May 23, 2012 Amid more rain warnings, but no actual pluie, we hied off to College Park Station for the metro into town, armed with our slickers.
Our target today was the Museum of Natural History, a grabbag of subjects if ever there was one. However, we found them to be well organized and presented and we had a good time. Any good MNH has to have dinosaurs, and we had plenty including a T-Rex and a bunch of swimmy things. Sorry, I didn’t take notes.
More swimmy things!
Ecce homo? And friend.
There were a gazillion kids throughout the museum. The smaller ones seemed fascinated, but the teens mostly just walked in groups talking to each other without looking at anything. Sad. One of our favorite areas was the minerals and gemstones exhibits. We last were here around 1994, when Michael was about 12. I know we saw much of this stuff then, and wonder if it sparked his interest in geology, his subsequent major and profession. Anyway, it’s neat stuff. Those huge chunks in the top right picture are gold!
My favorite piece is below, at left. Loni’s with one huge chunk of quartz (?). Where’s Mike when you need him?
The gem collection was none too shabby, either. Here are my two favorites, the deep-blue 44.5 carat Hope Diamond, and the Montana Butterfly, a gold brooch with 333 Montana sapphires.
Now for the sublime and the ridiculous. The Smithsonian is not above a little cheezy sensationalism. You may have read about this discovery in the last few years. They shamelessly promote it.
The sublime came in the form of some of the most beautiful photographs of wildlife I’ve ever seen. I’m glad we caught this exhibit before it left.
By the end of the afternoon we were whipped. This is a huge place, and a sensory overload. One last look at the large gallery, and we headed out.
Never did need our slickers, but lugged them around all day.
No comments:
Post a Comment