Thursday, July 19, 2018

THE SMITHSONIAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY IN WASHINGTON DC

About three weeks' ago I shared that we had met family members in Washington DC.  They were only visiting for a few hours and we went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.  

The African bush elephant is in the main lobby as you enter the museum.  He is a favorite of mine and is named Henry (not sure how he got his name).  Henry comes from Angola originally.


Two rodents below, a Mara and an Armored Rat.
The crab below looks like a King Crab, could be a prehistoric one, I'm not sure.  We are in the marine life area.
Below is a display of Tiger Cowries.  They are placed on the map where they were collected.
This tropical sea snail lives on coral reefs throughout the Indian and Pacific Oceans, from ankle deep waters to 30 feet (9.1 m) under the ocean's surface.
Below is a photo of a photo in the same display.  It shows what one looks like if it were alive.
The adult snails don't travel very far but their tiny larvae drift on currents, accounting for the species staggering geographical range. (All my information comes from the display.)
We went through the dinosaur exhibit briefly, and I managed to get a photo of a couple, the Tyrannosaurus...
and the Triceratops.
There is a live insect exhibit and the mural is at its entrance.
We were heading to the butterfly exhibit which I posted here.  
I didn't take too many photos of the insects but will share these.  It was crowded. 
These are White-spotted Assassin Bugs of west and south African origin.
The only other photo I tried to take was of a Pink-toed Tarantula, but it came out so blurry it is hard to tell what it is.  If you aren't adverse to looking at big hairy spiders, you can go to this link to see what it looks like, or not!  As mentioned it was very crowded with lots of curious children, so we went onto the butterfly exhibit where we were heading to in the first place.  I have already provided a link to those, but to save you scrolling up I will repeat it here.  That was crowded too but we didn't mind waiting in line.
We passed through another exhibit where a life-size Narwhal was hanging from the ceiling.  There was a sculpture in the same area.

Its description is below.
Another sculpture...
and another description.
One more photo from the museum, a cartoon showing that though we have different names for everything, the scientific name stays the same.
The rest of my photos from this day were taken outside.  Let's start off with a yellow hibiscus.
Normally I would have taken many more photos of this pretty...
but I stopped at three.
And one pretty purple flower.
Nearby is a large water fountain that is used as an ice-rink during the winter.  We were happy the spray of the water was cooling us down.
 It is surrounded by lampposts.  
There is a banner of artwork hung from each one.
Across the street is the 
By this time we are making our way back to the car.  I see one last thing that I wanted to take a photograph of, so that I can remember to go there next time we take a trip into the city.  
Once we got back to where we had parked our cars, we said goodbye to our family and each started for home. 

 


30 comments:

  1. Wow, what a visit you had. You are such a great tour guide. DC is on the bucket list along with the Smithsonian. We keep opting to go to the beach instead of DC. Good thing that I have you to keep me informed.

    Have a great weekend.

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    1. Thank you Yogi, once I get into the city I really enjoy myself I have a history here as we frequently visited when we were first married and lived in Alexandria. We have lived in a 25 mile radius off and on for a lot of those years, and have lived 25 miles away for the last 26 years. I love the Smithsonian Museums in particular but enjoy looking around other areas also, especially the monuments.

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  2. Thanks for sharing this interesting place with us!

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  3. What a post! I is like reading a beautiful, glossy nature magazine!! Your real close-up of the hibiscus is gorgeous!! I think there are still Narwhals living, at least a few? Their sculpture is lovely. And the armored rat, yikes!!! The link said they are still around, Latin America, I believe. And those assassin bugs...I hope never to see a real one. I saw and learned so much here!! I believe I went here as a youngster, it is probably totally different now. I was born and raised in D.C. Fabulous post!!!!!

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    1. Thank you Ginny, am so happy you enjoyed this. How interesting that you grew up in DC. I have heard the Narwhals called the unicorn of the sea.

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  4. Everybody should be able to go to the Smithsonian at least once!

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    1. They are truly amazing and best of all there is no admission charge so it is great for larger families to enjoy.

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  5. Hours of fun, beauty and family. It would be hard to ask for more.

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  6. I was going to write something about the dinosaurs but have forgotten what it was. I agree with Ginny - the whole was like reading a glossy magazine. I was trying to imagine how you got all the information to stay in the brain. Do you write as you go along or use a machine to talk into?

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    1. It is frustrating when that happens. I am also glad you enjoyed my post Valerie. I write a few things down about my day when I have a spare moment in the evenings, or even the next day, and my photos are great memory joggers. I add on things when I put the post together, and of course I have to have the energy. Some days I write more than others, and then there are posts that I put together in several days. The fun part of the post is doing a little research after the fact. When I see things that interest me, I take photos of information plaques at the exhibit, and then in another quiet moment, I do that research on line.

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  7. Is this where the movie Night at thr Museum was made? Seems like that dinosaur is about to come to life! ;-)

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    1. Hi Sandi, that is an interesting question and I was curious so I went on line. I found out that the building featured in the film was constructed on a sound stage in Burnaby, British Columbia, but it was based on the American Museum of Natural History in New York City

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  8. Hello, this is my favorite museum in DC. Wonderful exhibits. Happy Friday, enjoy your weekend!

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    1. Hi Eileen, it is one of mine too. Enjoy the day and your weekend!

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  9. that museum is AMAZING!!!! love the elephant.. and would like to see all of what you showed us with my own eyes, this is next best.. wow.. all your phtotos are beautiful today and your flowers are beautiful to

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    1. Thank you Sandra, always happy you enjoy my posts.

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  10. I would love to see that museum! I can imagine the dinosaurs would be popular with the kids.

    I just started a series today from our nature museum. We also have displays of live insects (and other creepy-crawlies) in one area. I photographed a couple of tarantulas, but like you, the images felt too fuzzy.

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  11. We visited this museum briefly while we were there. but we wanted to see so much in a short space of time and the Air and Space museum was uppermost on Nigel's to see list. Great photos and thaks for sharing bits I missed! Enjoy your weekend Diane

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    1. Hello Diane, thank you and you are very welcome. I'm glad you got to see the Air and Space Museum. That is also an impressive place.

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  12. There is always so much to see at anybof the Smithsonian buildings, Denise. We hope to return one day and fondly remember the time we spent at air & space with yiu and Gregg. I thought of that today as this is the anniversary of landing on the moon!

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  13. When we go into Washington, The Natural History Museum is always our favorite! It can be a hassle for us to go, though! The traffic is so bad now, but sometimes we take the Metro from out in the state. That makes it much easier. The cowrie photo reminded me that they have been found on plantations where there were slaves. I can see where they would keep these lovely shells to remind them of home. ♥

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    1. The metro is a great way to get into DC. There is now an app where you can reserve parking spaces around town. We managed to get one not too far from the museum.

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  14. Such a lovely post Denise, I enjoyed both reading it and seeing your photographs.

    All the best Jan

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    1. So happy you enjoyed Jan, thank you. All the best to you too.

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  15. Great tour! Would so love to visit in person, but your tours are definite itely the next best.

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    1. Thank you Sallie, I appreciate your kind comments.

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