Expedition 12: A Silver Stroll

Progressing on a beautiful day in MD!

One dozen journeys complete! Metro Journey 12 was a great time, and this time took us all throughout the urban area of Silver Spring observing the plethora of fantastic art in the city. This blog is your newest tour of the exhibits of art in our nation's capital. Let's begin with exhibit A...


Exhibit A: A Helping Hand and a Continental Coastline
At it again on my tenth journey! Up early again to get on the metro at Largo, Trent, Cortland and I rode to Silver Spring station to get started. Once the squad was all together, we headed out to our first assigned POI: The Hand of NOAA. Created by artist Ray Kaskey, the large stone monument was built to broadcast the purpose of the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's goal. It was a pretty neat start to a busy Maryland expedition.

Symbolic of Noah's hand releasing the doves

 Next up was a trip to the coastline. Well, the "Coastline." It's an artificial wave pool representing the crashing of waves onto the Atlantic coast. 

Exhibit B: A Collection of Columns and a Beckoning Beacon 
After the coastline, we moved on to several destinations off the East-West Highway. First up was the East West Beacon.

The East-West Beacon

The dazzling 35-foot sculpture was designed by one Ray King to (not surprisingly) be a beacon to travelers on the East-West Highway. The steel on the beacon reflects and illuminates light and is always changing colors. This was probably my favorite POI of the day honestly. 

Not far from the Beacon was the other attraction of Exhibit B: the Lotus Columns. The unique three-sided, asymmetrical sculptures were created by Mary Ann Mears with an Egyptian origin. It was neat how the columns created a sort of illusion with their shape. 

The Lotus Columns' intricate design

Up next was a huge acorn. Well, an acorn park. A tiny 0.12 acre spot off of East-West Highway, the park consists merely of a few benches, an acorn shaped gazebo, and a mural on a wall with some impressive art, but it was still cool to see all these places I never knew existed in Silver Spring.  

The acorn gazebo and mural of the park

Exhibit C: Coming up on Kaldi's
Moving on, we made our way through Silver Spring to Kaldi's Coffee bar. It was a nice and spacious cafe, and the group stayed and chilled on the sofas for a bit, then we were off for a few more stops on our final journey...

Bonus: The Wrap Up
We had quite a few more stops to go to, and I can't remember them all, but they were all fascinating. We came up on the Sisyphus, a collection of large steel orbs based on Greek mythology, the Botero Ballerinas, ever-rotating steel sculptures, and even the artful Global Refugee Mural. Afterwards, we headed to eat lunch and get home.

Overall, this Metro Journey class has been such a blessing. I've always loved exploring D.C., and this class was a perfect opportunity to get to explore plenty of it. I learned the vibes of different neighborhoods, discovered countless art displays, and made new friends along the way. I was able to minister on the metro once, eat some delicious lunches, and visit monuments I've loved to drive past with my family. I doubt I'll be able to do this class again next year, but it won't forget the Metro Journey experience!

The Global Refugee Mural

The Botero Ballerinas

  

Expedition 10: The Northwest Navigations, Pt. IV

On the way to Tidal Basin!

Another 2016 expedition! Metro Journey 10 (I had a fever and couldn't join on the 9th one) was awesome, and all the more enjoyable with the nice weather. This blog is another narrative of my 8th excursion in D.C.. So once again let's start from chapter 1...

Chapter I: Blossoms and a Basin 
Metro Journey 10 started as usual at Largo Metro Station. Trent and I rode down about 11 stops to Smithsonian. We met up and waited for the rest of the squad, then headed on foot for our first destination of the day: Tidal Basin. We were supposed to head down there to document the Cherry Blossom Trees.  

The Basin facing the Jefferson Memorial

The basin itself is somewhat man-made, created in the 1880's as both an attraction and reservoir. The 106 acre pond is only about 10 feet deep at most and has a plethora of paddle boats for tourists. All around the edge of the basin are the beautiful Cherry Blossom Trees. 

