National Air and Space Museum

There are so many museums to see in D.C and we started off with one of the most famous ones, the National Air and Space Museum. We were expecting it to be busy, since the weather was supposed to be crappy and it was a Sunday, but when we got there and saw it was free admission we knew it would be insane.  And it was, but it was still a really cool and interesting museum even with the hoards of people, and I only wanted to shove a few of them!  There is a lot to see and do, and lots of interactive displays for kids to learn about how things work.  My only other complaint which is not the fault of the museum at all is that it is really hard to take good pictures in here because everything is so big and the lighting is bad, but oh well, you will get the idea!  I have included quite a few pictures mostly of things that I thought to be the coolest, although really, everything was!

When you walk in you are greeted by massive murals on both sides and a bunch of Boeing planes ahead of you in the most massive room.

A large portion of the museum was obviously airplanes of all sorts (obviously) right from the very first ones to the most recent high tech types.

Also there are a lot of jet engines and now they work which Josh loved because thats what he works with.

I don't really understand this but it sounds interesting.

Josh decided to try out the simulator.  I was not feeling well and don't do well with motion on a good day so I passed.   But Josh had fun!

Rockets!

Apollo-Soyuz Test Project.

The Hubble Space Telescope.

Apollo 11 Command Module Columbia.  I can't imagine spending days in this thing!

Space toilet.  Everytime i see this all I can think of is Howard Wolowitz.

Various space suites.

Video of the last Discovery launch.  We decided we are going to drive over to Cape Canaveral for a launch as soon as we can.

Learning about current missions in space, including Pluto.  

And the Mars Rover.

The have a really cool display of photos of the moon.  Beautiful.

Pano of the Space area.

The Time and Navigation is really cool, going back hundreds of years to learn about primitive navigation techniques and early ships and planes.

There is also of course, a whole room about the Wright Brother's with a few of their planes and flyers.

Also another given, Amelia Earhart.

Of course there is also a whole section on War planes.  Starting out with WW1 in modern culture.  I love Snoopy the Red Baron!

A WW1 Rotary Engine Powered Airplane.

SpitFire Mark VII from WWII

Aircraft Carrier replica.

After a few hours in the museum, we went down to Foggy Bottom for a yummy brunch at Circa of Foggy Bottom, which has been on my list since we moved here.  Best Brussel Sprouts, bacon and blue cheese ever.  

I love how in DC you can just drive down a random street and see monuments everywhere!

The museum was great and awesome for families and anyone interested in space and aviation.   Just go on a weekday if you have the chance!