Another day in DC, another museum - this time the Museum of Natural History. Part of the reason for our long stay here in DC is that the museums are all free of charge, though we are running approximately $40 per lunch - and I've learned that the cheeseburger at the Museum of Natural History is WAY better than the cheeseburger at the National Zoo.
It was supposed to be hotter today and it was (35 or 36 was the high), so it was nice to spend the day in a museum, though we had to walk about 10 blocks to get to it. I have a feeling the kids were only partially interested in this museum and they are very tired - none of them have been sleeping in since we arrived in DC, even though there is plenty of opportunity. We basically drug them through parts of the museum.
The first part of the museum we explored related to the ocean. The kids were the most interested in a small display aquarium of a coral reef complete with Disney / Pixar approved fish. I was most interested in a preserved giant squid that was 11m long. After the ocean area we went through a mammal area and then headed upstairs.
Sandra took Evan, Jonathan and Bradley through a live butterfly exhibit, which Alex refused to go through. At one point in the exhibit there was a window where those outside could see in and I watched a visibly frightened Evan ducking butterflies, while Bradley walked around with a huge smile on his face. We then went through an Egyptian exhibit, complete with mummies and an insect zoo with a bunch of live insects and spiders. By this point the museum was extremely busy and I pretty much gave up on seeing anything as it took all of my concentration to move the stroller through the crowds of people and keep track of all of the kids.
The next section was on dinosaurs, which the kids really enjoyed, and Alex discovered a local contribution to the museum - a reproduction of fossilized T-Rex poop, the original of which was discovered in Eastend and is currently at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum. We stopped for lunch after the dinosaurs and ate in an extremely busy cafeteria. There was a group behind us full of screaming kids and I had a horrible headache by the time we left. Actually, there were a lot of groups in the museum today, which may have contributed to how full it was.
Our final museum section was geology and the Hope Diamond. Like every famous item, you can't see it for the crowd of people, so I walked around while Sandra took the boys for a look. The next room was full of jewelry and diamonds and was so full of people, I skipped it, though Sandra took the time to look at everything in it. I spent the time looking at crystals in the next large area with some of the boys. We then had to drag the boys through the rock area, as everyone was done, before we went through the rock gift shop on the way home.
Tomorrow we head out on a long metro trip to the airport hangar part of the Air and Space Museum. That's where they hold all the aircraft that are too large to move into a regular building in downtown DC, including the space shuttle Discovery and the Enola Gay. I'm kind of hoping that it will be less busy due to the location, but that's unlikely. Maybe I should just hope that the area will be big enough that the crowd won't be noticeable.
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