Yes, It Really Is as Cool as Everyone Says

This weekend I surrendered my Smithsonian virginity. That’s right, I just graduated from college and have been living in D.C. for over a month, and I just visited my first Smithsonian museum.

I was lucky enough to take part in a guided tour of the outside of the museums through work a few weeks ago – the Smithsonian’s horticulturalists led a group of us through the gardens that lend so much character and support to the buildings themselves, but do it in such a way that passers-by hardly notice. Pause for a moment next time you’re outside the National Museum of the American Indian and notice the traditional crops that are planted in the beds in front of the building, and the long grasses on the side. Admire the tee-pee sculpture, which is biodegradable and changes minutely every day. Walk through the various regions of the butterfly garden outside of the Museum of Natural History. They’re beautiful gardens, worthy of a tour in their own right.

But the gardens were not my mission this weekend. First of all, it was too hot to be outside for longer than about thirty seconds, and second, I wanted to see what the Smithsonian is most famous for – the interiors of its museums! I started with the Museum of Natural History, because why wouldn’t you see the museum with dinosaurs first?

Pretty sure this is a bowhead whale, if you were wondering.

Given that it was a very hot weekend in the middle of the summer, the museum was very crowded, and kids were running everywhere. All of the traffic made it difficult to stop and read the text panels, but I had a great time wandering through the exhibit halls just looking at everything – the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton looming over visitors, the sea creatures suspended from the ceiling in the blue light of the Ocean Hall, the wonderful expressions and poses of the animals from Africa and Australia, the glittering ore and gemstones upstairs. The Hope Diamond wasn’t too shabby, either.

As I walked through the museum taking in all of the fascinating creatures and objects on display, it hit me that this museum is actually such stuff as childhood dreams are made on. I mean, what kid at some point in his or her life has not wanted to be a palaeontologist, a marine biologist, or an astronaut?  My early career aspirations included all three before I realized that Shakespeare was actually more up my alley. My brother was our resident dinosaur expert, while I could rattle of all of the baleen whales once upon a time. Coming to a place where all of that is on display, where there are signs saying “please touch,” is pure magic for those childhood imaginings.

It was so refreshing to see that dinosaurs are still as big a draw as ever. After spending a weekend listening to my nine-year-old cousin talk about nothing but his Nintendo whatchamacallit, I was so glad to see kids with their noses pressed against the insect tanks and dragging their parents to see the stuffed lions. And the Smithsonian has done a nice job of integrating technology into the exhibits as a kid-friendly learning tool. In one room I overheard a young boy who was playing with meteor trajectories on a touch-screen say tentatively, “Mom? I think I just blew up the earth...”

 It’s a huge space where kids (of all ages) can learn and also let their imaginations run wild. And that’s pretty awesome.

Long live the dinosaurs.

Still as cool as ever.