bert425

I'm a Disney fanatic. . and I have no idea what y'all are talking about. (this "door" thing) but again, I've only been on Indy twice in my life, and avoid it when we go to the park (it does "not so good things" to my back). I much prefer Dinosaur! at Animal Kingdom, and will re-ride that over and over. tho I do like the Indy queue.

yes, Potato Patch has fantastic fries. covered in cheese. . mmmmmm Don't believe the hype about the deep fried Oreos tho.. those were disgusting. but Knoebel's kind of "wins" for best theme park food in Pennsylvania.

^^ Don't skip Tradewinds, in Festa Italia. . it's a very good Himalaya!

that is a beautiful picture at the Great Wall. what time of day was it that it was so crowded? (I'd assume it's always crowded).

Day 7 Part II: Monuments by Moonlight. So we lined up outside of Union Station for the Monuments by Moonlight tour, that was done by Old Town Trolley. I had researched this tour online, and it was one of the highest rated ones available – and as a bonus, I was able to buy discounted tickets thru Club TPR! for this tour, Old Town Trolley uses what look like Double Decker Buses (?), but with only one level of seating – so you’re raised up above the road by a good amount and are able to see quite a bit, and take some great pictures. There are wide open windows, which make for not only good viewing, but also great breezes when moving. We were only about 5 people back in line, so we knew we’d get some decent seats (I think the bus seats maybe 64) but what we found interesting was the group in front of us: a very large woman (easily 400lbs) in her 50’s, and her two very large sons (?) (each over 350lbs), who took the first 3 rows – each in a row, and then never left the bus. They didn’t get out at any of the stops, they didn’t take any pictures, and one of the sons never looked up from his e-reader the entire time! I don’t understand people like this. . why spend the money on the tour, if you aren’t even going to get off the bus? Oh well, it DID make *our* bus easy to spot at the stops, when getting back on, because they were the 1st 3 rows, and tho it’s terrible to say, the front of the bus did tilt “down” a little bit, so we could tell which was ours without ever looking at the bus number. We ended up going about 4 rows back on the top level, and sat behind an older woman who had some professional camera equipment with her. She was by herself, but except for that open seat there, and the open seats next to the ‘large’ family, we had a full bus. I had asked the driver which side to sit on to get the best view of the White House, and he directed me to the left side, so that where we sat - -me at window, and Nick in aisle (but we had decided that we’d simply trade seats at each stop so we both got a chance to take some good pics). The bus pulled out right on time for our 2 ½ hour tour, and we took off to see the sights via bus. We started off with some familiar sights, as we passed by the Supreme Court, and the Library of Congress. Then we turned up in front of the Capitol circle, and got some fantastic views of the Capitol (under all the scaffolding of course), and unfortunately, the large fountains in front of the Capitol – facing the National Mall – were also scaffolded off . . those too were undergoing renovation. Disappointing, but we still got some nice shots up the mall of the Washington Monument and the sun starting to set. After some history about the Capitol, and the fountains (that we couldn’t see, but at least he described them to us for what we WOULD have seen and why they were there), we headed down Independence Avenue, as the driver pointed out each of the Smitsonians on the mall (and yes, the Police Presence and Helicopter were still there, but they had opened up Independence Avenue for us to continue) and we passed the Holocaust Museum, behind the Jefferson Memorial, and pulled into our 1st stop: the MLK Memorial and the FDR Memorial. We had a ½ hour at this stop, and the sun was still up, so we went and took some pictures at the MLK site, then walked down to the FDR Memorial (which is rather interesting, in that it is several spread out waterfalls, quotes, and sculptures, rather than just one building or statue), and used the facilities, before meeting back at the bus. This is where the trip got a little bit interesting, as most folks know the “rules” of a tour-bus: you’ve lined up to get on the but at the start, and you got to pick your seat. Therefore your seat is your seat for the tour. This doesn’t count in a situation like with Nick and I, since he and I were just swapping among our two seats to share the window. But there was this one guy, who just got back on the bus, and plopped down in a seat he wanted to sit in. That messed up a lot of folks, as instead of saying something, the two girls in the row he sat in, went and took someone else’s seat, which set off a chain reaction and ended up splitting several groups. There were some very angry words exchanged, and some threats made, but the guy who caused all the problems, just sat there and pretended he didn’t notice anything going on! The driver started up the bus, and we moved on to the next stop, but for the rest of the tour, Nick and I left our hats on our seats. .and if he had moved them, believe me, I would have made a scene. So the bus went by the Kennedy Center (where they hold the Honors), and across the Arlington Memorial Bridge, and stopped at the top of the traffic circle to see the “eternal flame” that burns on the tomb of JFK. We drove along side Arlington National Cemetery (we took some pics, but honestly they came out blurry, so it just wasn’t meant to be, and that’s about right. . . we shouldn’t have taken pictures of the gravesites. .it just seems wrong). Eventually we got to our 2nd stop: the Marine Corps Iwo Jima Memorial. The bus dropped us off in the front of the Memorial, and then drove around to for us to meet it on the back side (where the other busses were waiting for their groups). The sun set had turned the sky an amazing color of blue, so we got some beautiful pictures, and then headed to where our bus was. The guy who had switched seats at the prior stop? Switched seats AGAIN. .causing more chaos – this time splitting up a family of 3, so the little boy couldn’t sit next to Dad in the row behind Mom. There was a lot of gnashing teeth, and again the guy pretended he didn’t know he was causing any issues. (and it turned out the girls he had displaced at the first stop were apparently his wife and daughter, as I caught the girl mumbling “I hate Dad” while they went back