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Old 13 Sep 18, 09:06 PM  
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CrispyA
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Expedition East Coast Day 6: Air & Space, American History and American Indian museums, beer and ice

24 July 2018

After a much better night's sleep with no tooth issues, we were all feeling nice and refreshed. The weather was really wet so we were in no rush to be out and about and so we took our time getting up and dressed.

Waterproofs on, we walked towards the station, stopping off at the Stage Door Deli for breakfast. It had sounded really good but was just okay really, and we were the only customers in there. Still, it did the trick and we weren't hungry when we came out which is the least you can expect from a diner! We also called at Dunkin Donuts on the way for a bag of munchkins. The staff were no better than they had been the day before and all seemed to hate working there!

We got the Metro to the National Mall and headed for the Air and Space Museum which was my "must do". It is a really interesting place but quite overwhelming and we realised that we couldn't do it all and would have to be selective.

I got quite giddy about the Spirit of St Louis



and then we went to learn all about the Wright Brothers which was fascinating. To think that two bicycle engineers had painstaking worked through all the potential problems to achieve flight was quite fascinating. The airplane that they flew dominates the exhibition and was all really enjoyed learning about them.



After that we looked around the WW1 exhibition and then the shop where the kids found some space helmets.



We'd had enough of this museum now and decided to head out. All the Smithsonian museums on the Mall are free and they are a real treat. We were very impressed with such a collection being available to everyone at no charge.

We also took a moment to be fabulous.



Alex had recommended the African American museum but when we got there, there was a huge queue to get in so we realised we should have gone there first and gave it a miss. We chose the American History Museum instead.

Which has the Batmobile



And a really good exhibit of the original Star Spangled Banner and a short history of the flag.

The rest of the museum is a little bit random to be honest. One exhibit featured Benjamin Franklin's walking stick, some stone jars, Babe Ruth's baseball and the Swedish Chef from the Muppets! It was as though someone had just emptied their attic contents into the place.

One exhibit was all about the Poor People's March and camp on the National Mall in 1968, which we had never heard of, and the whole museum was quite a mish mash. All the random things that wouldn't fit into any of the other museums.

We had coffee (and munchkins) and then headed for my other "must do" - the museum of the American Indian which is housed in a really lovely building. It's a really interesting place but again we had to be selective as there is so much to see. We watched a short film on Native American beliefs and learned about history, including the Battle of Little Big Horn and the original Pocahontas. There was also a lot of information on the Trail of Tears which we had seen various markers for in Tennessee. There were no punches pulled about the impact of this forced removal of American Indians from their land and we were left in no doubt about the culpability of figures such as Jefferson and Andrew Jackson. It was heartening to see how many people had opposed the action, even if it ultimately couldn't stop it.

After all this culture, we were ready for some beer and some food! We got the train to the excellently named Right Proper Brewing Company where we were served by the lovely Tristan, who's Dad is English. The food was very nice and we got to try a nice selection of beers.



We did have some fun when another server came over to see if we had another drinks order and Tristan came by to ask if we were now cheating on him with this guy!

After our meal, and some lovely beers, we got the Metro back to Alexandria. Paul took this photo and I would like to point out that I was checking our route on google maps and not on Snapchat!



We met up with Alex again in Alexandria and went for Nice Cream again. I was particularly taken with the pistachio and the honey lavender flavours and we enjoyed a number of samples before we made our final decision. Mixing a bit of pistachio and honey lavender together gave us an ice cream version of baklava and we all voted that a winner!

We said goodbye to Alex, failing again to take photos and were a little sad that our stay in Washington was over as we'd really enjoyed it and could have stayed longer.

Then it was back to the room for Shark Week and then bed.
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Old 13 Sep 18, 09:46 PM  
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Melbatb
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Good to have you back! I have been waiting for the next update (no pressure of course! )

“Nice cream” sounds perfect (you know we like our ice cream over here )

You certainly had a busy day - there seems to be a lot to do in Washington. It is on my list to visit one day! Hotels just seem so expensive so for a solo trip it is quite dear!
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Old 14 Sep 18, 03:55 PM  
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katiebaz
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Sounds like another great day and we really enjoyed the air and space museum too. Your beers and ice cream sound lovely as well.

Ps are you sure you weren’t sending a picture of yourself with the dog ears?
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Old 23 Sep 18, 03:30 PM  
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disney owl
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a Good museum day
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Old 30 Sep 18, 05:18 PM  
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i love jack
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Sounds another interesting day.
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Old 30 Sep 18, 06:33 PM  
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CrispyA
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Originally Posted by Melbatb View Post
Good to have you back! I have been waiting for the next update (no pressure of course! )

“Nice cream” sounds perfect (you know we like our ice cream over here )

You certainly had a busy day - there seems to be a lot to do in Washington. It is on my list to visit one day! Hotels just seem so expensive so for a solo trip it is quite dear!
We thought it was expensive- but Alexandria was pretty reasonable so might be worth looking at.

Originally Posted by katiebaz View Post
Sounds like another great day and we really enjoyed the air and space museum too. Your beers and ice cream sound lovely as well.

Ps are you sure you weren’t sending a picture of yourself with the dog ears?
*shifts eyes* no . . . .

Originally Posted by disney owl View Post
a Good museum day
It was a really good day - so much to do

Originally Posted by i love jack View Post
Sounds another interesting day.
It was really good
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Old 5 Oct 18, 11:12 PM  
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Fuellady
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Another interesting day. How fantastic that the museums are free, so much to see and do.

Nice Cream sounds great
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Old 6 Oct 18, 10:30 AM  
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CrispyA
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Originally Posted by Fuellady View Post
Another interesting day. How fantastic that the museums are free, so much to see and do.

Nice Cream sounds great
The museums are all a wonderful gift and you could spend days exploring them.

Nice cream was delicious!
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Old 6 Oct 18, 02:36 PM  
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WileyCoyote
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Another nice day with your eclectic museum mix ! The weather is being a bit pants though with the rain .
The metro looks like the inside of a space ship
Glad you have enjoyed your time in DC .
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