On Vacation: Friday

• Going inside a real castle: We're such early risers and the DC schedule isn't prepared for tourists who want to go places at 8 a.m. The kids were up and rearing to go on Friday and, even though we killed as much time at the hotel as we could, we were still on the Mall, after a very exciting shuttle ride to the Metro and awfully steep escalator ride down into the Metro and Metro ride to the city (and even though they've been on city buses and subways in NYC, it was relatively novel). So we walked the Mall a bit and went into the red Smithsonian Castle, which opens early at 9 a.m. We looked around at all the little exhibits, examples from each of the SI museums, admired the 1847 Gothic-inspired architecture, and had a snack in the main hall. Sis devoured a whole croissant while Bud ate yet another fruit cup. (I could subtitle our trip "Of Fruit Cups and Chicken Fingers). And we smooshed some pennies. I think this started, on this trip (it really started with Gong at the Bronx Zoo!), at Gettysburg, but the machine was broken. But we managed it about everywhere else, including the Zoo, Natural History, Smithsonian Castle, Air and Space, National Aquarium, and Maryland rest stop.) We took to saving all our quarters and pennies.
• Then two rides on the carousel, one of Sis's favorite things of the whole trip . . .it's not a pretty or historic carousel, but it is fast and has long rides, so it scores high on our list of favorite carousels. Especially because the views of the Mall are pretty impressive. Sis rode the aquamarine sea creature the second time and couldn't have been happier.
• . . . right after finding and blowing more dandelions. Dandelions could be yet another subtitle of our trip: "Our Search for Dandelions and Smooshed Pennies." You see, Sis was just amazed that dandelions in DC had reached the "puffy" stage while those in CT were still in the yellow-flower stage. They've been ready to blow dandelions since the yellow flowers first appeared and were only too happy to do it in DC. Noted Sis, "Washington DC, you know, has a lot of dandelions. They're so puffed." We did a few at Gettysburg but were looking for a chance in DC, since they were always spotting them out the window. But the Mall is relatively mowed, with no dandelions, except in a few roped-off areas. And you guessed it, we let her go in and pluck a few. And she was very happy. (I thought she'd be more cautious about entering this roped off area, but it was Bud who only ducked in and then out quickly. And no worries, there was another kid nearby picking grass too. It wasn't a memorial or monument area).
• Air and Space: This is apparently the most-visited museum in the country. And it was indeed packed with kids running every which way, taking pictures the whole time. Sis took several pictures in the lobby of the various space modules/capsules. Bud marveled about how the museum suspended the planes from the ceiling. Off all the exhibits, they loved the Skylab--with its collapsible shower and exercise bike and living quarters in space--and the moon rover which we sat and sketched for a long while (and ooh, what a disaster that almost was--I realized I forgot Bud's paper and pencil pack when we were at the Castle--much upset with no remedies at the time--so Mama had to run to the Air and Space shop to find replacements, including a "space pen.") and the Saturn V rocket that launched Apollo and the Wright Flyer (and it is the real one! not a replica! Bud liked the kite better. Sis liked taking pictures of it) and the telescopes and infrared sensors. I was most amazed by the Cold War missiles, which were not there when I last visited in approximately 1985, during the Cold War. I remember being so scared of being bombed by Russians . . . and here were the very rockets on display. Gave me the shivers. The kids got rockets and space shuttles to play with, and even tasty candy moon rocks but no space ice cream!
• Headed to the National Museum of the American Indian. And it's gorgeous--curving sandstone exterior with water features and rocks and native plants. On this increasingly hot (82+F) day you could feel the change in temperature as you approached the museum. I had trouble calling it the Museum of the American Indian, vividly remember "Indian" being drilled out of me at some point in school Apparently, now, it's okay again, a term embraced over the more legalistic (and imposed on them) "Native American." Though, truly, I understand, from my new book Do Indians Live in Tipis? (yes, that spelling has also changed), that the preferred term is actually whatever specific tribe name is under discussion, i.e. avoiding generalizations in favor of acknowledging the diversity and differences of native tribes. Our goal was the cafeteria; we had heard that the food was incredible. And it was--squash and bean tamale pie with a side of guacamole plus cabbage and hominy and stewed white beans, a three sisters soup, fry bread with honey, spicy pickled vegetable empanada, smoked boniato (and sweet potato) salad, cherry aqua fresca, atole, lime/hibiscus/chipotle aqua fresca, tres leches cake, strawberry corn pone, orange cake. And, yes, chicken fingers. There might have been more but that's all I remember. As for the museum itself, well, the building is beautiful, highly symbolic--loved the "woven" walls and rainbow light. But the museum as collection was confusing. I couldn't figure out the mission--is it to educate the general public? At this it fails miserably as most of the exhibits and installations I saw are so particularized and detailed that they almost have no meaning to the general visitor beyond. Okay, sure, the little introductory movie was good, set in an original space utilizing a variety of media, but it was too general to be much use. The rest of the collections are just the opposite: too particular to be interesting. I wasn't looking for a "cowboys and Indians" history but I did want something I could grasp. I mean, I walked through small rooms about the cosmologies of 6 or so different regional variations of tribes I'd never heard of. The minimal number of artifacts were interesting but left you wanting more, particularly because the accompanying text was so dense. This has the very negative effect of reducing the artifacts to being "pretty" or the like. Frustrating. Each tribal room was accompanied by pictures of the people from the tribe who organized the space, as if to say this is one family's way of doing things, which strikes me as Medici-like self-aggrandizement. Now, if the mission of the museum is to honor Indians (and the Indian curators who put things together) for a specifically Indian/insider audience, I can't evaluate if they've accomplished it or not. Because, being turned off by that first exhibition, I didn't bother to go anywhere else in the museum (which has spent a hefty sum on interactive technologies--Sis loved all the folktale videos and Bud liked the animal artifact kiosks). It's too bad, really, because I have really enjoyed our visits to the Mashantucket Pequot museum (and they were huge financial and organizational contributors to the NMAI), but it better manages the insider/outsider equation while being very tribe- and location-specific.The museum as an institution is very young and so I imagine it will find its stride and some balance in the long run; in the short, go eat and then head somewhere else. Which is pretty much what everyone seemed to be doing (and what all the online reviews I've read say too).
• I had dinner with the woman I'd met up with the day before and another friend I know from years and years ago. We had a nice catch-up conversation over pan-Asian food. The second friend left us after dinner and my college friend and I--who had hosted each other's baby showers--talked shop about kids. And I realized, as I always do, that I wished I stayed better in touch with her the rest of the time.