Andrew's Wanderings » museum

Slipping Down to the Building Museum

andrew — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 21:47:16 +0000

We braved the slippery conditions, and the fellow road users who can’t drive in snow, to pay our second visit to the building museum.

One of the things that impresses me is the space, and the use of it. It’s not just that the museum itself is huge, but that a lot of that space is allocated to the very fine store, and very little to food service. The “cafe” is actually a small room with a counter at one end. The tables are outside, the room, where you can see the pillars, fountain, and other features of the building.

The store is so appealing that I caught myself thinking that a USB-powered vacuum cleaner was a good idea. Now I’m looking at the state of this laptop, I may have been right…

Inspection and Aviation

andrew — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:27:19 +0000

One of the hurdles involved in moving to Maryland is the auto safety inspection. This is not the first time I’ve blogged about this, but we had two cars to get inspected. For the second car, I had to bring my 3yo with. This presented a bit of a challenge, since the inspections take a couple of hours.

I noticed while visiting the College Park Aviation Museum that there was a place that does auto inspections very close to the museum. I optimistically planned that Max and I would drop the car just before 10, get to the Museum as it opened, and be on our way back home in time for lunch.

As it turned out, the inspection took rather longer than I’d hoped (2 hours +), and the museum isn’t large, so I’m not sure I can recommend the inspection/museum combo to other parents. I am pleased with C&D Auto Center, though. They charged $63 for the inspection, and found nothing that needed fixing before they could pass the car. (Of course I can’t promise the same price or the same outcome for your vehicle.)

I am also very impressed with the aviation museum, and recommend it if you live or are otherwise nearby and want to spend an hour or so. WASP, in the photo and in the exhibit, stands for Women Airforce Service Pilots.

College Park Aviation Museum 1

andrew — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 21:43:08 +0000

We went to the College Park Aviation Museum yesterday (and two of us went there today as well, but that’s another post). It’s small, consisting mainly of one large gallery. Considered as a sibling of the Air and Space Museum in DC, it’s rather more laid-back, as well as smaller.

National Building Museum

andrew — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 02:30:07 +0000

We wandered, together as a family, to the National Building Museum. As you can see, the building itself is impressive.

That said, the museum features the Building Zone for kids 2-6. It also currently (until July 11) features an exhibition about parking garages, which is a lot more interesting than it sounds (really, it is).

I’m posting this directly in the WordPress blog, since I wasn’t happy with the notes and snapshots I captured in Evernote while at the museum.