National Geographic Society's Headquarters

The National Geographic Society's Headquarters is located at

17th and M Sts. NW
Washington, DC
(202) 857-7588
The closest Metro stations are Farragut North and Farragut West

The National Geographic Museum is located in the Explorers Hall on the first floor of the headquarters and frequently hosts temporary exhibits, many of which are free.

Exhibits explore nature and human culture and in the past we have viewed exhibits on "Frogs", "Terra Cotta Warriors" and recently we took in the "Rare" exhibit (a collection of photographs of endangered species in North America), "The other 90%" exhibit (a collection of low cost technologies designed to help provide the world's poor with clean water, electricity, housing, and education), and the "DaVinci - The Genius" an exhibit that attempts to demonstrate the full scope of Leonardo da Vinci’s remarkable innovations as an inventor, artist, anatomist, sculptor, engineer, musician, and architect.

To get a handle on upcoming events follow this link.

Smithsonian National Zoological Park

The National Zoo, is located in Rock Creek Park in Washington DC and is one of the world's foremost zoos.

Admission to the zoo is free and the zoo is metro accessible.

Some of the most interesting features at the zoo include:
1) The Asia Trail which was opened in 2006 and is home to six Asian species including the giant pandas, red pandas and sloth bears.

2) Three Asian Elephants call the National Zoo home in 2001 the zoo celebrated the birth of male elephant as result of artificial insemination, was such a triumph and in 2008 the construction of the Elephant Trails was initiated in order to support the development as a breeding herd of these endangered animals.

3) The Bird House which houses most of the zoos birds features an indoor flight room and an out door flight cage.  The zoo is home to over one hundred species of birds.

4) The Small Mammal House is home to a variety of rodents, insectivores, bats, and primates.  A refuge on a rainy day, this exhibit has proven to be incredibly popular with toddlers and elementary students since it provides access to a large variety of animals that would normally not be easily observed in wild.
5) The Reptile Discovery Center exhibits about 70 species of reptiles and amphibians.
6) The Great Ape House is home to seven gorillas including a one year old female (Jan 10, 2010) named Kibibi ("little lady" in Swahili) by a public vote.

7) The Great Cat exhibit is home to African Lions and Sumatran Tigers and are a thrill to watch.

8) The Amazonia Habitat was opened in 1992 and it includes a 5,000-square-foot rain forest habitat of the exhibit with a cascading tropical river and a 55,000-gallon aquarium for the display of Amazon River fish.  Dozens of species of mammals, birds, reptiles, insects and amphibians can be observed moving through out the exhibit.

There are several other notable exhibits through out the zoo including the seals, children's farm, prairie dogs and the bald eagles.

The zoo is a great place to visit through out the year, don't plan on doing it all in one day, because you cannot.  There is a lot to see and learn.  Its situated in 163 acres of beautifully landscaped property so it is quite a hike.  Plan have fun and plan to be tired.

Joint Services Open House 2010

The Joint Service Open House is the Department of Defense’s largest air show. It is held annually at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington DC region. This year the show took place on May 15 and 16 and approximate 300,000 people attended. Admission is FREE.

This show never fails to deliver and it is a great opportunity to meet some of the men and women that serve in the US armed forces and see the hardware they use on display and in action.

Highlights of the 2010 show included demonstrations by:

• F-16 Falcon Demo
  
• P-51 Mustang Demo
  
• F-22 Raptor Demo
  
• USAF Heritage Flight
  
• GEICO Skytypers
• Sean D. Tucker who was named one of the 25 "Living Legends of Flight" by the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum.
• The Golden Knights
  
• The Sky Soldiers, and;
  
• The Blue Angles

Blue Angels taking to the sky in their trademark diamond formation


Click here to view more pictures taken at this year's show posted on Flickr.

Also connect with others that attended this year's air show and share in their pictures and experiences by following this link.

Just a side note: There are a lot of restricted materials that cannot be brought on to the base so you should check the Joint Services Open House website before you attend.  There is food and drink (burgers, hot dogs, pizza, kettle corn, sodas and water) for sale but they are not cheap so make sure you have cash on hand because you cannot carry food to the base.  Also for smaller kids the noise from the jets may be overwhelming so make sure they have ear plugs and know what to expect.