ASLTA Day 1 - Smithsonian Bucket List

Woke up on Day 1 of the conference realizing there wasn’t really anything I needed to attend until the evening opening ceremonies. I woke up feeling alright migraine-wise and decided to take a chance on getting to experience a bucket-list item for me: visit the Smithsonian. Specifically the National Museum of Natural History!

I got off to an unfortunately rough start. I decided to walk campus and take some key photos around Gallaudet, which was fine. It was a very hot day, but I took it easy.

Paid my respects to Thomas and Laurent, as one should. Then I thought, why not walk to the business area to catch a cab? It’s only 15 minutes, right?

RIGHT?!

I mean, it is, but in 90+ degree heat and 80% humidity, it’s longer from a physical exertion standpoint. I got about half way there and decided to call an Uber because I could feel it sapping my energy. I was whisked off through the madness that is DC traffic, and landed at the back entrance to the museum. I had taken a load of meds and was well hydrated, to try to fend off any car related migraine triggering as much as possible.

I still can’t believe this thing is FREE. Basically just walk through security screening and bam. The world of knowledge is hitting you in the brain pan. I was overcome. The cacophony of sights is startling. Where do you even start? You walk one foot left or right and have something new to see or read or experience.

I started in earnest in the oceans section, with hundreds of specimens of marine life, technology, educational displays about conservation, giant dioramas, soundscapes, interactive lessons, and art. The visual noise was immense, and at times unpleasant. But I just took a deep breath and tried to slow my brain and heart down and just let my eyes sweep over things until something caught my specific attention. To do otherwise would be sensory overload. You truly cannot see and do it all.

I eventually made my way to the iconic rotunda at the front of the building, with the signature elephant greeting everyone. I heard a man in his 20’s exclaim, “Wait, what? Elephants are ENDANGERED?!” and am reminded that not everyone has access to the kinds of education and information I have had in my life. He was genuinely astounded at the idea of needing to protect elephants from poaching, and walked up gaping at the information display underneath the behemoth on display.

Looking up I saw the gems and minerals were on the next floor up, including the Harry Winston Gallery and the Hope Diamond. I decided to make that my next stop.

It sits at the center of a dimly lit room carpeted in burgundy. In a center, semi-enclosed vestibule sits a glass case with lights shining down from all corners to the famous gem. It sits on a custom pedestal that rotates 90 degrees every few seconds, so as people gather around, it circles so everyone gets a view. I was lucky, when I first walked up, literally no one was there. I got to see it all by myself in a quiet room. Even when people did show up, there was one or two people, as you can see from the photo I took. So it was serene and enjoyable, rather than a crush of people scrambling to get a glimpse.

The entire minerals and gems section could take an entire day of ogling, truly. It was way more extensive than I could have imagined, with endless examples of every kind and color of gem and mineral you can possibly imagine. In the Harry Winston gallery, for example, they had every color of “fancy diamond” on display—colors I never knew existed naturally in such rich hues. I got to see a gigantic, perfect crystal ball (below). 

I saw every shape and shade of mineral, with descriptions of the natural phenomenon under which they are formed. I saw life size dioramas of mines around the US, farming precious metals and more mundane minerals needed for everyday manufacturing. I saw veins of metals, transported whole within rock faces, from the site to the museum to be seen in as natural a setting as possible. I saw video footage of earthquakes and volcanoes, and played with interactive models of how a pyroclastic flow might change based on topography. I saw chunks of the White House and other landmarks that had broken away and been replaced with sturdier materials, while looking through a window at the White House dome itself across the Mall (surreal to see the White House and Washington Monument casually and often from various vantages, given the city is so flat). I watched a short film about the researchers working with data and materials collected from the asteroid Bennu, and saw a small grain of material on display from this incredible project.

One could spend the entire day in just this wing, but I knew I needed to press on. I took frequent breaks to sit down, stay hydrated, and kept up on my meds, so my migraine was not keeping me from enjoying myself. I think it honestly helped to be alone, so I could go entirely at my own pace, didn’t feel the need to keep checking in with anyone, or spend any mental or physical energy on talking. My focus was gentle and my pace slow. Just what I needed.

I checked out the gift shop for this section, but resisted buying anything. There was PLENTY to buy, from just random gems or minerals, to jewelry, sculpture, stamped metals, books, tee shirts, you name it. It was a paradise for rock hounds, for sure. Incredibly obscure options were on display for sale alongside mundane to spectacular crystals of every shape and size.

It was truly dizzying, everything there was to see and experience just this section of the museum. But it was time to move on! So much more to see. Like the origin of the species, and toilets.

One exhibit I particularly enjoyed was called Lights Out. It focused on light pollution, its ramifications, and various solutions. It gave suggestions for how to experience a truly dark night sky, or as best as you can find depending where you live. It gave examples of cities around the world that had successfully implemented night sky protections and how they did it. Not only was it inspiring, but it was a quiet, dark respite from the rest of the bright and busy museum atmosphere.

I appreciated that the skyscapes and astral photography had placards detailing what equipment was used, what settings, and how long the exposure was. I also liked that some exhibits had various accessibility features, like this random display with braille and a tactile star map (above).

To detail my entire time at the museum would take a much much longer post than I have time or energy to write. But suffice to say it was a lovely day strolling and experiencing everything there was to see. As the day wore on, it got busier, with more large school groups coming through, and I was done. I needed to go back to the hotel and get a nap before the opening ceremonies for ASLTA. So I called an Uber to get back, and the driver as incredibly friendly and fun to chat with on the ride. We experienced a couple of road blockades near the White House as we tried to make our way back to Gallaudet, which I later learned was due to the Israeli contingent that had come into town. Again surreal to drive near the White House so casually, and be rerouted due to tense global negotiations which decide the fate of nations. How people ever get used to that reality swirling around them daily I’ll never know.

Hope to blog about the opening ceremonies later, but for now, migraine is in full force and I need to rest my eyes and body before workshops today.