to their original seats. Everyone on the bus was now gossiping about this silly guy causing all the problems, but the displaced family announced they were trying to teach their kid that things don’t always go the way we want them to, and to roll with the punches. (I told her she was much more forgiving than I was, and that she was showing a valuable teaching moment that I wished I had her capacity to roll with it). That died down, but we couldn’t leave yet, as the older lady that had been sitting in the row in front of us (saved her seat with her camera Tripod) wasn’t back on the bus. She had apparently gotten lost, or mixed up on direction, and the Driver had to actually get out and go look for her around the Memorial. He came back with her about 10 minutes later. . but this delay threw the tour off even more (we ended up getting back closer to 11 instead of by 10pm). We crossed back into DC using the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge, and came up behind the Lincoln Memorial, which was our 3rd and final stop of the tour. We had 30 minutes here for Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial. Did you know the Lincoln Memorial has an elevator? We did, because luckily the Driver mentioned it to the older lady in the row in front of us. .it’s on the left side of the memorial, and you enter at the base (where there’s a small museum), and then elevator puts you out just on the left of Lincon – in the alcove where his famous “4 Score” speech is etched into the Marble wall. There was simply no way we could have made all those steps in the 30 minutes allotted, so the elevator saved us. Impressive, Impressive memorial. . just absolutely stunning when it’s all lit up at night, and since it was open until 11pm, we were able to look briefly into the museum (we missed the Gift shop, not realizing it was on the Lincoln level, so we had gone back down already). We decided NOT to do the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (for the same reason I didn’t want to do the Holocaust Museum). . but we did try to find the Korean War Memorial, and tho we did spot it from the path back to the bus, we didn’t make the trek to it to take any pictures, as by now it was truly dark. Once everyone got back on the bus (and shock and amazement, seat-switch guy moved back to his *original* seat. .so everyone was happy for the ride back), and we went up the North side of the National Mall, past the lit up WWII Memorial, and then zoomed by the White House. I’m sure this tour typically spends a little more time slowing down so folks can look at the White House, but as I mentioned, we were well over 40 minutes behind by this point, so instead of even stopping, we just went across the intersection in front of the White House slowly. I ended up with only two pictures: 1 blurry, and 1 sorta blurry. I was disappointed, but I realized that we were running late, and the truth was we had gotten good pictures from the Washington Monument on Friday Night. . so the very brief pass by the White House didn’t knock down my score on this tour at all, and I heartily recommend it to anyone who will be in DC. We got back to Union Station just before 11, and we immediately went down to the Metro, where we had to wait a little bit for the next train (it was late on a Sunday, so the trains were only every 20 minutes), but soon we were walking back from the Foggy Bottom Station to our Hotel. Even tho we had eaten a big lunch, it was now over ten hours later, so I was hungry (Nick still had leftovers from the prior night’s dinner w/ Ben and Mark in the room). I hate eating so late, but since our hotel was attached to a GWU Dorm, I had seen a 7-11 the prior day. So we passed the Hotel entrance and went around the corner to the 7-11, where I got crap from the 7-11 grill to eat in the room, from a guy who looked annoyed that we came in when he just wanted to talk on the phone. . LOL. . to be honest, at least I didn’t finish it. . I put too much nacho cheese and relish on the Hot Dogs, and it just made a mess. Shockingly, it did not give me heartburn tho! We stayed up for about an hour watching the news (still no info on what had happened at the Metro Station). We turned in, I think, close to 12:30 am. . but we had planned to sleep in the next day. We were going to be checking out, going to the Udvar-Hazy Air and Space near the Dulles Airport, and checking into our 3rd hotel for the last night of Vacation. . so we knew we didn’t have to get up super early. Library of Congress Pulling up around to the front of the Capitol, facing the Mall Supreme Court Supreme Court Library of Congress Looking out at the Mall, from front of Capitol -- with fountains in scaffolding for repairs. Smithsonian Castle from the road along the National Mall Washington Monument from the road along the National Mall National Holocaust Museum a bit further out, past 1st reflecting pool from the Mall a bit further out, past 1st reflecting pool from the Mall Library of Congress Library of Congress Close up on fountain in front of Library of Congress Looking out at the Mall, from front of Capitol -- with fountains in scaffolding for repairs. front of the Capitol, facing the Mall front of the Capitol, facing the Mall Washington Monument from the MLK Memorial. Pulling out from Union Station MLK Memorial Jefferson Memorial from the MLK Memorial Nick and Jefferson Memorial from across the lake. Me at FDR Memorial Me and FDR statue at the Memorial Back of Lincoln Memorial as we are heading across to Arlington Cemetary Heading back toward the National Mall, as it's getting dark Iwo Jima Memorial Part of plaque on the Iwo Jima Memorial Iwo Jima Memorial Iwo Jima Memorial National Mall all lit up Coming up on the Lincoln Memorial Famous "4-score" speech, in the marble inside the Lincoln Memorial (where the elevator drops you off) Looking at Lincoln from the speech wing. It really is massive and beautifully done. You don't realize how big it is, until you are standing right in front of it. attempted selfie with the reflecting pool and Washington Monument behind us. . . look at those jowls! Could have used a selfie-stick! Nick and Lincoln blurry, but from the front steps of Lincoln Memorial Me and a giant penny in the small museum in the base of the Monument Looking back as we head towards the bus WWII Memorial (from the bus) WWII Memorial (from the bus) with Lincoln Memorial behind it. WWII Memorial (from the bus) with Lincoln Memorial behind it. White House as we went by on bus Best picture I got of the White House the single layer, double decker bus used for this tour

