Susan Solo – Photographer | Traveler | Adventurer

Tag: museums

Tourist at Home: National Building Museum

I have to confess, I didn’t even know the National Building Museum existed until earlier this month when I saw a Washingtonian article about an upcoming bizarre-but-fun art installation called The Beach running through September 7th. Chris and I love to explore pockets of D.C. that we haven’t seen before and I’m all about the bizarre-but-fun genre, so we decided to make a field trip out of it.

The museum is located four blocks from the Mall on F Street. We took the Metro and got off at the Gallery Place-Chinatown exit; Judiciary Square is a little closer, but it was closed at the time. Despite issues on the Metro that caused us to arrive at the museum much later than we anticipated, we still had enough time (1.5 hours) for a good visit before they closed at 5pm. Admission to the Great Hall and the gift shop is free, but all of the exhibitions require a ticket.

When we arrived, the line for The Beach exhibit snaked back and forth around a long queue and stretched far alongside the enclosure, so I gave up on the idea of paying for an exhibition ticket and getting into the ball pit because we only had an hour until closing time. (The lesson here: if you want people to flock to your museum, simply install a giant pit of plastic balls.) We walked around the second floor of the Great Hall for free instead and perused miniature models of interesting buildings throughout the world. Plus the stunning design of the Great Hall itself is something to admire.

After almost an entire lap around the floor, I admit I felt a little disappointed in the amount of stuff to see in the Great Hall, but then a museum employee standing outside of the House & Home exhibition let us know that the exhibition was free after 4pm so we popped into a side room full of beautiful photos and displays related to the history of American homes.

We loved looking at the homey vintage objects. Chris saw the cassette tapes and the Apple computer and mused out loud, “Stuff we had when we were younger is so old now that it’s in a museum.” So that’s great.

We may have misunderstood the exhibitions-are-free-after-4pm thing, because we let ourselves into the Scaling Washington exhibition next. The website clarifies that only House & Home is free after 4pm on weekdays; reduced admission is available for the museum’s other exhibitions. Oops! (We ended up paying for a ticket anyway though – more on that shortly.) Scaling Washington features the impressive photography of Colin Winterbottom, documenting the post-earthquake restoration of the Washington Monument and Washington National Cathedral.

We finished our free tour of the National Building Museum with a visit to the gift shop in which we found books, photos, stationery, apparel, puzzles, games, toys, and kitchen gadgets for the home cook who has everything.

By the time we finished perusing the Great Hall, two exhibitions and the gift shop, the line for The Beach had significantly dwindled down to only a few people, so we decided to see if we could jump into the ball pit for the last 10 minutes before closing time. Lo and behold, the museum’s hours were extended and we had plenty of time to see The Beach! We purchased tickets, which included admission to all of the exhibitions, so we retroactively paid for our accidental foray into Scaling Washington.

I actually felt conflicted about playing in the ball pit. My first reaction: germs. The ball pit will inevitably be covered in germs. But there’s also the side of me (the kid side) that reminded myself I can’t go through life worried about every little germ, so in I jumped.

And alongside all of my fellow ~~narcissists~~ art enthusiasts, I took selfies. And pictures with Chris. And we took pictures of each other. What can I say? It was a weird, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take a photo of our heads surrounded by white plastic orbs in the name of art.

There were moments, though, where it was difficult to appreciate the art – a boy chucked a ball at my head more than once. And as I sank deeper into the seemingly bottomless pit of plastic, (spoiler: it’s about three feet deep) I feared being stepped on, or losing the contents of my camera bag. I did sacrifice a $5 Metro ticket to the ball pit gods. I’d love to see what is uncovered at the bottom once the exhibit is deconstructed and the balls are removed for recycling.

But there was no denying it – despite the crowds and the germs and the fact that I skinned my knee getting out of the pit, The Beach was silly shark-free sunburn-free fun! And art. The Beach is art.

Verdict: we enjoyed the National Building Museum! I’m interested to visit again when new exhibitions are installed.

