Smithsonian Museum

BY SKEETER

Today we are still chatting about Washington DC instead of my Georgia Gardens. One thing we enjoy about going to DC is visiting the many Smithsonian Museums. Did you know the Smithsonian is the largest museum and research complex having 19 museums, 9 research centers and more then 140 affiliate museums around the world? Click HERE to learn more about the Smithsonian Museums. These are the most wonderful museums I have ever been too and FREE! You can see some fun things such as Kermit the Frog! Did you know that Kermit has been around since 1955? Click HERE to learn more about this fun frog.  

The Ruby Red Slippers that Dorothy wore in the Wizard of Oz.

Archie Bunkers chair from "All in the Family" Click HERE to see more.

One of the first home computers! 

Bones of a Wooly Mammoth.

Bones of Dinosaurs. 

 A whale hangs over your head.

A Mummified Animal.  

A mummified Human!

A stuffed white fox.  

Now ya know. 

 The Hope Diamond. 45.52 carrots! Click HERE to see more about this famous Diamond. Photo is not that great due to lighting and glass. Most items are not easily photographed.

I mentioned the First Lady's dresses on Tuesday. Here you see Lady Bird Johnson's dress and coat.  

Lady Bird was instrumental in getting the highways filled with wildflowers. I saw her work along the roadways of Texas.  

Fun Quartz piece.  

Nature at its best don't ya think?  

Beryl   

This is where my Aquamarine birthstone comes from. 

And look mom and dad, this is what your hip may look like!  

The Air and Space Museum is the best ever! The main branch is in downtown DC while the annex is near the Dulles Airport. Click HERE to read about the worlds largest Air and Space Museum in the world!

Click HERE to read about the Enola Gay and the dropping of the first Atomic Bomb on the island of Hiroshima.  

SR-71A Blackbird.

 Wow, What a Design! And created in the 1960's! Click HERE to learn more about this awesome air craft.

 When I look at air craft such as this, I cant help but think, "Those Daring young men in their flying machines"!

I have seen the Concord in air as it use to fly near the Saints family house when they lived in Fairfax, VA. Click HERE for more. 

 Charles Lindbergh's "The Spirit of St Louis". Click HERE for more.

The Space exhibits are awesome!  

 They even have Jet Packs!

I remember an episode of "Gilligan's Island" Where they found a jet pack. As a child, I thought that was the neatest thing ever. And now I know they actually did have them back then!

The Space Potty! Yikes, this thing is scary.

 The high light of the day of course was seeing the Space Shuttle Discovery! Click HERE to see a wonderful video of the arrival of Discovery to the Museum.

 I am amazed at the size of this thing! It looks so much smaller in the air riding piggy back on a Boeing 747.  

Just amazing to me.

 Another wonderful museum is the Marine Corps. This is located south of Washington DC near Quantico, VA. Real close to where the Saints family now reside.

 On this day, we had our good friend and Marine, Stacey with us. She and her hubby arrived at the museum about opening time. The Saint and I met up with the his parents for lunch as we had recently been to this museum. Later we met up with Stacey and hubby at the museum and we closed it down. Yep, they had spent the entire day at this museum!  

This is a wonderful museum and the displays are so realistic that you have to look twice. At times, I think they are going to get up and start walking towards me! I cannot think of a better place to go for a great Lesson on History about our Country. The SMITHSONIAN MUSEUMS, are the best, In the Garden...

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Visiting the Wheels of Time Museum in Dunlap Illinois

Welcome to the Wheels of Time Museum in Peoria Illinois! Visiting here is seasonal and unfortunately just ended last weekend but lucky for you Mr. Fix-it and I were able to visit just in time to snap some photos and share this treasure in Peoria Illinois. 

Let us start in the first of three buildings. The director of the museum happens to love Halloween so the museum was all decked out in Halloween finery. What fun!

We visited this museum for the cars but were most surprised by all the other treasures the museum held. There was a clock shop that could've held me hostage for hours. I love old clocks and this clock shop has some real cool ones. There was one where the clock was animated and the pendulum actually 'flew'. It was neat. Still another one kept time by slowly sinking down via gravity. Cuckoo clocks, grandfather clocks, and time clocks all shared a spot here.

Stepping out onto the first floor of the main building we find a display of cars. Most of these cars are privately owned cars. The museum got started when local antique car owners sought a spot to store their vehicles believe it or not. The rest they say, is history. I was excited to see an Austin Healy here. You know James Bond drove a 1963 Austin Healy sports car in one of his movies and ever since then I've been curious as to what an Austin Healy looks like. I am not posting a picture because I actually didn't snap one!

In addition to cars the museum had collections covering everything from "Grandmother's Kitchen" to musical instruments to radio stations to bicycles and miniature farms. Here we see a 'whizzer' motorized bicycle. There was also a bike here that had wooden rims and solid tires-with the original tires!

Here is the miniature farm. The display case was about eight feet long and 3 feet wide. A nicely done display.

Downstairs in the second building we find some cool American cars. This is what gets Mr. Fix-it's heart a racing. Look at the old Chevrolet Caprice car. Caprices were beautiful cars in their heyday and had quite a lot of power too. Mr. Fix-it would say ANY Chevy is a beautiful car. 

Leaving the second building we head to the last building via a beautifully done sidewalk. The petunias were just a blooming their hearts out.

The last building held tractors and farm implements of all types. The photograph above shows a picture of the actual tractor on display when it was in use. It is a tractor with treads that pulled several reel type mowers around a golf course in Peoria Illinois. This particular museum specializes in local artifacts only. Also housed in this building was a tractor the owner had used to farm the very land the Wheels of Museum was built upon. We thought that was very neat and a nice connection to the past; which is what museums are all about. Sometimes when we tour museums we just see the stuff and don't always understand the stuff was actually in use once upon a time. I liked that this museum reinforced the connection of all the stuff to the Peoria Illinois area.

Outside of this building was a large train you could board and explore. The steam engine was quite cool to investigate. Inside of the tractor building there were several train whistles set up-including one that about blew my ears it was so loud.

The museum is closed during the winter months most likely because it is not heated. It was quite a cold day when were there but the museum is small enough that you can see it in under two hours and was not overly uncomfortable-we dressed warm. Kids will love the museum as many of the exhibits are interactive! Admission is a reasonable $6.50 for adults. It was a super nice museum....

in the garden....

For the next two weeks we'll be visiting not only Peoria but Chicago Illinois as well (virtually). Chicago and the state of Illinois have a lot to offer to not only gardeners but tourists!

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden