Washington, DC - pt. 1

In the current political climate, the only things that would cause me to travel to DC would be a massive protest or a visit with friends. This trip was for the latter. My amazing friends, Rosemary & Carl, are the most incredible hosts. They plan itineraries that are filled with great food and culture. This trip was no exception.

At Bruce's request, we went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Being from Florida, Bruce used to be able to watch rocket launches on TV then run out to the back yard to see them once they achieved a certain height, so the space part of the museum was a bit of a trip down memory lane for him.

The Apollo 11 Command Module:

The Lunar Rover:

As someone who sews and cooks, I thought the exhibits about the spacesuit seamstress and the foods aboard the first space flights very interesting.

I really enjoyed the exhibit about the Wright brothers and early attempts at flight. The Smithsonian has one of the original Wright brothers' planes, albeit it with new fabric on the wings.

This museum is fascinating on many levels, but seeing the reaction of children to these exhibits was great. Showing kids that science can be exciting will, with any luck, help counter the distrust in science (and knowledge in general) that the current administration seems to be fostering.

Another interesting destination was the US Capital.

One can only access the building on a Capital tour and our hosts wisely made reservations for this a few months in advance. One of the things I enjoyed most was seeing some of the statues from various states. Each state is entitled to display two statues. Some are quite modest; others, like this one from Hawaii of King Kamehameha, are spectacular.

Frederick Douglas statue from Washington DC:

Massachusetts' statue of Samuel Adams. Sadly, most people probably associate him with beer rather than his role in the early history of the United States. (He's the one on the right.)

The artwork (sculpture, paintings and friezes) in the rotunda is quite spectacular.

Our guide pointed out that many of the friezes and sculptures were done by artists, many of whom were from Europe, who had no knowledge of the history they were representing. This frieze is an example. It's supposed to represent Daniel Boone meeting with Native Americans. Not knowing anything about it and in keeping with the prevailing wisdom that the natives were evil warriors who wantonly attacked the settlers, he represented it as a heated battle, not the friendly encounter it actually was.

I was happy and not a little surprised to see a sculpture of American suffragettes Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Susan B. Anthony.

Chief Standing Bear and Thomas Edison:

Rosa Parks:

Nice to see that Montana chose an artist as one of its representatives.

The Marcus Whitman statue representing Washington (not my photo below) will soon be replaced by one of Billy Frank, Jr. Its scheduled arrival in DC is September, 2025, so my timing was a bit off.

DC is not without its humorous signs.

We visited the National Museum of the American Indian, one of the museums that the current administration wants to defund, along with the National Museum of African American History and Culture. I went to the latter a couple of years ago and found it truly compelling.

The American Indian museum is also wonderful and had a special exhibition of Narrative Art of the Plains, which was really fascinating.

The history represented by the drawings is one Americans rarely hear about.

This statue, "Allies in War, Partners in Peace" honors the alliance between the Oneida Indian Nation and the US during the American Revolution.

The history of the relations between Native Americans and various governments of the US and the many treaties which were made and broken was represented in an historically accurate way. This is probably why the current administration finds it so objectionable.

The tapestries of DJ Begay were featured in a special exhibition, "Sublime Light: Tapestry Art of DJ Begay." They were so beautiful.

Sunset Mesas (2006):

It's Winter in the North (2017):

Illuminating Big Water (2023):

What a wonderful tribute to an incredible artist.