that. . .is really beautiful. very nice!

that is some great looking food. I had a huge lunch, and my stomach is growling looking at these pics! Good Job, Disney.

Day 7: After the exhausting prior day, we did out best to try and sleep in. But being in DC, and just not having to think about work at all (it hadn’t even crossed my mind the whole trip thus far), had us both up and about by 8am. Shocking, considering how wiped out we should have been! I did briefly make the argument that it would be nice to go to the Zoo (which is considered a Smithsonian site, and therefore has free admission).. but it seemed so far away even tho the Red Line goes right to it (and if we chose to drive, parking was $22!). So I only made that argument briefly, since I didn’t want to lose the whole day. The only “musts” today were the Monuments tour at 7:30 pm, and the Air & Space Museum on the mall, and I had budgeted 3-4 hours for it. But we still had a bunch of time, so we got showered, dressed, and left the room by 9:15, and headed towards the Foggy Bottom Station with the intention of stopping at a few additional Smithsonian Museums that had been on our “maybe” list, since we had finished 2 of the really “big” museums yesterday. So we exited the Smithsonian stop, and that put us a short walk to (really right next to) the Freer Gallery, the square museum built around an open courtyard, with a focus on Asian art. The most “famous” object in the Freer Gallery is an American Work, however, the Peacock Room, painted by Whistler (of “Whistler’s Mother” fame). .this is an opulent London Dining room that is painted in royal blues and golds with very Asian influenced design work, and gorgeous gold leaf applied throughout. . the room also displays hundreds of Asian ceramics with glazes that match the background of the room. The room was brought over from London as it was created, and then installed in Freer’s home, and upon his death, it was moved to the Smithsonian, where it was installed and appears as it did in the original London house. It really is jaw-droppingly amazing. While not one of the Smithsonian’s larger museums, as a fan of Asian art, I was happy that we got to visit this Museum from our list. . .but as we saw with several other museums, the Freer is about to undergo renovation in 2016, and they had already started closing off some of the Galleries in preparation. Unfortunately, the ones that were shut already seemed to be the Japanese focused ones. . (my favorite art style. . .poop). But 3/4ths of the Museum was still open, so we started on the left and just worked our way around the square, seeing art and sculpture (and textiles) from: Chinese (with lots of Budda and animal sculptures), Korean (ceramics), Iran/Islamic world (some amazing illustrated manuscripts), & South Asian and Himalayan (lots of religious art).. . in addition to the Peacock room – installed in the back corner gallery of the Museum. We spent about 25 minutes in this gloriously quiet museum – which was a little bit cold, since the A/C was cranked but there were not a lot of folks there with us (a guard mentioned to me that we had timed it perfectly, since we were there on Sunday, the day before the summer camps started, and on those days they get non-stop tourgroups of kids thru the museum). Connected to the Freer Museum via underground tunnel is the next door Sackler Gallery – another Smithsonian Museum focused on Asian art, tho this one tends to be a little more contemporary. Most of this museum was located below ground level, and the main attraction here was the incredible Silver and Gold Iranian objects from the 4th Century that line the long tunnel/hallway between the two museums. Also on display at the Sackler were some South Asian and Himalayan Sculpture, a large display of Contemporary Asian Art (honestly, not too impressive to us), and what is billed all over the place in DC, “the Peacock Room REMIX: Darren Waterston’s Filthy Lucre” – a “new” version of Whistler’s Peacock Room from the other Museum, but this time filled with cracked and crumbling objects, and in “decadent ruin”. . . .I thought it was pretentious nonsense, a waste of space, and an insult to the real room that was but one building over -- but hey, art speaks to each of us in it’s own way. LOL. We didn’t spend too long in the Sackler, as it was really cold in there too!. .so we made our way back underground and back out the front doors of the Freer Gallery, and continued to our next stop (next door on the Mall), the Smithsonian Castle. The Castle is the 1st building that was done for the Smithsonian, and originally it housed all the collections before they got so big and split off to their own museums. Ben had mentioned the night before that it might be closed due to the construction on the mall, but luckily it was open and operating as usual. The Castle really is intended to be the 1st stop when visiting the Smithsonian Museums, as it serves as a planning center, with TONS of info on what to do, what to see, etc. Of course, I had researched all this online, so why did I want to stop at the Castle on our 2nd day there? Because the whole West Wing of the Castle serves as a “Sampler” of the Smithsonian museums – a Pu-Pu platter if you will. . with displays of objects from all the other museums. Including ones we weren’t planning on going to, such as the Portrait Gallery, as well as some Furniture that could only be seen in the original Smithsonian building. We spent a good 30 minutes in the large ballroom