Just a warning, this will not be the most fair review I will write. Far from it, to be exact. This should not be the first review I write, but the goal of this blog is to give you the most honest first-hand experience of our travels, so you know what you may experience if you ever decide to make the same trip! With that being said, our original plans for this weekend was to head back down the shore for an overnight stay but, I ended up finding a deal on Groupon that I could not let slip through my fingers! With Javon's bucket list in mind, I booked a room at the Embassy Suites in Tyson's Corner VA, near Washington DC. The Groupon deal included an overnight stay in a 2 room suite, free parking (7$ value), free Wi-Fi (11$ value) and free hot breakfast for 88$! The hotel was close to everything, offered free shuttle service to the nearest metro station and had a pool. What else could we need? Excited to have snatched this deal up, I researched endless Pintrest boards and scanned thousands of tripadvisor reviews, seeking the best Smithsonian museums to visit with a 4 year old. I pretty much has a whole game plan laid out surrounding this visit., including 2 museums and a few monuments along the mall. Unsuspecting to me those plans would be blown out the door less then 4 hours into our trip.
We arrived at the hotel around 3 on Saturday, unpacked and headed back out. First stop, The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum near Dulles. During my research, I learned that at the museum parking costs 15$, but after 4 parking is free. It was 10 minutes till 4 by the time we reached the exit. As we approached the entrance to the parking lot, it was pretty obvious by the employees standing out front in bright orange vests, waving cars through the gates with neon yellow flags that they were still charging to park. Being the cheapskates that we are, there was no way in hell we were going to fork over 15 bucks when in less than 10 minutes, it's free. So, we pulled a U-Turn and headed the opposite direction. This is where everything goes downhill.
We had traveled a mile or 2 away from the museum entrance in search of a drive thru or somewhere to grab a quick bite to eat before heading back. After a few minutes, it became clear we would not find any food on the road that consisted of nothing but airport runways and what looked to be office buildings. We approached an intersection and I figured it was just time to turn around. At least I think that's what I was thinking at that point in time. Honestly, everything is a big scary blur from this point on! As I approached the intersection, I noticed 2 left turn lanes, 1 straight lane and one right turn lane. A cop was in one of the left hand turning lanes. I still don't know why, but for some reason I felt safest bet was to just turn with the cop and turn around in a parking lot down the road. Why didn't I just go straight? I'm still asking myself that question 4 days later! I made what seemed like an innocent turn behind the cop. Once I made the turn, I realized I made a huge mistake. I think we noticed the "No Trespassing Government Property" sign at the same exact time that the cop realized we didn't belong there. Scared out of my mind, I stopped the car less than 20 feet from where I had just turned from and before I know it a cop was at my window. Let's just say this police officer took his job VERY seriously. He questioned us for at least 20 minutes and continuously reminded me that the turn I had just taken was a major mistake. This is not the encounter I wanted to have after watching 4 hours of Orange Is The New Black the night before. All I could think in the back of my mind was "Oh my God, I am about to be handcuffed and whisked away to jail for something as simple as making a turn onto an unmarked private property! I'm going to be taken to jail in front of my kid! I'm going to be Piper 2.0, I will never last in prison!" I don't remember much of what the officer said, as I cloaked in fear. I do remember him asking if we had weapons multiple times. I don't think I really come off as a gun toting mom, with a 4 year old in the backseat, on our way to an innocent day at the museum! My mom thinks Javon may of been our saving grace. If he was not with us, we may still be sitting in jail for trespassing on government property. It felt like we sat there forever, but he did end up letting us go with a warning. Thank God!
Still shaking, (I'm not exaggerating, I was shaking for a good 4 hours after the encounter) we turned around and headed back to the museum. We entered the parking lot without having to fork over any cash. For those who don't know, Smithsonian Museums are free admission, that includes the National Zoo in Washington DC. So we headed into the museum, and of course the first thing we spot is a McDonald's! We traveled out of our way, looking for food just to have it right under our nose. I guess this is what being cheapskates got us into! I skipped the food, probably because I was still too shaken up, so Javon and I headed on our way through the Museum.
Plane after plane after plane. Big planes, little planes, military planes, the concord. You name a type of plane and it is probably in there. Javon loved it, he kept pointing out his favorites. He loved the little tiny planes that looked like only a baby could fit in. He also loved all the big fighter jets. I for one was bored, I could not get out of there fast enough! But, as long as he is enjoying himself, I was in for the long haul. The one thing that did catch my interest was the space section. Space Shuttle Discovery has made this museum it's home. You walked around a corner and there it is! It's massive! No matter how far I zoomed my camera lens out, I could not fit the entire thing into one picture! I would call Space Shuttle Discovery the main draw. This is where I saw the most people clamoring around, the most pictures being taken, and the most wide-eyed expression's of wonder from kids young and old. It was truly impressive to see.
