Planning the Tour While planning our summer road trip for the East Coast in 2023, we opted to end the trip with Washington, D.C., before pointing the car west and heading back to Missouri. We booked two nights at an Airbnb on Capitol Hill, knowing we were only going to get a small taste of the city. We were determined to make the most of it, as we always try to do. We can sleep when we get home, right? I had been to D.C. twice before, but this would be Jeff and Kristin’s first visit. I knew I wanted them to experience the many monuments scattered about the Mall and nearby areas, but I also knew it was July and hot. And it was the end of a three-week road trip, so I knew energy could be down. An evening monument tour sounded like just the thing. Not only…
Visiting Manzanar National Historic Site
Everyone should visit Manzanar. The lessons within its borders are necessary. I didn’t know Japanese Internment during World War II was something that happened until well after high school graduation. I’d never heard the slightest murmur of such things all through high school, and I took advanced history classes. At 22, I’d moved to Front Royal, Virginia, a small town about an hour from Washington, D.C. One December day in 1997, I had the opportunity to visit the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of American History. Fortunately, I’d visited twice before as a child and a teenager. It was a favorite of mine, and I looked forward to seeing the First Ladies’ exhibit and the pop culture section. Imagine my confusion when I stumbled into a portion of the museum that looked like a neighborhood in California. Shops and restaurants in this replica San Francisco street were closed and boarded up,…
A Day at Dayton: Our Stop at the National Museum of the United States Air Force
If you have the opportunity, a stop at the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio, is a great way to spend an afternoon. And it’s absolutely free! Even if you think that military history really isn’t your thing, this place is worth a stop. The exhibits here are pretty awe-inspiring. The buildings that house the museum are impressive in themselves. The main building tells you that you are about to see some big planes. The National Museum of the USAF, located at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, is the official museum of the Air Force. Although the museum is free, be prepared to go through security. Since we were on a road trip and our time was limited, we made a brief stop and were determined to see the highlights. The museum is open 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m., so try to give yourself…