Day 5 in D.C.: African American Museum and Smithsonian Zoo

National Museum of African American History and Culture

Day 5 of our trip to D.C., we visited the National Museum of African American History and Culture. This was our last time-stamped entry ticket spot (free, like all the Smithsonians), and one of the museums I was most excited to visit this trip because I've been wanting to visit since it opened! There was definitely demand for tickets, so I'd recommend booking ahead of time.

The museum has eight floors or exhibits - three downstairs devoted to history, a concourse and entry floor, and three upstairs featuring cultural, community and temporary exhibits. The museum had a map with suggested paths to take, and we decided to visit the bottom three floors before lunch and see how we felt. We spent about 3.5 hours on those floors, and decided to save the top floors for hopefully another visit.

A note if you are planning to visit--make sure to bring some clothing layers. I forgot my sweater on this day, and was frozen like a popsicle from the air conditioning. :-) 

This was an excellent museum! It was comprehensive about history and how it related to African Americans from the 1400s through when the museum opened in 2016. Very informative, included a variety of mediums, and gave room to sit and reflect on each floor. I found that my kids got the most out of the short documentary videos playing throughout--they wanted to watch every single one, and the videos encapsulated a lot of the info shared in those areas. 

I wish I could have visited a museum like this when I was my kids' age--I'm so glad we got to go!

 I can't stop thinking about this point. After walking around Washington D.C. for days. America's capital city was literally built by African Americans.

A simulated lunch counter

Wilder did a Black History Month presentation about Bessie Colman in elementary school and he saw her info at the Air & Space Museum. Felicity did a presentation about Shirley Chisholm, shown here!

For lunch, we made sure to go to the Sweet Home Cafe in the museum, which is so good that they have a James Beard Foundation Awards Nominee Best American Cookbook with its recipes. There were so many yummy options on the menu! Zach and Felicity chose roasted chicken, Wilder had fries, I had creole-seasoned lamb chops and green beans. SO good.

After the African American History Museum, we decided to head over to the Smithsonian National Zoological Park. We took an uber, since it was too bit far to walk. Once we got there, I selected time-stamped entry (there wasn't too much demand so tickets were available).

We had initially planned to just see the pandas, because they are only at two zoos in the entire United States (this one and the San Diego Zoo). But when we looked at the zoo map, Wilder wanted to see the Amazonian exhibit at the far end of the park and I wanted to see the Przewalski's horses. So we ended up walking around to the very end of the zoo and back. 

We really enjoyed the zoo, despite our feet being tired from walking all day, the uphill climb from the other end of the zoo, and the day really warming up. :-) Starbucks just outside the zoo after our visit revived us!

I can't get over how cute pandas are

 

Przewalski's horses

Fun fact: I have met Przewalski horses before, in Fort Worth. Kit Moncrief (A horsewoman and philanthropist) is part of the Smithsonian breeding program so she had some on her property. I wrote an article about it for Fort Worth Magazine.

I loved this sign! lol

Prairie Dog 

We saw black squirrels near the zoo! Our friend said they were originally a gift from Canada.

Steepest escalator I've ever seen. I nearly lost my balance and saw my life flash before my eyes

They love public transit

After another long and fun day touring around, we went back to the Pattersons to relax and visit with our friends.

Brady and Wilder playing

Next up: Day 6: National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

D.C. Day 4: Capitol Tour, Library of Congress, Air and Space Museum

The Capitol

On Tuesday, Day 4, we had a Capitol tour scheduled with our state representative's office. I booked this tour by going to our state rep's website and emailing his office to request a tour. I figured it would be fun for the kids to interact with the office of our representative who has a home office just down the street from us! Note: These tours are free! I would definitely recommend booking a tour to guide you through the building. You can also book them through your senator's office, or with the Capitol itself.

However, we ran into a snag--we packed lunches for the kids most days this visit because we're gone all day, and so we don't stress about finding food while out and about. The whole trip we were able to find meals, but there's not as many options just walking around the National Mall cso we pack them just in case. It's fine going in most places with closed lunchboxes and water bottles. EXCEPT the Capitol, which for excellent and understandable reason, has security tighter than the TSA. No food or drink containers allowed. 

We'd planned to stow our items in lockers at the Library of Congress across the street, since there is a tunnel to the Capitol and we would be going there afterward anyway. But on this day, the Uber took extra long to pick us up, traffic was exceptionally bad, and we arrived right at the time we needed to be meeting the staffers. The security line at the Library of Congress was around the building.... so that was a problem.

Thankfully, and to my deep embarrassment, the staffer was really really nice, and she was able to get us through security at the Capitol. The kids felt like celebrities when the staffer and her 3 interns in tow pulled us out of the Capitol security line to go through a different line!

I'm sharing this story for any travelers planning to visit the Capitol. Give yourself like an hour to go through security at the Library of Congress if you have any of the items on this list and want to go into the Capitol. Otherwise, leave those items at home!

Replica of the Freedom statue on the top of the building.

Old Senate Chamber

the rotundas are so beautiful

Presidents take photos on these stairs!

National Statutory Hall

National Statutory Hall

With a Texas statue! Sam Houston

Rosa Parks

Thomas Edison

We were able to go to the House Gallery and sit in on a session. Extra extra security (of course) and no electronics or cameras. They had just recessed for lunch, but it was very cool to sit in that room. I feel like if I lived in DC, I probably would go there to watch the goings-ons all the time. LOL That was my favorite part of the tour!

We spent about 90 minutes in the Capitol.

After our time in the Capitol, we walked through the tunnels to the Library of Congress. We had a free time-stamped entry and got there right on time. This is the most extensive library in the world, and it spans multiple buildings. We stuck to the main building, and the kids were given a scavenger hunt paper for the visit. There were lots of QR codes connected to audio tour guides around the space.

A GUTENBERG BIBLE!

The Main Reading Room was so very cool.

Thomas Jefferson's personal library once replaced the books in the Library of Congress after they were burned in a fire.

 

My bibliophile heart was so happy!

View out the window at the library

We spent about an hour at the Library of Congress. You can reserve time in the Reading Room, but you have to be over 16 (I believe). I just wanted to see the space!

We had planned to eat lunch at the Library of Congress cafe, but it's in another building. We walked all the way around that building and eventually did get in, but the security guards both said the cafe wasn't worth eating at (LOL) so we decided to walk toward our next stop, the Air & Space Museum that was about 1.2 miles down the National Mall. Google said there was a Jimmy John's on the way. Joke was on us--it was in an official-looking building with security (Meaning scanners and metal detectors). They did say we were allowed in as the general public, but we were surrounded by people working on Capitol Hill. We even passed the House Ways & Means Committee room! That was the least expensive meal we had on our trip, and we were surrounded by young interns eating their lunches. But the building was cool!

Wilder's top sites to see for this trip were the air and space museums. On this day, we went to the National Air And Space Museum in DC. We had (free) time-stamped entry, but for being one of the most popular Smithsonian museums, it didn't feel too crowded. Lots of airplane and space enthusiasts. Wilder was in his element!

Racing a racecar

This is THE Wright Flyer, considered the crown jewel of all Smithsonian artifacts!

Neil Armstrong's space suit!

One of Wilder's favorite WWII planes - the Fokker.

We were tired from all the sightseeing, so we stopped for coffee and cookies in the Mars Cafe at the museum. We stayed fro 2 pm to close at 5:30 p.m., and didn't quite see everything, but had a great time.

We met up with my San Antonio friend Ariel that evening--we grew up going to the same church, and she's lived in Washington D.C. for years. While we waited to meet up, we sat in the cool green grass on the National Mall and encountered an albino squirrel!

We had sushi in Chinatown at Absolute Noodle - it was such nice weather and we enjoyed sitting outside! Really good sushi, too.

On theme - Japanese old fashioned!

Ariel!

While sitting outside with our dinner, a man walked by and made eye contact with Wilder. He spoke with us, gave a motivational speech and was really nice to Wilder. And gave him a brand-new ball cap. We gave him $ for it (he was asking for donations), and it became Wilder's favorite souvenir of the trip.

Metro ride back to the Pattersons with his new cap!

Next up: Day 5 in D.C.: African American Museum and Smithsonian Zoo