants but Nando's was identified as serving Spicy Afro-Portuguese food. I'd never eaten African or Portuguese food. Well, I had Ethiopian on the previous History Vacation. Which by-the-bye, I enjoyed thoroughly.

We passed the large shopping mall on our walk to dinner. We never ventured inside it. I'm not a shopper by nature and it's hard enough to get me into a mall in Denver much less in D.C. where there are so many other places to spend my time. Places not available at home.



My son John and his son Silas, the nine-year-old, enjoying Peri Peri chicken meals.

According to Wikipedia, Nando's is an "international casual dining restaurant chain originating in South Africa. Founded in 1987, Nando's operates about 1,000 outlets in 30 countries." I can testify that the food at the Nando's in Crystal City is good and reasonably priced. And the people who work there are courteous and friendly.



Outdoor seating for diners is available in the middle of the small square of shops. If you look closely, just beyond the people eating, there are people participating in an outdoor yoga class. The yoga folk also have a shop on the square for rainy day classes, indoors.

There is a bakery, an Irish pub, a Lebanese Taverna, a Zen Bistro and Wine Bar, etc. It's a totally perfect place if you're hungry and looking for someplace to relax after a long day. And travel makes for a long day for me.



The weather was beautiful, mid-60s with golden evening light reflecting off the upper stories of the buildings around us. We ate and strolled around the area before returning to our hotel.

What we call a Convenience Store. Although its
location was "convenient" to our hotel,
its hours were not. It was only open

until 5 in the afternoon.

This sign was just around the corner from our hotel so not only did it give me a chuckle every time I saw it, but I knew where to turn to get back to our home away from home.