The pink Cherry Blossoms 

 The trees found in the U.S. were actually a gift from Japan to commemorate the then growing partnership between the countries. Japan gifted 3,020 of the trees to America, which were placed in several areas along the east coast. They looked amazing, with white and pink blossoms giving the trees their color. We circled the Basin and passed the Jefferson Memorial, stopped for a quick snack at a concession stand, and were on our way to our next destination of the day...

Chapter II: Adventures With Adam
The remainder of this expedition would take place in the Adams Morgan neighborhood in Northwest D.C.. We caught the train up to Woodley near the National Zoo. Adams Morgan is arguably the most ethnically diverse area in D.C., and that was confirmed when we arrived there.

 The neighborhood itself gets its name and origin from two formerly segregated schools. We were assigned to find several foreign businesses in the area and interview the managers, and although we found plenty of them, sadly most of them were restaurants and too busy for interviews. The stores we did enter, however, had a plethora of fascinating items. We also had to visit a park and throw a frisbee around. While we found the park, we forgot the frisbee. After exploring around and looking through a few foreign shops, we decided to call it a day.
And that's about it! Again, sorry this blog is so short. Metro Journey #10 was fun and took us through a very exotic-looking neighborhood, and showed us the natural beauty of our nation's capital. As the class nears an end, I can look back and say I've really enjoyed this class and learned a TON from it. It's been a blessing to travel around, meet new people, and explore D.C.. So, until next time reader!

Walking through the business area of Adams Morgan

Shoe game on point!

One of the foreign businesses we found

They're onto us!

Expedition 8: The Northwest Navigations, Pt. III

Back at it on journey #8!

Once more, a successful expedition! Metro Journey 8 took us through more fascinating destinations throughout Northwest D.C., including places in Chinatown. This newest blog is your newest adventure through the Capital. And since it's an adventure, who knows where we'll start?

Part I: A Museum of American Architecture 
At this point y'all, I'm just used to getting up at 2:00 in the morning for these trips. Just kidding, I woke up at like 7:00...I think. Anyways, this expedition required we the group meet at around 9:45 at Judiciary Square station. After an blessedly peaceful ride there, Trent, Cortland and I met up with the group at the first destination of the day, the National Building Museum. The link to their website isn't working, so here's the Wikipedia information. 

Museum from upper floor

 The Museum, formerly known as the Pension Building, was a brick structure constructed in 1887 and designed by the U.S. Army Quartermaster General. It served that purpose until the 1960's, when it fell into a state of disrepair and was nearly destroyed. Along with backlash from conservationists and a suggestion to renew the use of the building, it became a display to exhibit the building arts. By 1980, it was what is now known as the National Building Museum. It was a massive museum, with large pillars on both sides of the ground floor, and a square design for the upstairs exhibits. We got our tickets to explore around and headed upstairs to one of the rooms. There were displays with intricate Lincoln Log contraptions along with loose pieces that we toyed with (purely out of nostalgia, probably).

Couldn't resist, could you?

We explored the rest of the upstairs rooms except for the ones that were occupied with field trip kids. Then we took a picture in front of the fountain and headed out for our next stop, or to you, part 2!

Part II: Our Candy Crush Saga
I couldn't resist with that title, sorry. After the National Building Museum, we made our way through a bit of Chinatown to It's Sugar. A popular (not to mention expensive) candy store, It's Sugar was founded in 2006 by Jeff Rubin, and in the past 10 years has expanded exponentially, with locations all over the country, and even several outposts in South America. The small store we visited in Chinatown had a unique selection of candy and some quite strange ones that I'd rather not eat. We spent about thirty-seven years in there picking and choosing candy (no adult supervision meant we all went crazy buying it) and eventually left around 11:30 as it was time for lunch...

