You Should Go! National Air and Space Museum

Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

When I was growing up on the eastern shore of Maryland, our school field trips were always to Washington, DC. The most unintentionally memorable of these trips was probably the time we accidentally left a classmate behind and had to turn the bus around to retrieve him (safe and sound)! Lesson number one: always do the head count before you leave the city. Lesson number two: the Air and Space Museum is the obvious place to look for an errant twelve year old. He was safely ensconced in the IMAX theatre, chomping away on “astronaut” freeze-dried ice cream from the gift shop.

More than twenty years later, I can still see why my classmate couldn’t tear himself away from the place long enough to board the school bus (side note- he’s a pilot now)! The Air and Space Museum is located on the National Mall just a short ride from the Marriott Wardman Park (take the red line to Metro Center then transfer to either the blue or orange line to the Smithsonian stop). The larger-than-life museum has exhibits featuring great moments in aviation, rocketry and human spaceflight.

My personal favorite-- the legendary IMAX movie first created for the museum in 1976, To Fly! It’s a classic and plays several times each day. The museum also has a state-of-the-art planetarium…you should go! Just be sure to be back in time for the head count!