looking at the displays from all the Museums, and chatting with a Volunteer, who pointed out some interesting objects along the tops of cabinets lining the walls. The architecture in this building is pretty impressive as well, and just to stop and take a look at the turrets is worth one’s while. It’s also the final resting place of James Smithson. .the man who founded the Smithsonian – who’s crypt chamber lays to the left as you enter the main Castle from the National Mall. . the only body actually buried on the mall, and supposedly his ghost haunts the castle. There is also a gift shop here (but mostly cheesy stuff to keep the kids occupied – there wre MUCH better offerings at the individual Museum gift shops), as well as a Café . .. and tho we were getting hungry, I didn’t want to eat here. I was more interested in making our way past the Air and Space Museum to the American Indian Museum (with their Zagat rated Cafeteria). The American Indian Museum really is a gorgeous building, with a long winding path along ponds and fountains, and a few statues, to get you to the front doors. We didn’t realize until we were sitting in the café, that the long windows at the back of the ponds wrap around the dining room, so when you’re eating, you’re actually staring across the ponds to the people walking up the winding path to the Museum’s doors. Just beautifully designed. To be completely honest, we simply weren’t that interested in the contents of this particular museum (tho there were one or two exhibits I wouldn’t have minded peeking into. . even tho we did not), but as a “foodie” I really wanted to eat at the Mitsitam café ("Mitsitam" means "Let's Eat!" in the Native language of the Delaware and Piscataway peoples). The Café is billed as: The café enhances the museum experience by offering Native-inspired cuisines from five regions of the Western Hemisphere, including the Northern Woodlands, South America, the Northwest Coast, Meso America and the Great Plains. Each menu reflects the food and cooking techniques from the region featured. Menus are changed with each season to reflect the bounties of that area. We got the directions to the café from the visitor’s desk (and noticed that the vast majority of the Museum was made up of the large central atrium with the path circling around it, as well as the large theatre . . so really this was a rather small museum despite the impressive exterior). We went down the ramp and into the very large cafeteria style stations, and seating area. It smelled absolutely wonderful, and there were so many choices. Now, granted, Nick still has issues with what he can, and can’t eat – since certain spices, or spice levels still irritate his mouth from the Cancer treatments. . .but still, I figured with so many options there was bound to be some things he could try. This was a rated restaurant, and agreed upon by all the critics the best food on the National Mall. A NORMAL couple would each order something from one of the 5 stations, and sample from each other’s plates, to get different tastes. Well, unfortunately, we aren’t normal enough – Nick went ahead and ordered Chicken Fingers. Yeah. Me? I wanted to try a few things, and since I was on my own now food wise, I went to several of the different stations to try different options. So *my* lunch ended up costing somewhere in the neighborhood of $36. Yeah. Still, it was all really, really good. Looking at the current menu being offered at Mitsitam, I’m pretty sure what I tried was: From Northern Woodlands: Duck Fat Potato Hash (side), Vermont Maple and Bacon Cornbread (side) From Northwest Coast: Fig, Walnut, and Caraway Dressing (side), Wild Basil Fried Dough w/ Strawberry Compote (desert – it was VERY good) From South America: Sopa de Quinoa y Cerdo (Inka Style Quinoa Chowder with Pork Dust) (cup of soup) And from Great Plains: Indian Taco (Buffalo Chili on Fry Bread with Pickled Chiles & Pinto Beans, Lettuce, Tomato and Shredded Cheese) (Main dish) We got our heavy trays (at least mine was heavy), and headed to a table by the floor to ceiling windows. The Café is “green” so no straws available, but real silverware (which was nice), so you have to put your plates/trays/silverware back for washing on the way out. It was Father’s Day, so about ½ way thru our lunch, I stopped to go call my Dad and wish him a Happy Father’s Day (he confirmed he got the card I mentioned I mailed on the first day of the trip report, and as expected, he loved that it was cancelled with a Colonial Williamsburg Colonial Era cancelation stamp). We chatted for just a bit, and he tried again to convince me that we should stop by the Holocaust Museum (I’m sorry, but I DON’T want to be depressed on my Vacation! Same reason we never went to the Vietnam Memorial, despite being so close, and why I’ll never go to the 911 memorial in New York. I barely made it thru Pearl Harbor, and I’m not doing that again), and after saying goodbye, went back to join Nick and we took our time finishing up lunch. After a Bathroom Break, and confirmation that we didn’t really want to spend time doing exhibits in the American Indian Museum, we went out the back doors, thru the Indian Gardens, and onto Independence Avenue, to head next door into the biggie for the day: the Air and Space Museum. This one is the one we had most looked forward to (both here and the offsite one), as Nick is big into Planes, and both of us enjoy the Space aspect, so I had saved this for when we could really spend time on it. If I