Breakfast was a donuts down at Union Station followed by a short Metro hop over to the Smithsonian to spend some time at the National Air and Space Museum.
It’s been about 7 years since I’ve been in the Air and Space Museum and while many things haven’t changed, some have. The front hall was missing one of its signature pieces, the Wright Flyer, and had a new addition, Space Ship One. The commercial aviation exhibit was interesting, and I don’t remember it being there from before. After that I went through the various exhibits including the World War I and II aviation, got to see the ME-262 and one of the few Mitsubishi Zeros which still exist, and finally found the Wright Flyer in it’s own special exhibit which went in to a lot more detail about the Flyer and the Wrights’ history. Finally, a trip to the gift store where I found a few things for Reese.
After that I headed back over to the National Gallery for lunch since the McDonald’s at the Air and Space Museum didn’t appeal to me one bit.
The afternoon saw me over at the National Archives to check out some of our country’s history. They’ve got an exhibit with items from the archives, including Rosa Parks arrest, the Emancipation Proclamation, a letter from George Washington, and much, much more. After finishing that I queued up to get in to the rotunda to see the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Magna Carta amongst others.
On the way back I stopped at the Capitol City Brewing Company for a burger and a pint of porter. Both extremely yummy, one of the best porters I’ve had in a while.