We...were...ADDICTED! Just kidding :)

Part III: A Tragic Theatre and Lincoln's Final Lodge
After an unhealthy lunch (McDonald's), we had to visit a few more spots in and around Chinatown. One such spot was the Friendship Archway. Back in the 1930's, many Chinese immigrants began to move into the area, leaving behind plenty of art and Asian structure. At its peak, Chinatown extended from G street to Massachusetts Ave. Later in 1986, the city dedicated the Friendship Archway to a local architect named Alfred Liu. After passing by the archway, we made it to the Ford Theater. Built in 1861 in place of an abandoned First Baptist church, the theater quickly gained notoriety and began to host some of the more popular shows and musicals.  President Abraham Lincoln frequently visited the theater, and was tragically shot and killed there by John Wilkes Booth in April of 1865, shortly after the end of the Civil War. Once we arrived, we toured the basement museum of the theater, which had plenty of information on Lincoln himself. After a quick look at the theater itself, we were on our way to the next POI. 

The group at the Ford Theater

     
Next up: the Petersen House. This was the house President Lincoln was carried to after being shot by John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln died there the following morning, and now the place has been made into a small museum with displays about what followed Lincoln's death along with much information about his legacy. 

A stack of Lincoln books glued together

Part IV: A Trading Company and a Departure
After the Ford Theater and the Petersen House, we had one more spot to visit: the Da Hsin Trading Company. Their website doesn't have much information, but it's a Chinese store with small odds and ends, a few exotic foods, and some cool swords too :P. We stayed a few minutes, then headed out to make our way home. 

In the back of the Trading Company store

And that was about it! Sorry if I forgot anything. Metro Journey #8 was a success, and we had fun along the way once again. I'm really enjoying this class and the places it's taking me, and I'm excited to keep journeying. Until next time, reader!

Expedition 7: The Northwest Navigations, Pt. II

Early morning walk to...the wrong museum

 Another long, fun journey! Metro Journey 7 featured new classmates, more fascinating landmarks, and LOTS of rain. This blog post is your newest walkthrough of D.C.'s seemingly endless historical destinations. Let's take that walk now, eh?

Step 1: An "Earthly" Exhibit
Here we go for another journey. I was up at 7:00 this time, and on my way to Largo to meet up with Cortland (my brother was unable to join us this time because he had work that afternoon) to begin the outing. We rode about 35 minutes to convene at Federal Triangle, and after an eternal wait (just kidding, Gavin), we got underway. Unfortunately, we ended up trekking to the wrong museum. We were assigned through clues to visit the National Museum of American History, but we accidentally went to the National Museum of Natural History.

The Natural History Museum

 Nevertheless, we wound up enjoying the experience and taking plenty of pictures, so I'll include information on it. It opened in 1910 as one of the original Smithsonian institutions. Featuring over 126 million (no, your eyes are fine, reader, indeed it is million) overall scientific artifacts, the popular green-domed museum is home to a wide variety of natural exhibits and displays. While we were exploring in the wrong POI, a college-aged lady stopped us and asked to take pictures of us looking at the displays. She and her friend were part of a neat photography class, and she wanted to practice taking silhouetted pictures. She politely asked the oldest looking people in our group (alas, I look 12) to gaze at an African animal exhibit as she took photos of them. Afterwards, she inquired about our class, and as we've done before, we explained how the Metro Journey class works. The questions we get about our group are so interesting to me; it's surprising to me when I see people with basically no knowledge of homeschool as they ask us about it. 

Step 2: A Grand Gallery
Once we realized our mistake, the nearest POI to us was the Renwick Gallery. This was probably my favorite stop of the day, as it exhibited the coolest decorative art I've ever seen. It was originally intended to be home to a private art collection of William Corcoran, Corcoran was passionate about the emergence of art in the United States with the belief that America would never be known as a great superpower without its own fine arts and craft. So, in 1858, he sought a builder what he saw as a contemporary art museum. He found James Renwick Jr., a well-known architect who'd worked on other buildings in D.C.. Since 1972, the Renwick Gallery has been a part of the Smithsonian institution. We entered the museum and headed up the stairs to look around a bit. In the upstairs was a vast room with a large, soft rug on the floor, where people were just laying down. It seemed pretty cool, so we joined and stared at a colorful tapestry elevated near the ceiling, and just stayed there for a while.