We had traveled a mile or 2 away from the museum entrance in search of a drive thru or somewhere to grab a quick bite to eat before heading back. After a few minutes, it became clear we would not find any food on the road that consisted of nothing but airport runways and what looked to be office buildings. We approached an intersection and I figured it was just time to turn around. At least I think that's what I was thinking at that point in time. Honestly, everything is a big scary blur from this point on! As I approached the intersection, I noticed 2 left turn lanes, 1 straight lane and one right turn lane. A cop was in one of the left hand turning lanes. I still don't know why, but for some reason I felt safest bet was to just turn with the cop and turn around in a parking lot down the road. Why didn't I just go straight? I'm still asking myself that question 4 days later! I made what seemed like an innocent turn behind the cop. Once I made the turn, I realized I made a huge mistake. I think we noticed the "No Trespassing Government Property" sign at the same exact time that the cop realized we didn't belong there. Scared out of my mind, I stopped the car less than 20 feet from where I had just turned from and before I know it a cop was at my window. Let's just say this police officer took his job VERY seriously. He questioned us for at least 20 minutes and continuously reminded me that the turn I had just taken was a major mistake. This is not the encounter I wanted to have after watching 4 hours of Orange Is The New Black the night before. All I could think in the back of my mind was "Oh my God, I am about to be handcuffed and whisked away to jail for something as simple as making a turn onto an unmarked private property! I'm going to be taken to jail in front of my kid! I'm going to be Piper 2.0, I will never last in prison!" I don't remember much of what the officer said, as I cloaked in fear. I do remember him asking if we had weapons multiple times. I don't think I really come off as a gun toting mom, with a 4 year old in the backseat, on our way to an innocent day at the museum! My mom thinks Javon may of been our saving grace. If he was not with us, we may still be sitting in jail for trespassing on government property. It felt like we sat there forever, but he did end up letting us go with a warning. Thank God!
Still shaking, (I'm not exaggerating, I was shaking for a good 4 hours after the encounter) we turned around and headed back to the museum. We entered the parking lot without having to fork over any cash. For those who don't know, Smithsonian Museums are free admission, that includes the National Zoo in Washington DC. So we headed into the museum, and of course the first thing we spot is a McDonald's! We traveled out of our way, looking for food just to have it right under our nose. I guess this is what being cheapskates got us into! I skipped the food, probably because I was still too shaken up, so Javon and I headed on our way through the Museum.
Plane after plane after plane. Big planes, little planes, military planes, the concord. You name a type of plane and it is probably in there. Javon loved it, he kept pointing out his favorites. He loved the little tiny planes that looked like only a baby could fit in. He also loved all the big fighter jets. I for one was bored, I could not get out of there fast enough! But, as long as he is enjoying himself, I was in for the long haul. The one thing that did catch my interest was the space section. Space Shuttle Discovery has made this museum it's home. You walked around a corner and there it is! It's massive! No matter how far I zoomed my camera lens out, I could not fit the entire thing into one picture! I would call Space Shuttle Discovery the main draw. This is where I saw the most people clamoring around, the most pictures being taken, and the most wide-eyed expression's of wonder from kids young and old. It was truly impressive to see.
After viewing the Space Shuttle, I was ready to get out of there. I headed to the gift shop to grab Javon a little reminder of his visit. (A toy fighter jet), and we left. I just was not as excited about the museum as I was before we were pulled over. I honestly think I would have enjoyed the museum much more had that not of happened to us before hand. We were able to look back at it a few hours later and chuckle about how stupid we are. My mom even joked that she may need a drink at the hotel once we got back. If you know her, you know she's lucky if she sips on a glass of wine on more then 3 occasions a year, so this was saying something!
Overall I would say if your kids, or anyone in your family enjoy learning about things that fly through the sky or if you are in the area, then I would recommend this trip. Otherwise, I say skip it, and of course take a lesson from me and don't make any wrong turns along the way!
Happy Travels!
Keep a look out, I will be reviewing The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, and posting a summer bucket list update very soon! I will also be surprising Javon with a trip to Day Out with Thomas this weekend and i'll be sure to have lots of pictures and a review!
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