thought the American History and Natural History Museums yesterday were a zoo? This one was absolute anarchy. And the displays are EVERYWHERE. .it’s hard to even formulate a plan to walk thru the museum and ensure you hit everything, as exhibit galleries are left and right (and UP) off the main corridor. We knew we were not going to be bothering with any of the flight simulator rides, but that only knocked out one gallery of many.. . luckily, a check of at the Visitor’s Welcome Center showed there was a 90 minute tour starting at 1pm – just about 10 minutes from when we arrived-- so we decided we’ll go on the tour, and after, can swing back to see anything we missed. As with the other museums, the tourguides are all Volunteers, who enjoy taking visitors around the museum. I quickly directed Nick to line up with the very tall (6’5” ?) guy, figuring that with the crowd in the museum, we’d be able to find him again if we got separated from the tour. . .a strategy that worked quite well, as our group size shrunk (as the tour went on) and swelled (as folks heard him talking about a specific exhibit and joined in the tour) throughout the tour. I can’t remember this guide’s name, but he told us he was an Engineer (something I would have known anyways, from the way he enjoyed talking about the minutia in the history of many exhibits. .LOL), and he was a really great guide, telling us all kinds of History and stories from the days of the Wright Brothers, Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, a very interesting stop at the hall of Black Pilots. He really focused mainly on the “Air” portion of this museum, only giving us a cursory 15 minutes or so on the Space portion, but we didn’t mind, as the tour went way over the 90 minutes promised (he was closing in on the 2 ½ hour mark, when he realized how late he was running). He thanked us for taking the tour with him, and then we sat down to examine the Map of the Museum, and were pretty stunned to realize that although we had just spent 2 ½ hours touring, we hadn’t even covered 1/5th of the Museum! So we basically started in the corner of the 1st floor where the tour had ended, “Moving Beyond the Earth” and worked our way back across the galleries on the 1st floor, leaving the large floor to ceiling galleries (with the suspended planes and rockets) for last. . . but at least we were able to fast track thru what had been covered on the tour  So from “Moving Beyond Earth”, we went to “Exploring the Moon” (Apollo landings), then “Explore the Universe” (about telescopes), and into “Looking at Earth” (focusing on Earth from above, including balloons, spyplanes, and satellites. Then into “How Things Fly” (the hands on kids section -- that was insanely packed, so we stayed here maybe 3 minutes? LOL). .Past the welcome center/main doors, and into “Early Flight” (a gallery we partially covered on the tour), then into “Jet Aviation” (a large gallery with fighter jets on display), and finally the “Golden Age of Flight”. . . that knocked out the 1st floor, pretty much, and had taken us about an hour & ½ , so it was getting close to 5 by now. We didn’t have to head to Union Station for our Monuments tour until 7, so we still had 2 hours to do the upstairs and the large “two story” galleries, so we still had plenty of time and we headed upstairs. Most of the galleries upstairs on this side focused on warplanes, something Nick is into, so we took our time going thru: “World War II aviation”, “Military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles”, “Sea-Air Operations” (with the whole gallery themed as if you had stepped onto an Aircraft Carrier. . VERY well done), and “Great War in the Air” (WWI). One of my favorite galleries was next, “Exploring the Planets”. . poor Pluto, LOL, you could actually see where they had covered over references to it as a “planet” in the museum! But still, lots of information about all the planets, with what seemed to be a big focus on Jupiter, and Saturn (several exhibits on those planets). .but every planet got at least a display or two. We were then able to walk thru the next two huge galleries, “Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight” and “the Wright Brothers” as the tour we had taken had gone thru these particular galleries extensively. . tho we did stop to read a bit more about Amelia Earhart’s business dealings, and look at her Lockheed Vega on display. The “Apollo to the Moon” gallery was interesting, with big displays of machinery, lunar rovers, tools, foods, and other things the astronauts took with them on the Apollo missions, as well as real Astronaut gear, uniforms, and paraphernalia. The small gallery next door, “Flight and the Arts” was blocked off (renovations?), so the last big Gallery on the 2nd floor was “Time and Navigation”, which focused on how sailors historically navigated using the stars, and how radar and other more modern Inventions changed the way we navigate. An interesting gallery, but we were way too tired to do much of the Hands on stuff in here by this point. It was just after 6, so we headed to the three large galleries we had skipped, stopping along the way to walk thru a recreation of the Skylab Orbital Workshop, and to walk thru the nose/control room of a Boeing 747. In one of the three big galleries (America By Air), we went thru an exhibit on the history of flying – that lets you walk thru a recreation of a luxury Douglas DC7, history of Airline Uniforms, and how they did the engines (I had no idea