The...whatever it was, above us at the Renwick Gallery

Once we almost fell asleep, it was time to take a tour of other exhibits in the Gallery. The tour guide started off explaining the history of the Gallery's creation and construction, then lead us first to a stunning display of...index cards. There was a quite amazing display of index cards stacked like thick stalagmites made by one Sheila Duignan. The multiple pillars of partially wooden cards weighed a total of 20,000 pounds and were held together with wood in the middle.

The large index card displays 

Next up on the tour was a rainbow-colored display of embroidery threads designed by Gabriel Dawe. The guide explained that Dawe grew up in Mexico and fell in love with vivid colors and embroidery art. In this display, he used over 12,600 individual threads and countless measurements to construct. It was by far the most impressive piece of art I've seen on the journeys yet.

The eye-popping embroidery display

 We were a bit short on time, so we elected to follow the tour to one more exhibit. Up next was a series of large, wide nests made from thousands of willow branches from New York State. Created by Patrick Dougherty and his assistant, its assembly took 6 days a week for three weeks, and amazingly used very few nails; almost the entire structure was artfully woven together. Once we were done at the Gallery, we had to move on to our final POI of the day...

Step 3: A "Faithful" House 
We never ended up visiting the two other POI's we were supposed to go to (we had Carpe Librum and Cafe Grande to go to, but we never made it), but the last step in your walkthrough took us to the National Museum of American History. We had to find a dollhouse in the museum and take pictures, so after wandering through some other floors of the place, we made our way to the Faith Bradford Dollhouse. Bradford created the 23-room house to accommodate Mr. and Mrs. Doll, their ten kids, five servants, two visiting grandparents, and twenty pets. We didn't really stay in the Dollhouse long (it was too small for us anyway :P), hunger called us elswhere for lunch, then to Mrs. Fogg's (our class coordinator) house for a meeting. 

The Dollhouse. If you look closely, Antman is on the bed

Counting your steps:
And that about sums up yet another fun, RAINY day in the nation's capital. I enjoyed the Renwick Gallery a lot, and the Museum of Natural History was accidentally awesome too. I hope you enjoyed this latest blog from MJ #7. Until next time, dear reader...oh, and enjoy a few extra pictures from the day.

"Thank the maker!"

Chilling out on at Renwick Gallery

Muhammad Ali's gloves

The White House

Expedition 6: The Northwest Navigations

Journey 6 in the books! Our latest metro journey was great, and this time sent us to several destinations in Northwest D.C.. This blog is your narrative of another fun day in the nation's capital. Let's start from chapter 1...

Chapter 1: A Monumental Monument
Up EARLY once more, Trent, Cortland and I met up as usual at Largo and rode down to Smithsonian station. This time, we were assigned (with a partner) to each choose a POI in Northwest D.C., and our first chosen POI was the Washington Monument.

Approaching the Monument from the station!

Built in 1888 in commemoration of our first President, George Washington, the construction began in 1848, but lack of funds and the escalation of the Civil War slowed its construction until 1879. We were able to get free tickets to go inside and ride to the top, so once the whole group arrived, we headed inside. We rode the elevator (agreeing that the elevator shaft was scary) to the top of the 555 foot monument and peeked out the windows for a while. Honestly, I had no idea the Monument had an inside, but it was an awesome experience to be up there and see the Washington D.C. landscape.

Chapter 2: A "Spacious" Museum

After hanging in the Monument for a while, and listening to some fascinating information from the guide, we rode back down to the ground and began a short trek across the National Mall to our second chosen POI, the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

The squad outside the Air & Space

This was by far my favorite spot of the day; I've always loved seeing exhibits with fighter planes and the concept of space has always caught my interest. I think my personal favorite exhibit was the displays of the aircraft from World War 2.

A model aircraft carrier.

