I mentioned before that our hotel offered a free breakfast, so we decided to check that out before heading to the city. I wasn't sure what to expect, but luckily, it was a pretty good spread. They had fruit, pastries, bagels, scrambled eggs, sausage, and oatmeal. It was pretty much the same every day, but it was free, so I wasn't complaining. (Except for the time the eggs were more liquid that solid.) They had some awesome cinnamon muffins that I loved.
Anyway, after breakfast, we grabbed the free shuttle to the local metro station and after buying metro cards, we took it into the city. I had used the metro website beforehand to determine which trains to take and which stop to get off at, so we didn't look too much like tourists. I did, however, forget to figure out where exactly to go once we got off the metro, but luckily my smartphone quickly pointed us in the right direction and we were on our way.
Our destination for the day?
The National Air and Space Museum!
M loves all things space, so I knew he would enjoy this museum.
In fact, he insisted that we do the "boring" airplane stuff first.
I grew up with a dad and brothers that love airplanes, so I find them interesting.
The history of commercial flight was very interesting to me. This was a few weeks before Pan Am started airing, so I was just beginning my fascination with stewardesses.
The museum is basically split in half, with one half being the "air" and the other half "space." Each half has 2 floors. When we were done with both floors of air, we were getting hungry and decided to check out what the museum offered. I had a feeling it would be ridiculous, but I wasn't prepared for just how ridiculous. The Air & Space Museum has McDonald's and an extra value meal cost about $10 or more.
Um, no. I was very hungry, but that was not happening. It was raining that day, however, so leaving to find a local place or street vendor was not really an option. We decided to tough it out and we'd eat once we got back to Alexandria.
Of course, we had to see the most famous item in the museum, the Wright Flyer. I was amazed at just how massive it was. It doesn't seem that big in the old film footage. It used to hang in the gallery in my first picture, but now it has a room of its own filled with the story of the Wright brothers. It was very interesting and it was great to be able to walk all around it.
M with his precious space stuff. And yes, he purposely wore his Apollo shirt. (Which reminds me that I haven't told you about our honeymoon yet. Spoiler: We go to the Kennedy Space Center.)
I liked the information about the astronauts and the displays of the various things they use in space like the foods and tools. The space side of things didn't feel as extensive as the air side, but maybe that will change now that the space program is changing. The Smithsonian does have the space shuttle Enterprise, but it's in their other facility at Dulles Airport. We were going to go until we found out that parking is $15. Plus, (spoiler) we went to Kennedy on our honeymoon and got to go in a shuttle there.
Once we were done at the museum, we headed back to Alexandria on the Metro. We might have explored more in DC, but it was raining and we didn't have an umbrella or ponchos and we were starving. We ended up driving to a HomeGoods to check it out and finding a place to eat along the way. Yes, I had to go to HomeGoods on our vacation. I LOVE that store!
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