Rolls Royce made plane engines). In the “Space Race” gallery, we saw the Apollo-Soyuz test project, Tomahawk Cruise Missiles, and very large Missiles in the 4 story “Missile Pit” – in the center of the museum. we saved the best for last tho (even though some of these had been covered on our tour). .in the “Boeing Milestones of Flight” gallery, we saw Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis (first nonstop flight from New York to Paris), Chuck Yeagher’s Bell X-1 (the first plane to break the sound barrier), Spaceship1 (the 1st commercial spaceflight), as well as the Apollo II command Module Columbia, and the Gemini IV. Unfortunately, this gallery is in the middle of a large renovation, so although it worked in our favor (the aircraft I mentioned above are typically hanging from the ceiling, but we got to see them up close on the ground), but it worked against us that Sputnik and Explorer (a replica of the 1st artificial Earth Satellite) had been taken off display and had been removed for cleaning. . oh well, it was a replica anyways, since the original burned up at re-entry. We still had some time, and the Air and Space has a huge, 2-story, museum store, so we did some shopping in there, and basically killed some time until we had to head to the L’Enfant Plaza Metro stop just up the street, to make our 7:30 tour. So we headed out of the Air And Space Museum at just about 7pm (having spent about 6 hours there), and surprise, surprise, Independence Avenue was just blanketed with Ambulances, Fire trucks, Police Cars – seriously, there must have been over 50 of em. .flashing lights everywhere! And a slowly circulating overhead? a Helicopter. People were sitting on the steps watching, and I asked the guards at the doors what was going on. They told us they didn’t know, but it had been going on since around 3:30 pm! (we hadn’t even noticed, since we weren’t looking out windows while touring the galleries. I asked them “is it safe to go out this way?”. . and they shrugged, and pointed to the people that were sitting watching. I explained that we had to get to the L’Enfant Plaza stop, and the guard laughed at me and told me the station had been closed down. I went into panic mode and tried to get clarification – was the Metro down? Or just the Station closed? Because we had to check in for our tour at Union Station at 7:30, and I now had likely screwed us by taking time in the museum store. They told me the Metro was running, but that L’Enfant Plaza was shut down. .so we’d have to go to the Smithsonian stop. (gah!). So we ran as fast as we could (on sore as hell feet), out of Air and Space and up the mall, past the Hirshhorn Sculpture Museum, past the closed Arts and Industry Museum (apparently this one has been closed for years and will never reopen to the public), past the Smithsonian Castle, and to the Smithsonian Metro Stop. Keeping with our luck, of course, we both had to pee, but I would NOT let Nick stop. . as we were going down the escalators, we heard the train pull in and we ran to it and hopped right on it. At the Metro Center, we hopped off, went down the escalators to the Red Line, and managed to time *that* just as the train arrived. So we pulled into Union Station, sweating like pigs, out of breath, and at 7:18. . . . I went to check in for the tour -- and of course the booth that I had located the prior night so I would know where it was. . wasn’t there! But asking around got us directed to inside the station to a permanent counter, where we swapped the vouchers for tickets to the tour, was told where to line up, and then we went to the restroom for relief (I’ll spare you a description of the restrooms in Union Station, other than to say they were in the EXACT state of what you’d think a train/bus terminal toilet would be in). Finally relieved, we went out to where we had been directed, and lined up for our Monuments by Moonlight tour . . which I’ll cover in Part II, hopefully in the near future. And no, we never did find out what caused the police presence or the shutdown at the Metro Station. The news all reported it for a couple of days after, but they always said that they were not being told why the station was shut down, or why there was so much emergency response. . . Whistler's Peacock Room (online photo since mine were blurry) Japanese Sculpture (and me) at the Freer Gallery Whistler's Peacock Room (online photo since mine were blurry) displays for the museum we didn't make it to (the Portrait Gallery) cast of the famous Love Statue, from the American History Museum display in the Castle. Coming up on the Smithsonian Castle Nick giving his feet a rest in the Castle while I looked at displays. Comfy? Stuffed Peacock from the Natural Science Museum display in the Castle some of the displays in the Castle wing. Piece of the Berlin Wall (from the day before, in the American History Museum -- Ronald Reagan section). . oops. .out of order! Bell X-1 (the plane Yeagher broke the Sound Barrier in) (the orange one). .and in front, 1/2 of Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis. Spaceship 1 (the 1st commercial orbiter) (and the other 1/2 of Spirit of St. Louis ) Wright Brothers 1st successful plane Apollo II command Module Apollo Lunar Module Lockheed Martin/Boeing RQ-3A DarkStar Unmanned Drone Boeing X-45A Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS) Douglas DC-3 Inside the Cockpit of the Boeing 747 artsy reflection in space suit. . but blocking Nick's face better the "Missile Pit". .

