My arrival at Dulles Airport was pretty exciting. My parents me at the baggage claim, and my luggage arrived nearly an hour later, making me wonder just how many baggage handlers (I guess I should call them "anti-terrorism specialists" thanks to the TSA) rummaged through my underwear searching for minute particles that just might indicate that at some time in my life I wandered too close to gunpowder. That's the price of air safety, I suppose.
After a nice family dinner Tuesday night and a good night's sleep in the humid air of NoVA, my mom and I set out for downtown DC Wednesday morning. Growing up, we spent quite a good amount of time in DC looking at all the museums, but I find that every time I return I bring with me a new set of eyes. I look at the monuments and the museums, and I see a wealth of history laid out before me, a celebration of the past that aims to inspire new generations to strive for greatness. That and a lot of guys sleeping on park benches, so I guess we still have a long way to go.
The American History Museum has an exhibit celebrating the American presidency. Amazing exhibits greeted us such as Washington's uniform, Jefferson's portable desk (on which he wrote the Declaration of Independence), Lincoln's death mask, and the speech Teddy Roosevelt had in his front pocket when he was shot (the bullet was slowed by the sheer thickness of paper from his planned speech and his eyeglass case, but still caused considerable damage, not that TR cared; he stood up and delivered the speech anyway). My camera was flashing and flashing, thinking of all the good stories I could tell to next year's unwitting victims in my classes.
The most amazing thing about the Smithsonian museums is how they are constantly striving to keep the historical record alive. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the September 11th exhibit, packed with visitors, where people are asked to write their most vivid memories of the tragedy and contribute them to the Smithsonian's collection. Someday doctoral candidates will read those little pieces of paper and try to understand what the whole experience meant for all of us. And someday many of us will try to explain the shock we felt to classrooms of students born after and unaffected by that horrible day.
Anyway, after touring the museum, we went to the historic Eastern Market just a few blocks from the Capitol building. There I was reintroduced to an eastern delicacy, the crab cake. Now, we have crab cakes at some restaurants in CA, but nothing like this. The flavor was perfect, the outside was golden brown, and the cake fell apart in my mouth. Unbelievable!
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