July 13, 2015
An Air-Conditioned Afternoon in the Odditorium

When Chris and I booked a long holiday weekend in Florida, the original plan was to spend two whole days at Universal Studios parks. Well, after we spent Sunday checking out the new Diagon Alley while also melting from the extreme heat, we were sort of done with the park. If I’m going to be outside when it’s in the mid-90s, I need to be by a pool or the ocean. They do have some great water rides at Universal, but with the crazy crowds that weekend, we didn’t want to wait in line for our opportunity to cool off. Plus, our flight home was scheduled for the evening and we didn’t want to sit in sweaty clothes on the plane (and I’m sure our seatmates appreciated the thought). So instead we decided to spend some air-conditioned time indoors before heading to the airport. Orlando offers a few options, but we thought the Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Odditorium sounded pretty interesting.

Don’t adjust your screens or blame my photography skills – the building really is tilted to one side!

The museum holds a mixture of art, interactive stations, puzzles, historic artifacts and things that are just…odd. You won’t see displays like these anywhere else! One of my favorite features is their huge collection of mixed media artwork. For example, this portrait of Beyoncé made entirely out of candy and a Mona Lisa composed from toast!

There are tons of hands-on interactive areas that focus on science, math, and history, so this is a perfect spot for inquisitive minds of all ages (and for hand sanitizer – bring some). You’ll also find plenty of silly photo opportunities that we obviously took advantage of with no shame. Photography is not only allowed – it’s encouraged!

Our tour ended with this trippy hallway that rotates a cylinder of neon lights around you as you walk (or stumble) through. The effect is surprisingly mind-bending and perhaps not a great idea if you just ate lunch or if you’re already a little tipsy. (We were not.) If you’re sensitive to motion-sickness, there’s an alternate hallway you can use to skip this crazy feature.

The museum is located right in Orlando, and tickets are about $20 per adult (and $13 per child). You can save a few bucks if you buy tickets online. We spent a little over an hour in the museum, but you can easily spend a bit longer if you visit each station, watch all of the videos, and read all of the materials. I definitely recommend this as a rainy-day (or a super hot I-need-to-be-in-air-conditioned-place day) alternative activity! And they’re actually open every day of the year until Midnight, so it could even be squeezed into your post-Disney day schedule if you happen to have some energy left. Go see some odd stuff!

November 3, 2014
Tourist at Home: Air and Space Smackdown

My in-laws were in town this past weekend when we had the most gorgeous last-days-of-summer weather, so Chris and I decided we would all head out to the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) together. None of us had been to the museum in several years and it’s a favorite, so it seemed like a good time to visit. (I mentioned to Chris that the last time I went I was a senior in high school to which he pointed out, “That was more than half your life ago!” Ack.) I was also curious to compare the museum to the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center closer to home, hence what I’m calling the Air and Space Smackdown.

In this corner, the classic National Air and Space Museum…

…vs. the newcomer, the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

Two contenders go into the ring, and there can be only one winner. No, just kidding. Both museums belong to the extensive Smithsonian Institution, but they are separate entities in location so I’m pitting them against each other for fun. Here’s a quick run-down:

Price & Location

The National Air and Space Museum is in D.C. on the National Mall along with many other museums belonging to the Smithsonian complex. Entrance to the NASM is free, so we only paid for a Metro ride out to the heart of the city. Udvar-Hazy is situated along Rt. 28 in Chantilly, Virginia, fairly close to the Dulles International Airport. It’s about a 40-minute drive from D.C. to Chantilly or a 1.5 hour trip via combination of Metro and public bus. So if you’re only visiting D.C. for a short time and you’re staying in the city, Udvar-Hazy can be a bit tricky to access. Admission is also free, but there is a pricey $15 parking fee if you arrive by car before 4pm (parking is free after 4pm; the museum is open until 5:30pm). One extra bonus to the Udvar-Hazy Center though – the Donald D. Engen Observation Tower where you can take in a 360-degree view of the airport and the surrounding area. Other than that though, there is nothing next to Udvar-Hazy, so the location isn’t really conducive to other activities. Both locations have the same fees for optional activities such as the IMAX movies and flight simulators. So +1 for cost and location goes to the National Museum where you can easily visit for free and on foot if you’re already in the D.C. area perusing other museums.