I swear I've seen this exact post a few pages back. did I dream it?

They could (and probably will) take out Flying Ace and BR Tollway for a large new coaster. The plaza, station, and lift/launch could be in Shockwaves's spot while the rest of the coaster is in the rest of the space. y'all really are dreaming. this park has I305, Volcano, Flight of Fear, and Dominator. . and you think they will put in ANOTHER "big" coaster? if anything, the park is missing a "big" woodie, and that won't happen until Hurler/Grizzly go, and get a large one in that spot. I could very well be mistaken, and we shall see -- I'm just guessing just like everyone else -- but what's coming are a couple of flats (or possibly a re-positioning of the Mouse, with something big going in the old mouse spot). certainly not another "big" coaster tho. edit: sorry I'm cranky. . I've had a tough day at work. Y'all go ahead and keep thinking of stuff, it's all in fun anyways.

I will say if you see Pompeii or Mach Tower operating. . hop on them then. Those two are rather infamous for breaking down. in 3 days at BGW a few weeks back?. . Pompeii was working and we rode it, and literally EVERY OTHER TIME we passed by, it was broken down, with a boat stuck on the lifthill. if you missed it, my Trip Report is here, with days 1-3 at BGW, and Colonial Williamsburg. http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=70573 you might find it interesting

^^ but then how boring would the internet be?

heh. . being from Texas, we make a point to avoid Bar-B-Que on our vacations. But yeah, it did SMELL great (in New France (aka: Canada) section

I went on Flying Ace without kids not too long ago and saw tons of adults riding it when I was there a 2 weeks ago? Edit: The park's website says... so I guess that's it?. . we were two adults, both over 48". . . so no go. it was ok tho, I got on Windseeker

