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...a blog for the friends and family of dan, jen, worthy, william, calvin & christian

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Udvar-Hazy Center (Air & Space Museum companion facility)

 We've had some cold weather lately and we all were suffering from cabin fever.  We needed to get out and run around a bit... so we decided to go to a museum.  Generally, I wouldn't advise visiting a museum to run, but when it's in a ginormous air hanger it's probably okay. It's the companion facility to the Smithsonian's National Air & Space Museum.  It's called the Udvar-Hazy Center.
It was awesome.
We'd heard tales. Unbelievable tales.  Truly.  We didn't believe them.  We assumed there was a lot of embellishing happening.  The museum was truly everything fantastic.
half of the main air hanger
 One of the highlights was a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. Of course being the well rounded, intelligent gal I am I knew exactly what this was the moment I looked at it read the sign.  Dan actually did have boyhood knowledge of this and was really thrilled to see it up close.  
Dan & Worthy with the Blackbird
it is a visually amazing aircraft
Without a doubt the highlight of the museum was the space shuttle Discovery.  I expected it to be immense, but was unprepared for how amazing it was. We were able to hop in on a free tour that was in progress and the engineering details and information was remarkable.  I'm so glad we got to hear an expert talk for awhile on it. 



They had so many aviation things there, but this really caught my eye.  It's Charles Lindbergh's wristwatch. I think it is so handsome.  If I were a designer of such things I'd definitely be recreating this for Dan. 
So classic.
On a heavier note, they also house the Enola Gay which dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.  The immensity of the craft shouldn't have surprised me, but it did.

It was an amazing day and we got out of there just as the snow started to fall.  
So we capped off the night with a warm fire, snuggling and Doctor Who (season 8) which all our boys love.  
Some days things go so much better than I can plan or imagine.

1 comment:

  1. I love that place. I could spend the whole day there. The rest of the family....not so much!

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