The DC Traveler

This month, National Geographic magazine has a feature story about Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Family Ties – The Elephants of Samburu. He has been studying elephants for over 40 years.  And today, he’s considered a foremost biologists and a leading expert on the African elephant. He’s also the founder of Save the Elephants.

His organization fights the poaching of these majestic animals and helps educate the world about the lives and habits of elephants. He helped secure a global ban ivory trade and as a result, elephant populations are growing, especially around the Samburu National Reserve in northern Kenya.  An estimated 5,400 African …read more

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American painter, Richard Diebenkorn’s early abstract impressionism work is not well known. But his Albuquerque period (1950-52), created a solid foundation for future work.

His individualist style were based, in part, of earlier works of abstract expressionists from a decade earlier. 
By the 1960s, he had become a known and respected abstract expressionist on America’s Pacific coast.
Closing soon is an exhibit of his influential work, at The Phillips Collection, in Washington, DC.
Diebenkorn in New Mexico
The Phillips Collection
1600 21st Street, NW, between Q and R Streets
Washington, DC 20009 (map it)
Dates and Times – Through Sept. 7, 2008
Hours – Saturday 10:00 a.m.– 6:00 …read more

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I really enjoyed the preserved bodies exhibit and so did close to 300,000 other visitors to Body Worlds 2, at the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.
The exhibit is closing on September 1st, 2008, so here’s you last chance to experience the inner workings of the human body.
For the final weeks, the hours are extended from 9:00 am, until 9:00 p.m. daily.
Body Worlds 2 Maryland Science Center 601 Light Street, at the Inner Harbor Baltimore, MD 21230 (map it)
Dates and Times – Daily 9:00 a.m. – …read more

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Washington, DC’s museum of the news, The Newseum, is offering free admission to children (3 kids get in free with each paid adult) for the rest of August.  That’s a $13.00 savings per child.
Newseum 555 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. Washington, DC 20001 (map it )
Dates and Times – Daily, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Tickets – Free admission for children through August 31, 2008.
Adults – $20.00, Seniors – $18.00 less, kids 7-13 $13.00, under 7 free.  Date and time specific tickets are available online, at the door or by calling 1-888-639-7386.   …read more

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The National Building Museum is usually not on most visitor’s must see list, but I think it should be.  It’s worthy of a quick walk through, mostly for the building’s architecture and massive columns. Also, if you’ve dragged very young children from museum to museum who might need a bit of “playtime”, check out the Building Zone.
The museum has four main galleries.

A great retrospective of architect Eero Saarinen – designer of Dulles Airport terminal, the classic TWA Flight Center at New York’s JFK Airport and the St. Louis Arch (Jefferson National Expansion Memorial). Through Aug. 23, 2008.
Cityscapes Revealed – …read more

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America’s first President, George Washington, was a whiskey maker. 
During the American Revolution, run was the alcohol drink of choice. Around 90% of the alcohol consumed by the American colonies was British rum, imported from the West Indies.
In the 1790s, whiskey was quickly becoming the alcohol of choice for Americans, moving rum from the number one spot, mostly due to a higher cost for the British impost and, partly from a sense of nationalistic pride (whiskey was made locally, using American grain).
As a result in the change of taste,  thousands of distilleries were built  by 1800, but most were small operations …read more

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The National Firearms Museum in suburban Fairfax, Virginia tells the history of firearms, from the earliest Match and Wheel Lock muskets, first introduced to the New World in the 17th century by the Spanish, to modern day hunting, target, military and collector’s weapons.
And America’s history is steeped in gun and firearms history.  The firearm played important roles throughout history, starting with the initial settlement of the New World.  Events such as the American Revolution, major wars and minor battles, the rise of organized crime in the 1920s, and law enforcement’s response would have never occurred.
The museum has one of …read more

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More than 35 Cool Globes promoting  ways to reduce global warming are featured on the grounds of the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, DC. 

The 5-foot diameter sculpted globes were designed by artists from around the globe to show simple solutions people can do to help combat global warming, and promote sustainability and ecology.
Some of the themes include recycling, energy conservation, water conservation, installing energy efficient light bulbs, or improving automobile gas mileage, increasing.
Cool Globes: Hot Ideas for a Cooler Planet  U.S. Botanic Garden      100 Maryland Avenue, SW – across from the U.S. Capitol …read more

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This week in Washington, DC, the Smithsonian turned 162 years old.
The Smithsonian Institution was based on a gift of James Smithson, a British scientist, who left his entire estate to the United States of America in 1827.  His gift of over 100,000 gold sovereigns, or $500,000, (just under $9.5 million in today’s dollars) required the government to establish the Smithsonian Institution, to “increase and diffusion of knowledge."

An act of Congress in 1846 expanded the growth of collection into the world’s largest museum complex (16 museums) with over 140 million objects and the National Zoo in Washington, DC. …read more

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The site for the 1936 Olympics had been decided before Adolph Hitler took power.  But by the time the games were held, Hitler and his Nazi party were running Germany since 1933 and initially didn’t want the games held in Berlin.
Earlier in the year, Germany also hosted the Winter Games in Bavaria. But after realizing that the Summer Games could be turned into a massive propaganda campaign, Hitler pulled out all the stops and created an image of the new Germany, one of tolerance, peace and international cooperation, but also promoted his ideological belief of Arian racial supremacy.
The Nazis …read more

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