CFC lives there, so trust him if he says quick queue is needed. We needed 2 days to do all the rides and shows. . and that was with 1 day completely dead, and the other with only 20-40 minute waits on things. (but we ride pretty much EVERYTHING, so if you only focus on the big stuff, yeah, quick queue might be for you). you're missing one of the two best shows. See Celtic Fyre, yes. . . but try to see "Mix it Up!" too. It's a theater themed to a cafe, with several food options nearby, so you could actually eat Italian food while watching that show. (tho as you mention, if you end up eating in the Festhall (in Ocktoberfest), you can catch Roll Out the Barrell while you eat too. Not a great show, but if you're there). as to you other questions. Weather: we had very HOT the whole time we were there, but there was a 20 minute period on the 1st day where they shut down EVERYTHING, because 'thunderstorms were in the area". The operators told us it was because of lightning within 10 mile radius. . but announcements were made over the park loudspeakers, and everything just shut down. (then after a very brief sunshower, and no bad weather at all,and everything started up again). Food: The only place in the park to get a hamburger (if that's what you want) is the Pub in London, right behind the double-decker bus. We had Pizza from there, and it was decent. But for food recommendations: 1) Pizza/Pasta buffet back near Roman Rapids. Best deal in the park, all you can eat + drink for just $14. Decent Pizza too. 2) the Festhaus in Ocktoberfest -- some very good Pastrami sandwiches, Turkey sandwiches, and the pizza was selling like crazy there too. HUGE portions on the sandwiches. . we easily could have shared just one. 3) the Gelato across from "Mix it Up!" is amazing. hope that helps

yeah. . we were told it was considered part of Planet Snoopy, so we could not ride. (that's why I was concerned we wouldn't be allowed on Woodstock Express )

It's a kids ride tho. (we were just there and were told we could not ride it. . so it's the kid's version of what you mentioned)

aw. . thanks as long as her quality of life is good (and she's adapted quickly, and she LOVES going for her walkies, even tho we now have to do a short leash, so I can keep her from tripping on curbs), there's no way I'm putting my baby-girl down!

Thanks! Lemme know if any specific things I can help out with info on (tho I probably covered it). . LOL The one thing I haven't gotten to yet, that I recommend wholeheartedly? "Monuments by Moonlight" tour in DC from Olde Towne Trolley. If you're a Club TPR member, you get the Tickets at Work discount, and it was a pretty significant savings, for a GREAT 3 1/2 hour tour around the DC monuments.

If it's a hot day, most people will be in the waterpark in the morning. We were just there three weeks ago Friday, and it wasn't crowded at all. . and it was a hot day. Follow the suggestions, and go to Volcano first. we did Volcano, Avalanche, Intimidator, Flight of Fear, Anaconda first thing after rope drop, and we had no problems hitting all these early, and then going to the other side of he park in the afternoon! okay thank you so much. This will probabily be the one and only time I go to Kings Dominion (even though i get in free to all Cedar Fair owned parks). I would like to get Every coaster done. I may go to Volcano first, just like how I go to Firehawk/ FOF at Kings island. Volcano 1st at 10:30 rope drop really is a must. It's got terrible capacity (and it's an amazing coaster). once the line gets long, it never gets short, and you can expect 30 minute + waits (at minimum)

If it's a hot day, most people will be in the waterpark in the morning. We were just there three weeks ago Friday, and it wasn't crowded at all. . and it was a hot day. Follow the suggestions, and go to Volcano first. we did Volcano, Avalanche, Intimidator, Flight of Fear, Anaconda first thing after rope drop, and we had no problems hitting all these early, and then going to the other side of he park in the afternoon!

heh. yeah, and some people disagreed with me. .but we HATED it. My trip report from last year -- we went thru Pennsylvania, from Pittsburgh to Philly, hitting Kennywood, Hershey, Knoebel's, and Dorney, along with all the Culture stuff in Philly -- is on the site here (somewhere) too.

Didn't seem like there is THAT much space when we watched it a couple of weeks ago (actually RIDE it?. . oh hell no). I seriously doubt a new coaster is coming in, as KD has a lot of them, and the only thing that would really fit there is a mouse -- which KD already has (so unless they are going to move the mouse there. .. . .and open up THAT space?). Considering they said they wanted to expand Candy Apple Grove?. . I think you're looking at 2 (maybe 3) new Flats. one of which is definitely a Frisbee sort ride (KD doesn't have one), or perhaps a Round-up (that would fit in well with the themeing there)

Candy Apple Grove, across from the Dodgem bumper cars. yep, just before you get to the Bad Apple:

great pictures! that shot of Silver Bullet over the water is just beautiful!