Murph's Roadtrips: WASHINGTON DC - THE NATIONAL MALL & THE NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM

Thursday, July 5, 2012

WASHINGTON DC - THE NATIONAL MALL & THE NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM

Shannon at the National
Air and Space Museum

After an overnight flight and a change in time zones from Pacific to Eastern, we arrived at Dulles International Airport shortly after 7:00 AM. We picked up our rental car and headed to downtown Washington DC. It was too early to check into our hotel but we were able to get our parking pass so we could get out of the car and do some early sightseeing.

We're staying at the Holiday Inn Capitol which is a block from the National Mall and two blocks from the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution. The first order of business was breakfast. Once that was finished, we set out for a stroll around the National Mall before the brutal heat and humidity arrived. After that, we would head to the National Air and Space Museum. Anyone who has been watching the Giants take a couple of butt-whippings from the Nationals in Washington DC the past two days is aware that this part of the country is in the midst of a swealtering summer heat wave. The temperatures have been over 100 degrees along with brutal humidity such that we never see at home.

Renovation of the National Mall

Were we ever surprised to see heavy construction equipment all over the National Mall. We discovered that the National Mall is undergoing a huge facelift to make it more eco-friendly and better able to withstand the heavy traffic it endures (over 24 million visitors per year). When George and I visited here in 2009 we noticed how worn out some parts of the lawn appeared. It's good that something is being done about it.

Construction equipment on the National Mall

With the Mall in its state of disrepair, we spent only a few minutes there. This was Shannon's first trip to Washington DC so the National Mall's condition was a big disappointment -- but not as disappointing to Shannon as when we explained that the National Mall isn't a gigantic shopping center. From there we moved quickly to the Air and Space Museum. Even though it was only about 9:00 AM, the temperature was already above 80 degrees and the humidity was stifling. Getting into an air conditioned museum seemed like a splendid plan.

Shannon & an Me-262

We covered only the first floor of the Air and Space Museum today. We will return to see the upper level sometime this weekend. Among the highlights we saw were the Spirit of St. Louis (the airplane that carried Charles Lindberg across the Atlantic in the first non-stop flight from New York to Paris), the docked Apollo and Soyuz (the two spacecraft that made the first joint USA-USSR space flight), and a Messerschmitt Me-262 (the first operational jet-powered fighter aircraft). George and I were here in 2009 and we didn't see the Me-262 at that time. We assume it was added to the collection recently. (I'd seen the Junkers Jumo 004 engine of an Me-262 at the Imperial War Museum in London but never before had I seen an entire Me-262 in person.)

The Apollo & Soyuz Spacecraft

We ran out of gas pretty quickly after our overnight flight so we headed back to our hotel for an early check-in. We need some sleep before we head to Nationals Park where we're hoping to see the Washington Nationals complete a three-game sweep of the suck-holes from San Francisco.