Exhibits

The collection of artifacts across both locations includes over 60,000 pieces to document the history of aircrafts and spacecrafts, including airplanes, rockets, satellites, spacesuits, gliders, and balloons. Other artifacts such as documents and various media complete the collection. One of my favorite displays at the NASM location was a glass case in the World War II room that housed small objects like black-and-white photos, medals, hand-written letters, tiny song books, and other mementos in a scrapbook-like format. I’m trying to compare the exhibits in a fair and unbiased manner, but it’s hard when Udvar-Hazy has a space shuttle on display! When we visited a few years ago, Chris and I saw the Explorer, but it’s the Discovery that is currently on display in the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar. NASM does have the Hubble test telescope and the Skylab space station that you can go inside, but for me it just doesn’t get any better than getting up close and personal with a space shuttle. Plus there are just so many pieces at the Chantilly location (see the next section for details on square footage). I fact-checked this – there are more than 3x the number of aircraft on display at Udvar. +1 goes to Udvar-Hazy for exhibits.

Photography

Both locations utilize the same photography policy – commercial photography is not permitted without contacting the museum for permission, but photography for personal use is allowed and encouraged! Just leave the monopods and tripods at home. NASM does have more window light, but I personally enjoyed photographing inside the Udvar-Hazy Center because I felt like I had more elbow room to step back for wide shots and to get close for detail images. And I wasn’t just imagining the extra space – at 760,000 square feet, the Udvar-Hazy Center is almost five times the size of the NASM in D.C. which has 161,145 square feet of exhibition floor space. Wow! So +1 goes to Udvar-Hazy here.

And speaking of photography, here are a few photos from both locations starting with the National Air and Space Museum:

How about a spacesuit reflection selfie?! And that’s Mel and Marianne to the left. Mel was a pilot in the Air Force, so I think we definitely need to visit Udvar-Hazy next time for the sheer number of planes on display.

This is the “scrapbook” display in the World War II room that I enjoyed perusing.

And then here’s the Udvar-Hazy Center. Chris and I took these photos a few years ago, and we’ve visited the museum a couple of times since then for functions at work – the entire museum can be rented out for a special event. The entrance is quite impressive, as is the extensive layout and roomy floor space within the hangars. And of course, there’s also a space shuttle inside!

And the Winner is…

My own personal favorite is the Udvar-Hazy Center! I like the layout and the sheer size of the space. But if you are an avid air and space enthusiast, you owe it to yourself to visit both museum locations (especially if you’re a local). If you’re a casual fan and/or only in the D.C. area for a short period of time, I would stick to the National Air and Space Museum – they have plenty of displays and artifacts there to keep you busy and educated for hours. It truly is remarkable and awesome how much the human race has accomplished in the air and space arena over a short period of time.

It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and reality of tomorrow. — Robert Goddard

September 24, 2014
Southern Iceland Sampler – Part I

Not unlike Ring Road Day One, the weather on Day Two started out chilly and wet so we bundled up again and sported our waterproof outer-layers as we set out to explore Southern Iceland. Also similar to the first day on the road, our scheduled activity (glacier hiking) was thwarted by the weather, but we had plenty of other sights we planned to see rain or shine. In fact, there were so many things we squeezed into Day Two that I had to split the blog post into two parts.

We knew to expect some dreary weather, but I admit I pouted a little bit upon waking up to a third gray day in Iceland. I suppose it was good to practice dreary-weather photography though. Sometimes it’s hard to take interesting photos when the light is completely flat and the sky adds no interest. Again, the clouds hung so low that we often couldn’t see the mountains in the background, but occasionally it added an interesting eerie effect. And this is the day that we started to see more farm animals, so of course I was excited about that!

Our first stop brought us to a waterfall called Seljalandsfoss (so fun to say) fairly early in the morning, or at least early by my standards. We did beat the majority of the crowds by arriving just after 9am, but there were plenty of other photogs already there and several more were arriving with tripods in tow eager to capture the magic of the waterfall. I set up in an empty spot near a small footbridge and soon after extending my tripod legs I was joined by several other shutterbugs. I was especially excited to try out my new neutral density filter that would allow for long exposures resulting in that creamy blurred water look. I need some more practice, but I like the results! Oh, and a tip if you’re planning to visit and take photos – bring a lens cloth. Even in good weather you’ll need it to wipe mist from your lens every few minutes or so.

