Travel Series - To See DC
Back in June I took my sister Phoebe to Washington D.C. for her birthday. We were able to see a lot of great museums and monuments. The one location we weren't able to visit was the newly built African American Museum of History and Culture. I learned you had to have tickets to enter because it was still so new.
Fast-forward five months, I finally have tickets for the museum. The tickets go so fast that you have to order them months in advance. I missed October, but managed to get them for November. The weekends are the worst days to try and get tickets, so unfortunately Monday was the best available day. I got these tickets back in August there was plenty of time to prep ahead of time for the trip. In the beginning, there were four of us who playing on attending this trip, my mother, Phoebe, Izzy, and myself. To cover myself and others, I order 6 tickets and offered up the other two who ever wanted to join along. Although they would have to get there under their own means.
As the trip came closer and closer, Phoebe dropped out from the trip at least a month or so before the trip. My mother dropped out the day before the trip. I hate that she did because I wanted her to experience this with me as this would have been my last trip to take with her before I transferred to Los Angeles. She had some things very important to take care of first. To fill in the void from the two that wasn't able to make it, I asked a coworker if he and his wife would be able to join Izzy and I. I know it was last minute, so I really wasn't expecting an answer.
Monday the 13th arrives and it's just Izzy and I are on our educational trip to Washington D.C. We arrived and first thing first food. After a short break, we made our way to the National Mall. As it was Izzy's first time in D.C., she was gleaming with excitement with everything around us. Our first stop was the National Gallery of Art West building. Upon entering we walked right to an exhibit that was showcasing Vermeer and other masters of genre painting. Seems like a lot of Dutch artist. I wasn't a fan. I felt the imagery was bland and repetitive, so I was quickly bored with it. We continued to walk around view a lot of the art, we seen student tour groups which I was happy to see. It's nice to see children introduced to art at such a young age. We also learned that artist are allowed to come in replicate any piece of art just as long as it is not the same size as the original piece.
Next we went back over the Museum of Nature History. First thing I did was ask about the Dinosaur exhibit only to learn that dinosaurs will not be live til 2019. Disappointed I was!! We continue to walk around looking at the different exhibits. We looked at mammal life, aquatic life and few dinosaurs We spent another 45 minutes or so just wondering around before we headed up the street to our last spot of the day.
What are you looking at?
Ant eater with child and eating in an ant hole
NMAAHC
Washington D.C. National Mall
Now off to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Our time was scheduled for 1:30 pm but it didn't matter because we arrived early and was still let in. They didn't even check the time on the ticket, just scanned and moved on. As we walked in after the metal detectors and scanners we were in awe at the design and a layout of the building. We checked out some the contributors to the museum and there were a lot of donations along the names were Oprah Winfrey (one of the largest donors) and Tyler Perry, Best of America, Bill Gates Foundation, and Microsoft just to name a few. We went to the infomation desk to grab a map of the museum, and the worker told us to start with the 1400's the start of the slave trade and how it started.
I would like to forewarn. This exhibit will pull on every emotion possible, as I overheard an employee state that a woman was crying due to its nature. We walked through and was able to read as mush as possible. It was so crowded that moving was like driving on the 5 in LA or 75 in ATL. Everything about what happened was just so much to talk in for a first time visit. As we continued we seen parts of a slave ship that was found, some the largest contributors to the slave trade (Portugal with 5.5 million). As we moved to the years, especially in the south, blacks were considers property of war and were forced to stay with their slave masters. Fast forward to the 1960's with the women of that era who put themselves in harm way to not protect their fellow black men but also for women rights. The hardship they endured as always been on equal ground.
The rise of the KKK
A book written by the original founders
There is so much to talk about that this blog post would be come a miniseries. The best way to understand the past of the black community is to make this visit. This museum answers a lot of questions that most needed answered. When visiting, schedule your time wisely. Just like many of the museums, and thousands of exhibits in that area. This is one of the places you will spend the entire day exploring the history of African Americans. You will not be disappointed with this visit.
Video History
Visitor's are watch a video on the south with an old guard tower in the background
On our way back to the airport, I made a huge blunder and got on the wrong train heading the opposite direction. I what should have took 30 mins to get back took us an hour to get back. We made it back in time, and the line to security wasn't too bad at all. We made it through and as soon as we got to the gate it was already time to board. Talk about cutting it close.
Key note to my ladies who would love or would love to travel. Wear comfortable shoes!! It's one thing to look sexy, cute or whatever it might be, but having swollen feet and ankles is not the route you want to take. Izzy learned this lesson twice. First in Las Vegas for New Year and now in Washington D.C. So ladies be sexy, but comfortable.