Air and Space

We spent a very long day at the National Air and Space Museum -- about 10am to 6pm. We ended up taking a guided tour first, which was great for learning things that weren't written down on the information signs, but that lasted from 10:30am to 12:45pm. I just wish I already knew enough about the Space Program and the History of Flight to actually ask questions.

The picture above is of DS#1 in front of only one of the Saturn 5 engines (the pose was his idea). The Saturn 5 rocket was used to launch the Apollo missions. It's pretty impressive to think about how huge the rockets were that were needed to propel the various modules into space (since so much energy is required to go fast enough to leave the Earth's atmosphere).

The older boys had a blast (pun intended) learning all about air and space. DD got bored pretty easily, but she did enjoy their interactive exhibit about the mechanics of flying. DS#3 was in his element with all of those planes, but he did manage a short nap during the guided tour. I enjoyed the guided tour the best because it put together several of the exhibits into a narrative that put each plane or space vehicle into perspective for me instead of looking at each one on it's own, if that makes any sense.

Because we've been spending so much on lunches at the museums, we tried to go a little cheaper at dinner. Tonight that meant stopping by the CVS Pharmacy on the way home to pick up some frozen dinners for the family. I've never had to shop for groceries "in the city" before and this experience has left me wondering where people go to do their "real" grocery shopping around here. I guess we should ask at the front desk tomorrow. I'm a little sick of fast food every day.

Lastly, I found myself revisiting the subject of the war memorials again today. When I was going through the World War I and II exhibits today, one of the signs pointed out how if they had listed out all the names of the dead in one of those wars (I can't remember which one, probably WWI) the list would have been eight times longer than the list at the Vietnam War Memorial. It's a sobering fact, but there aren't as
many soldiers dying in combat anymore, a fact that may seem good or bad depending on your perspective. This unfortunately gives us more business at the Army hospital that I work at, but at least there aren't millions of dead soldiers.