We left Seljalandsfoss after the combination of spray from the falls and rain from the sky proved to be a little more water than I wanted on me or my camera. (I brought my camera’s Storm Jacket, but in my excitement to photograph the waterfall I forgot to take it with me.) On the way to our next spot we passed Eyjafjallajökull, but we couldn’t really see it because of the cloud cover. Am I starting to sound like a broken record yet? I can’t be mad at Iceland though – it’s gorgeous in even the ickiest weather.

Next up, we popped by Skógafoss, but I won’t show you the image I took of the waterfall because it was still raining (the theme of our first few days) and I didn’t even get out of the car to snap the photo. Tsk, tsk – what a lazy fair weather photographer. In an attempt to get out of the rain, we decided to duck into the Skógar Folk Museum which turned out to be really interesting and cute so I’m glad we checked it out.

Thankfully it stopped raining while we were inside, because a big portion of the museum is outside where visitors have the opportunity to tour the interior of actual turf houses and buildings that were moved from various settlements and reconstructed on the museum property. The photos of Chris and me standing inside the teeny dining room in one of the houses crack me up. We also saw elf houses! But no elves. Maybe they weren’t home.

We decided to take advantage of the stoppage in precipitation to head to the beach! Only about 6km off of Rt. 1 just south of Vík is the Reynisfjara black sand beach where you can see some fascinating basalt column formations formed in the side of Reynisfjall mountain. I had seen photos online while planning our trip so this site was flagged in my notes as a must-see. Whether you’re into geology or not, the mountain is really impressive and the beach is beautiful so I highly recommend a visit. During the spring and summer, I think it’s also an area where you can spot Puffins (we were there after Puffin season). As a bonus, we were starting to lose the hoards of tour buses at this point on the Ring Road. This is a fairly well-known spot, but not as popular as others so the crowd was definitely thinner here.

When we arrived, the temperature finally felt a little warmer and we were treated to a peek of blue skies. Just a sliver, but we were buoyed by the hint of nicer weather. I was even able to put my hood down! Out of all the places we planned to see, Reynisfjara was the spot where I wanted a photo of myself. I tried a selfie, but it didn’t capture the big picture of the basalt structures, so Chris took a portrait of me sitting on the columns and it’s one of my favorite photos of myself from the trip. I love the geometric pattern of the basalt, and it’s just not something we get to see every day.

Our schedule was so jam-packed that day that we barely had time to stop for lunch, but we did manage to pop into a small grocery store in Vík to make a picnic lunch before heading to the spots next on our list – Fjaðrárgljúfur canyon and Jökulsárlón lagoon. More photos and stories coming up!

September 3, 2014
Discovering Fort Collins at the Museum of Discovery

One of my go-to favorite activities for a rainy day while traveling is exploring history and culture indoors at local museums. On my recent visit to Colorado, the weather decided to be oddly hot and humid one minute and gloomy and rainy the next, so my mom, sister, and I headed over to the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery one afternoon to engage our minds and have some knowledge dropped on us. We didn’t realize how much of the museum would be dedicated to the rich and fascinating history of Colorado and even more specifically Fort Collins.

The museum has a little bit of everything related to local history and science. My favorite exhibit, Wildlands and Wildlife, catalogs the flora and fauna native to Colorado. Giant fossils gave us insight into the dinosaurs that were indigenous to the area. There is even a live bee hive in which you can observe hundreds of honeybees at work. You can also peek in on various reptiles and even (shudder) tarantulas and scorpions in terrariums if you’re into that kind of thing. I didn’t even know Colorado was home to any tarantulas, so that was my least favorite thing I learned at the museum.

Also of note (pun intended), the Music and Sound Lab gives everyone a hands-on opportunity to learn about the history of the Fort Collins music scene and the physics of sound. The slight germaphobe that I am, I admit to being a little disturbed when I saw dozens of kids (and adults!) playing a trumpet one after the other, but later I discovered that the museum offers fresh/clean mouthpieces for each person to use. Nice! That said, I don’t recommend visiting this museum with the expectation of a quiet, peaceful experience. The Museum of Discovery is entirely interactive and nearly every exhibit allows visitors to participate via sight, sound, touch, and even smell, which makes it an awesome place for families with kids. But adults will find the museum interesting as well – we enjoyed exploring the various displays and our visit took a little over an hour. Oh, and I didn’t see any rules specific to photography, but no one seemed to have an issue with me taking a few iPhone photos.

August 6, 2014