Vacation In DC, Part Two: The Other Stuff

 

 

Of course, there are other things to see in Washington, DC, besides the White House.

Ford's Theater, for example. 

Just in case you slept through history class, Ford's Theater was where John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln during the play "Momma Mia". 

Sorry, just a joke. The play Lincoln was watching was called "Our American Cousin."  It is about a high school senior who gets bitten by a radioactive spider and develops spider-like powers. 

Sorry, another joke. "Our American Cousin" is "a farce featuring awkward, boorish American Asa Trenchard, who is introduced to his aristocratic English relatives when he goes to England to claim the family estate." It is a 19th century version of the John Goodman movie, "King Ralph".

You have to remember, they didn't have Netflix back then.

Ford's Theatre is a neat little place, and you see where Lincoln was seated when he met his fate.  There's a neat little museum in the basement, with some Lincoln stuff like his suit (Brooks Brothers!) and the pillow they laid his head on when they carried him across the street to the rooming house where he died.  It is kind of gross. (The pillow, not the suit.)

Between Capitol Hill and the Washington Monument is the area called "The National Mall".   There you will find your Smithsonian Museums, like the Air and Space Museum.

We didn't go to the Air and Space Museum this time.  We've been a couple of times before. You see "The Spirit of St.Louis", the Apollo 11 command module, and the model for the Star Trek Enterprise.  In the 90s, they had a moon rock you could touch (it felt like a rock). 

However, we did go to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. We went for one reason: to see the flag that flew over Fort McHenry which inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star Spangled Banner".

They won't let you take pictures of the flag. That's okay. If seeing this flag doesn't inspire you, you have hairy thighs and don't love the Lord.

The rest of the museum is okay.  You see Archie and Edith Bunker's chairs. You see one of Prince's guitars.  Of course, you see Dorothy's shoes.  Just for your information, they no longer display Ted Baxter's WJM jacket. Time marches on, even in a history museum. 

There is one place you must go: The National Archives.

The National Archives has the original Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. 

The Archives open at 10:00 in the morning.  If you go during non-peak vacation times like we did, just get to the Archives as soon as it opens. You will not have to wait in line. You will have to go through security and remove your belt. 

Like seeing the Fort McHenry Flag, it is breathtaking to see these documents. If that doesn't fill you with awe, I'm not sure what will.

The only place to catch your breath after seeing the original Declaration of Independence is the National Archives gift shop.

Of all of the gift shops in DC, the Archives has to be one of the best.  I had to buy these bad boys:

Yes, socks commemorating the famous Nixon-Elvis summit on December 21, 1970.  The historian in me will note that this was fourteen months before Nixon went to China.

Elvis wrote Nixon a letter suggesting that he (Elvis, not Nixon) be appointed as a Special Federal Agent of Burning Love and Nixon thought, "Sure, why not?" Elvis came to the White House and got his picture taken with Nixon. Nixon gave him a badge and Elvis said, "Thank you. Thank you for much."  Soon Elvis left the building.