Museum Day

Yesterday I went to the National Museum of American History, the American Indian Museum, the Hirshhorn Musuem, and the western wing of the National American Art Gallery. It was a long day!

A few thoughts:
- apparently fanny packs are back in, and I've just been out of the loop
- the American Indian museum was, in my opinion, awful. They could have made it really cool. As someone who really enjoys reading about Native American cultures, and the interactions and changes that have occurred throughout their interactions with European cultures, I was sorely disappointed. Was there anything about the Trail of Tears? Red Cloud? I saw 1 bow - and it was for fishing. And then when I had some questions and wanted to ask someone about some stuff, was there anyone around? No. More on this later.
- I totally ran into my friend Emily Garrett (who went to high school with me) and her husband at the American History museum. I hadn't seen Emily in at least 5 years, and it was totally unplanned, so it was an amazing coincidence. A small world indeed!
- I have no clue what the 'bag check' at the Smithsonians is for. I'm guessing it must just be for a gun and drugs, maybe spray paint.
- The Hirshhorn building is amazing. The art I could do without.
- Somehow I didn't make the line for the 'First Ladies' exhibit, but I did make time for the 'Americans at War' exhibit. It was AMAZING!

The only other DC things I still have on my list are the Iwa Jima memorial and the Holocaust Museum.

I also wanted to say that I think it's a shame that the museums have to spend so much money on Security that they can't spend much money on curators who and inform the patrons about what they're seeing. The organized tours always have tons of people, and if you go on your own you miss out on so much. It ticks me off that I couldn't find anybody at the Native American museum to answer my questions about the building design, or the usage of war clubs in the indigeonus cultures.