Washington DC - Smithsonian Institute's Natural History Museum

This April the family traveled to Washington, D.C. for Spring Break. We enjoyed absolutely gorgeous Spring weather while we explored the city and its many museums and monuments. According to the Fitbit, we covered approximately 20 miles in our three and a half day visit that included the National Mall, the National Archives, the Smithsonian's Natural History and Air & Space Museum, the National Zoo, the Steven Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport, the International Spy Museum, and many other sites and sounds along the way.

For the trip, I brought along the Fuji X100s and a couple of 32GB flash cards amassing just shy of 1000 images throughout the week. All the photographs were shot handheld and often times in very challenging lighting conditions. I primarily shot at F2.8 and F4.0 indoors, while stopping down to F8.0 and F11.0 on occasion when outdoors. 

On Sunday, we visited the Smithsonian Institute's National Museum of Natural History. One can spend hours in the Hall of Human Origins alone.

Two of my favorite photos from our trip were taken here. The first was taken in the National Geographic's Best of the Best Nature Photography Twentieth Anniversary gallery. There were some exceptional photographs on display. I was fortunate to come across a young lady completely absorbed in the Youth Photography category included below. The second was a very large print of a animal in a tree and I asked my son to stand below it and look up; one of the few times during the trip I could get either of children to pose for me.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Washington DC - Smithsonian Institute's Steven Udvar-Hazy Center

Entering the Boeing Aviation Hangar at the Steven .F Udvar-Hazy Center

During our trip to Washington, DC we drove out to Dulles Airport to visit the Smithsonian Institute's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, a collection of the National Air & Space Museum. Let me tell you, this is worth the trip!

Steve Fossett's record-setting Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer

Entering the museum you are greeted by the sight of the Discovery space shuttle in the far back and as you make your way into the main hangar the expansiveness of the museum comes into complete view. To your left are collections including a Boeing 707, the Enola Gay, and the Concorde to name just a few. To your right is a F-14 Tomcat, a X-35B STOVL, and a MIG-15. Just below is the world-famous SR-71 Blackbird.

If that was all the museum contained, it would be worth the trip alone, but as we explored the museum we came across such iconic aircraft as the Langley Aerodrome (ok, technically this never actually flew), the Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer, a Messerschmitt ME-163 B-1a Komet, and a couple Horton HO models undergoing restoration. Then there was a V2 rocket chamber and one of Goddard's rocket motor. 

Did I mention this was all for the $15 price of parking! 

Needless to say the Fuji X100s received quite the workout. The lighting was low, but descent. I mostly shot at F4 handheld with a few pictures at F2.8 when required. Thankfully the museum was not very crowded and that allowed us to take our time and I amassed nearly 400 images during our visit.

I've included a small subset of images here.

Hope you enjoy!

Langley Aerodrome A 1903

Enola Gay Boeing B-29 Superfortress

Horton HO III glider in rough shape

Horton HO in the restoration hangar under cover.

Messerschmitt ME-163 B-1a Komet

Concorde, Fox Alpha, Air France

Boeing 307 Stratoliner "Clipper Flying Cloud"

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (Ji-2) FAGOT B

Mikoyan-Gurevich MIG 21F-13 FISHBED-C

Lockheed Martin X-35B STOVL

Goddard rocket motor

V2 rocket chamber

Space Shuttle Discovery

Main engines and tail of Space Shuttle Discovery

Thermal protection tiles of the Space Shuttle Discovery

Showing signs of re-entry, a closeup view of the thermal protection tiles of Space Shuttle Discovery

Restoration hangar in the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center