Virginia Vacation - Confederacy Museum

I'm almost done highlighting our Virginia vacation from back in June, I promise.  

On the day before we were set to fly home, we drove out to Richmond - about 45 minutes from where we were staying in Williamsburg.  Well there was a ton of traffic and it ended up taking well over an hour each way.  But we made it.

It was pretty cool, and my being an American History minor and US Civil War buff I really enjoyed it.  Dave too.  Drew, well not so much.  There wasn't the hands on kind of things like he had when we visited Jamestown and Williamsburg.  This was more of a museum.  It was in a small building and we wouldn't let him just run loose - yeah we're not one of "those" parents and we forced him to stay nearby and keep quiet.

Drew checking out the clothing that kids his age wore back in the Civil War era.

Confederate Money

The "Rosette" Bullet - according to legend one bullet from the Union (the North) and one bullet from the Confederates (South) hit each other in mid-air creating this "Rosette".  We thought that was pretty cool!

Confederate war flag for a particular batallion:

Here are some artifacts from the Gettysburg Battle.

This is the coat that Jefferson Davis apparently wore when he was arrested.  Jefferson Davis is the President of the Confederacy.


Canon that was used by the South during the war.

Here is a picture of the White House of the Confederacy where Jefferson Davis lived for a few years.

What's interesting about this area, it's in the middle of a Hospital "campus" and is out of character for this area which is very modern all around it.

 

Dave and Drew are standing in front of what is called the Wickham-Valentine House.  This is where Attorney John Wickham lived when he defended Aaron Burr against treason in 1807.  Aaron Burr is probably most known for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel, but was charged (and acquitted) of treason for trying to claim lands in Texas area.  We just thought the house was cool, and again out of the norm for this redeveloped area.

Virginia Vacation - Air and Space Museum

On Friday after the baseball game we got up in the morning and went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum - the Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.  We ventured out with my friend Sarah and her three kids - two of which were contained in the stroller. 

I can't believe how amazing this was to see.

As we walked in, this is what we saw...

This is an F-105D Thunderbird

Here's a Marine Helicopter

 Everywhere you looked high, low, left, right there were aircraft.

Here is Drew and Preston in front of an Air Force plane.

And giving their best brain freeze expressions...

A Wright Brothers Replica

This next plane is pretty self explanitory.

And this is the Enola Gay from above.  I couldn't believe how massive it was.  Even from above I couldn't fit the entire plane into the picture!

For those who aren't History buffs like me, the Enola Gay dropped the first Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima during WWII.

Speaking of History, Preston's Great-Grandfather flew this plane behind the boys - the Black Widow.  This is real-life history!

When I was younger I remember hearing about the SR-71 and it's "top secret status".  Well here it is in the flesh.

At this museum they have a space area - Drew is demonstrating some sort of Jedi hold on Preston.  I believe there is a picture from when the boys were about 18 months in a similar pose.

And the real beauty at the museum... this was so amazing to see!

The Discovery Space Shuttle

I was so surprised to see the material the space shuttle is made out of.  I really imagined it to be the same material you see planes made out of.  It appeared to be more "fabric-like".  The shuttle is also a monstrous sized space craft too!