Washington D.C. Shenanigans

Back in late June, Tony and I visited DC for 2 short days (really more like 30 hours) for some family business but were able to squeeze in quite a bit of sightseeing. I was really impressed how close together all of the museums were and how easy it was to just walk in.  I've never experienced anything quite like it in the US.  I only got a few good pics- I blame it ont the intense heat and humidity but here are some of the best ones....

Monuments & landmarks....

Gorgeous row houses!  The colors were so great- pale yello with black trim, sage with red trim.  Really beautiful!

Arlington National Cemetery.  The scale of this place really makes you take pause and consider how many lives have been given.  Despite the number of people currently laid ot rest here they still perform 27 burials per day, though only about 4 funerals per month are held for active duty servicemen and women.

Lincoln Memorial at night- what this doesn't show is Tony, sitting in the rain with our rental bikes while I went up to have a look around.  I've got a great guy!

WWII Memorial

Smithsonian Air & Space Muesum.... when I was a kid, my Dad used to always talk about how fantastic this museum was.  I am so excited that I got to see it for myself.  It's incredible that everything here is the actual
thing- no replicas, no models. It's actually Amelia Earhart's plane and an Apollo space suit that went to the moon.  Its tremendous that such a collection exists and has been maintained. 

Entrance hall- It reminds me of kids room's that you seen in movies that are full of models hanging from the ceiling, except here the models are actual size.

Shadows

One step above a paper glider.

  



Rotary engine- I can't get over how neat this looks.  Like a steampunk flower. 



From an exhibit about the evolution of flight attendant uniforms.  The center one is a maternity unifrom from the mid-90s. I guess airline fashion is slow to evolve- we saw a flight attendant wearing the same thing on our flight home.  Hmm...potential business opportunity?

Gene Kranz's actuall Apollo 13 vest- way cooler than the Ed Harris version.

Chimps in Space!!!!

Ok, so the Smithsonian has a much better model than the Nuclear Museum in ABQ- no legos here!

Sandia Mountain Adventure

During our weekend in ABQ, we decided to take the Sandia Peak Tram up to the summit and hike the 8 miles down to house where we were staying.  The hike was one of the most gorgeous I've ever done, but unfortunately we started a little late and ended up racing against the sun toward the end.  The unexpected trail run did a number on my shins but the evening light made for great photos!

Additional photos from the Sandia hike can be found on the Photo Gallery page.

Photo by Tony Anzelmo

Museum of Nuclear Science and History

While in Albuquerque I was able to visit the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History.  It's a really fun & quirky museum with interesting exhibits featuring the development of nuclear medicine and energy in addition to nuclear weapons history and, of course, the atomic bomb.  They also have an extensive collection of missiles and planes.  These have yet to be organized into a permanent display and make up a surreal nuclear junk yard behind the museum. Here are some photo highlights:

Nuclear junkyard in the desert- feels like a scene from Tatooine.

 

 

Atomic Cannon!!

Sail without the submarine.

Little Boy and Fat Man

WWII bombsight

Bomb sight closeup.

1970s British Missile.  Of course it has the best paint job.

X-ray

Early X-ray machine.  This would make a great China cabinet.

 

Yum yum...irradiated water...

My favorite picture of the day. Irradiated milk from contented cows. :)

 

 

Bow ties are cool.

Gamma camera (predecessor to the MRI).  Imagine if your doctor told you to get into this thing!

My Lego graphite pile is more reactive than your Lego graphite pile.

No nuclear museum would be complete without an animatronic Einstein. 

 I definitely recommend visiting the museum.  More info can be found here:
http://www.nuclearmuseum.org