National Building Museum

building_mus_tm
Originally uploaded by easement

The National Building Museum doesn't get the publicity of the bigger museums in D.C. But if you're looking for something a little different, and ready to get out of the crowds which can pack the Smithsonian strip on the Mall, the Building Museum is worth a visit.

The museum is just a few blocks off the Mall, somewhat hidden behind the Verizon center. For a building that takes up an entire block, it can be deceptively hard to find. Once you have and wander inside (like most other museums in D.C. it does not charge admission) you'll see the bulk of the space is taken up by the open Great Hall. Ringing the Great Hall are three stories of balconies, behind which the rooms (and exhibition spaces) form the perimeter of the building.

The one drawback to the Building Museum tends to be the low ratio of exhibits to building size. There is a permanent exhibit on the history of Washington, D.C. the city - complete with models of the Mall area as it existed at the turn of the century and how planners at that time wanted it to look (which is, with a few exceptions, generally as it appears today). There models and drawings showing the planning process behind many of the big, postcard-star memorials downtown.

The temporary exhibits seem to turn over fairly quickly, and have a wide range of subjects. The first time I went, there was an exhibition on efforts to recreate Shakespeare's Globe theater. The last time, there was a collection of photographs documenting various residence styles across Africa. The drawback tends to be, once again, the surprisingly small size of the exhibition space after to step off the Great Hall. Also, it can be surprisingly hard to find exhibits, since most of the rooms off the balconies are not open to the public, and the exhibits seem to be randomly dispersed with poor signage.

The museum shop, however, makes up for some of the shortcomings. Not only does it have the old maps and prints I'm a sucker for, it crams in more than you would guess at first glance. Obviously the shelves of books on architecture and building design, but also an area of whimsically designed kitchen utensils and implements, as well as toys and other surprises.

Despite the odd use of space, I'm a fan. Especially since I've never once had to fight through crowds, as I have every time I've wandered into the Natural History Museum.

Howard

I feel I need to update a previous post on Howard University basketball.

My first game at Howard, there weren't any ticket takers at the door. There weren't any tickets. Anyone could walk right in, no questions asked. Apparently this was simply for a low-interest game and a rare home game early in the season (Howard had a total of two non-conference home games). Since then, there have definitely been ticket takers. I've had more trouble getting into Howard games than anything else, because no one is ever quite sure what to do with me as a media member.

This isn't really a knock on Howard or its staff. Mostly, I enjoy going to the games at Howard. But as a low-budget, non-winning team in D.C., they don't get much media coverage. Most of the time, I'm it, as the AP representative. And since they don't often have to deal with media and media passes, the people working the door usually have no idea how to deal with me. I actually had more trouble getting into a Howard game without a pass than I did getting into a Capitals game when the AP forget to let the Capitals know I was coming.

I was impressed by the fan support at Howard last night. Even though the Bison had lost 11 of 12, the stands were mostly full (spurred on, I'm sure, by the fact the game was televised on ESPNU). And, as usual at a historically-black school, the band was awesome.

gifts

We've collected our gifts from the Christmas season, as well as probably gotten the last of our wedding presents. Today, however, another package showed up at our door.

One of my favorite presents we received for the wedding was a monthly delivery of bread from Great Harvest Bread Co.. There are bakeries across the country, all of which use wheat from my home region in Montana. Each month since we returned from the wedding, a box containing one loaf of bread has appeared at our door. These have been, without exception, excellent. Whole grain, honey wheat, pumpkin - all moist and flavorful.

Take this as an official recommendation.

wild stuff

On the road trip, we generally dealt with near- or below-freezing temperatures. In fact, in Illinois I managed to get in my first snow sledding for many, many years.

Back in D.C., the last few days have required a bit of a mental adjustment. I've thrown on a jacket before leaving the house, only to find myself far too warm. It's been near 70 degrees here, which has given the air an odd feel, like the city can't quite decide which season it's in.

I decided to take advantage of the balminess yesterday and headed off for a run through the park, my first in far too long - the last time I went running, there were still leaves on the trees.

This summer, one of my favorite features of our location was the park. The forested trails were cut off from the city, a quick escape into a different kind of world. With the leaves gone, so was the illusion. Houses jutted out just a few yards away, no longer hidden away. The belt of parkland was revealed to be much narrower than my mind had assumed those months ago when I repeatedly found myself lost as I was still trying to figure out the D.C. streets.

merry christmas, happy new year, all that stuff

I'm actually getting far worse rather than getting better about posting, let along posting anything meaningful, but that's probably all right because the few friends and relatives who checked in here probably have given up a while back.

However, I'd like to do a better job, just for myself. So as always, I have the best of intentions to do this more often now that there's an "8" at the end of the year.

Starting with a short post on one reason I haven't had anything up here for about three weeks - I've been out of town for two of them. K and I went on a midwest road trip, of the type you just can't do in any other country (which is one good reason to travel to those other countries, after you've done a few massive road trips in this one). We rolled up nearly 3,000 miles on the odometer driving from D.C. to Missouri and back, with stops in Indianapolis on the way out and stops in St. Louis, Chicago and Cleveland on the way back. Each stop gave us friends to catch up with (which often meant late nights, and usually, a long drive starting early the next day) or family to see, or both. All were good, although most stops lasted a single evening and left us wishing we had more time.