On our last day touring Washington, DC, we toured the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. This was the day we elected to try the Washington, DC train system as it was a weekend day and the fare per person was only $2. However, since it was the weekend, it also meant that we had to contend with the weekend crowds. This was a bit of an issue at the Museum of Natural History as the exhibits were all packed without an inch of wasted floor space, and The Boy was in a wheelchair.
Note from Mom: I don’t think the day of the week made a difference. We explored DC Tuesday through Saturday, and everything was packed. There are seasons, and we definitely went during a busy time (early summer), but everything was busy every day.
The exhibits we saw were amazingly well done. Unfortunately, this was our last day in DC, and we were exhausted by this point.
The Minerals Exhibit
Most museums with mineral exhibits have only one or two specimens of the given mineral. The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History was the exception. Not only were there multiple examples of each mineral, but even different unique crystal forms that some of the minerals exhibited.
The “crown” of the mineral exhibit was the famous Hope Diamond. We got to see it and were frankly underwhelmed. It’s a large stone, but nothing special.
The History of Life
This was probably our favorite exhibit of all. It is laid out as a growing spiral. The beginning of the vortex was the very first single-celled life on Earth. The displays got steadily bigger as life grew more complex. They also shrank during the many extinction events throughout Earth’s history.
Regrettably, we didn’t get many pictures of this area. We try not to take pictures with people we don’t know as we don’t want to post them without their consent. Additionally, we try not to live through our cameras. The third factor was it was our last day of 5 days straight touring the capital and we were all exhausted.
Mom and I both loved the dioramas they had showing “slices of life” in the various eras. The level of detail was stunning.
The exhibit ended on a somber note, talking about our current age and the mass extinction that prehistoric and modern humanity has spearheaded.
Final Thoughts on the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History
We really liked the Museum of Natural History’s amount of stuff they allow people to touch. Even letting kids pose with dinosaur bones!
Keeping with the precedent set at The National Air and Space Museum, all the information presented was relevant and well-distilled.
We would have loved to dedicate more time to this museum as there are whole wings we missed. When we return to the area, we’re definitely planning to give this one at least a few days!