Well for my early birthday gift, my wife treated me to the Newseum.        For a decade or so the Newseum was in Rosslyn just across the Potomac River from Washington DC but in 2008 they opened up a new and bigger place on Constitution Avenue next to some random Embassy.

For DC museum standards this place is expensive (meaning it is not the Smithsonian so not free) but Teri was smart enough to get the groupon deal so it was 2 for 20 dollars.

One of the first things you see on your tour of the Newseum is a replica of the Berlin wall which was also at the old place in Rossyln.

A big exhibit here is the 9/11 exhibit.      Throughout the museum you can view hundreds of newspaper from the US and around the world and they have a 2 story display of many headlines from Sept. 11, 2001

There is also people on video newsmakers and ordinary citizens talking about their experiences on that day.

Another area of the museum I learned a lot at was at this huge map of the world dividing countries into 3 catergories free to the press, partially free and basically not free.     Not many countries have a free press.    Two countries I was surprised wasn’t listed as free was Singapore and Mexico.     Even though Singapore is one of the safest countries in the world the government control a lot of the information that goes out.        Mexico gets it designation not just because the government controls the media but it is dangerous to report on the drug situation due to the violent drug cartels and their willingness to harm or kill journalists.

Even the bathrooms here was entertaining.       On the walls they had pictures of headlines that have comical mistakes.

Since this second headline is from a Florida newspaper in 1980 I will let everybody judge for themselves if this is a mistake or not.      But for the US readers remember the election of 2000.

Finally you can get the opportunity to do your own newscast.      Check out this “brave” reporter surviving the elements that are just like her native land.

New Years weekend we spent the night in Virginia Beach and then we spent a little over a day at the outer banks.      Surprisingly we basically just relaxed at Virginia Beach and did a bunch of activities and sightseeing on the Outer Banks.     Here is the view from our hotel in Virginia Beach.

One of the thing I wanted to do on this mini vacation was to drive down to Cape Hatteras.     On the way down we still some damage from Hurricane Irene and this took place a few months ago.      The people down there seemed to be in good spirits we saw many sayings on plywood mentioning Irene including a few basically saying “bring it Irene”.

Of course on the outer banks there are tons of beach front homes and some of them are impressive.

At Cape Hatteras you are able to drive on the beach if you have 4 wheel drive.       I drove out to the beach but since the sand was a little deeper than I wanted and Teri was getting nervous I basically just went to the beach and then turned right around.

While down at Cape Hatteras we drove up to the lighthouse.       The lighthouse is closed in the winter for climbing      This lighthouse is 208 feet tall so if I ever come back here when it is open I want to climb it so I can get great views of the coast.

Before we headed back home we drove up to the northern part of the Outer Banks which include the towns of Duck and Corolla.      A lot of the home in this part of the outer banks can rival homes we saw in the Hamptons.       There are also more stores and supermarkets in this part of the outer banks.      You can also get lucky and see the small horses here at the very top of the outer banks but we didn’t see any, maybe next time.

Over the new year eve weekend we was in the Outer Banks.     Of course while we was down there we had to visit the Wright Brothers National Memorial.    It is only 4 dollars to get in. This is where the Wright Brothers made the first official airplane flight in 1903.     The chose Kitty Hawk because it was a place with favorable winds, sands dune for soft landing in case of crashes and sparsely populated.      On December they made 4 successful flight, the shortest was 120 feet and the longest was 852 feel.

The last flight lasted 59 seconds and covered 852 feet.        Above is the marker of where it landed.      It took us 3 minutes and 40 seconds or 220 seconds to walk it so pretty impressive for back in 1903 and it being the first time.

Above is the walkway that follows the path of the 4 flights and to the left is the memorial for Wilbur and Orville Wright at the top of one of the sand dunes of Kill Devil Hills.

For the flight with the motorize plane they took off for a level playing field but before then they did test in a glider and they did the test from the top of the  dunes.

Also on the site is a model of the first airplane, the two wright brothers and 5 helpers who help carry the plane to the starting point and other things they needed.

Evidently riding over 100 planes a year is not enough for Teri and she had to hitch another ride.

Also on the site is the museum where they pictures of many important people in the history of flight including astronauts and other famous pilots of the first few decades of last century like Lindbaugh and Amelia Earhart.       All in all it was a fun and educational day at the Wright Brothers National Memorial

Me and Teri was at the outer banks this year and we saw one of the most amazing Christmas lighting display at a private house.     Every year the Paulos family have their amazing display.      Below are some of the pictures of their house.

I finally went to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly Virginia.      This is the annex to the Air and Space Museum in downtown Washington.

We went there to see the new Mission Impossible movie on the huge IMAX screen that they have there.       Even though the musuem is “free”    parking in the parking lot cost 15 dollars.     However after 4 parking is free.       The movie started at 5:40 and the museum closes at 5:30 so we had some time to look around.       This museum is basically a huge warehouse for all of the extra planes and items that could not fit in the museum downtown.       There is minimal explanation on all of the planes there but it is enough to explain the importance of every item there.

The above pictures show how this place seems to showcase many planes side by side in a huge hanger.

One of the many military aircraft on display This is a military helicopter.

Above is some of the space exhibits on display.

The above 2 pictures are replicas of the shuttle Enterprise.     Now that the space shuttle has been retired Chantilly will be getting a real shuttle to display soon.   Not sure which one though.

Finally here is a plane that some of the Tuskegee Airmen flew.

Nice Mercedes.     How come I don’t see tags showing off that they flip burgers or work at walmart.

In Washington DC just east of the new National baseball stadium they have upgraded the area recently.    The Department of Transportation m0ved their headquarters to SE and they have a “transportation walk”      On this walk they have plaques on significant first dealing with transportation and models of different modes and helpful items in transportation.

In the above pictures are plaques of Garrett Morgan, A Philip Randolph, and Robert Goddard.      Garrett Morgan is one of the first African American inventors that I know of and he invented the stoplight.     A Philip Randolph organized the porters working on trains during the 20′s.      And since I worked at Goddard Space Flight Center for 7 years during the 90′s I had to take a picture of Goddard who launched the first liquid fuel rocket.

Since I buy gas everyday I had to take pictures of these gas pumps that was popular many decades ago.     And for me the most important thing is the 42 cent price for gas.     Not 2.42 or 3.42  but just 42 cents.

Also in this area are walking paths from 4th street SE to below the Washington Navy Yard.     It also looks like they will extend the paths to the stadium but for now it is still under construction.

One final thing about this area is that there is a trapeze school based out of New York in this area.

A few months ago we had a RARE earthquake in the Washington DC area.    Just now the authorities that be is realizing that the damage to the Washington Monument was greater than originally estimated.      Below is a picture of 2 workers checking out the damage up close.     Very brave workers.

Today in the pouring rain people was walking for the Susan G Komen breast cancer walk.     The interesting thing that I saw were a few guys helping people cross the streets in pink skirts.

I wished I had some better pictures but it was raining hard and I was driving at the time.

Below from 4 years ago and some more manly examples of supporting breast cancer that I took at the Calgary Stampede

I was in Arlington Virginia today and I see that a lot of the skyscrapers have flags on them for the tenth anniversary of 9-11.      This first picture is of the Rosslyn with Iwo Jima in the foreground.

 

Here is another pic in downtown Rosslyn of multiple buildings displaying the flag.

The picture below is just up the road on Wilson Blvd in Clarendon

Finally if you are crossing over the 14th street bridge from Washington DC into Virginia there are minature flags every few feet along the walking/biking route.