 There are actually two museums (one is in Virginia), but the D.C. location opened in August of 1946 as the National Air Museum, but as the space race heightened, it was renamed to the National Air and Space Museum. The place is really amazing, and we explored around for quite a while in the exhibits, gift shop, and even their flight simulators.

Models of the types of fighter aircraft you'd find on a carrier

 

Afterwards, we slowly made our way out (the gift shop was very distracting :D), and were on our way to Fuddruckers for lunch...

Chapter 3: Ben's Bountiful Bowls
The destination I chose with my partner David was Ben's Chili Bowl. We didn't stay long, but Ben's has history that goes waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back. 

I honestly have no idea...

It was founded in 1958 on 1213 U St when (not surprisingly) Ben Ali and his wife spent $5,000 to renovate the building, but it was actually built in 1910 as a silent movie theater. Later, it became a pool house as it was modified by one of D.C.'s first black detectives. It was actually founded right next to Lincoln Theatre (which was built in 1922). Ben's, however, went through rough times when racial tensions exploded in the 50's and 60's, but the popular restaurant survived in what was America's largest African American community. I'd only "Ben" there once before (see what I did there?), but the food was good, and I've always wanted to go back. My grandfather and his brother grew up in the area, and the restaurant became their childhood favorite.
After we wrapped up at U St, it was time to head to our final POI of the day...

The outside of Ben's on U St.

Chapter 4: Our Final Frozen Foray
Last up on our excursion was an outdoor ice skating rink near the National Gallery of Art. It seemed pretty popular; there was a HUGE field trip group there. I have absolutely no clue how to ice skate, but some group members decided to skate, so we decided to all hang there for about half an hour. Eventually we began splitting up to head home, so Cortland, David, Trent and I trekked back to the metro to head home.

Epilogue
It was a relatively short journey, so, sorry for the short-ish blog. It was still an awesome day, and I really enjoyed the Air and Space Museum and the Monument tour. I can't wait for the next journey next year, but now I'm just hyped for Christmas. MERRY CHRISTMAS, and until next time!

Another sweet view of D.C. from it's Monument

Walking past the Museum of Natural History

It looked like it was gonna fall on us!

Another pic of the model aircraft carrier

Expedition 5: Our Second Virginia Voyage

At the Torpedo Factory

Another journey in the books! Metro Journey number five took us through Alexandria in Virginia, and brought us to places with some awe-inspiring art, and fascinating facts. This blog is your ride through a rainy day in the Old Dominion State. All aboard!

Station 1: A Torpedo Factory and Some Articulate Artists
Another early morning wake up! I was up and ready to go before 8:00, and Trent, Cortland and I rode to the King Street station in Alexandria. We met up with our group and hopped on the bus to get to our first destination (not in D.C., maybe the title is misleading :D) , the Torpedo Factory. 

The group outside the Factory

It's an art center with amazing collections of paintings, pictures, jewelry, sculptures, archaeology, UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHERS, and a plethora more of masterpieces. It was named for its original purpose, which was for assembling torpedoes in World War 2. The Factory was made in mid 1941, but it evolved into an art center afterwards in the 1970's.

YEEEEHAH! RIDE THAT TORPEDO, MAN!

 Now, it hosts almost 150 artists, all of whom with unique styles to their works, and 82 studios. We were assigned to interrogate (just kidding, interview) 4 artists (each with a uniquely different trade), an African American artist, and one nicknamed "Poppi." After quite a wet walk to the Factory, we meandered around for a bit, checking out the first floor.

Posing in front of one of the torpedoes

 There were a lot of pictures of sailors and posters from the 1940's on one wall, not to mention several torpedoes. We got going upstairs to check out the studios, and after peeking into a few, we entered a photographer's studio, and began to inquire on his career at the Factory. His name was James Steele, and his passion was clearly photography. He fell in love with the art when he was 12, but pursued engineering in college, working in that business for 20 years. He returned to photography after that, joining the Torpedo Factory. We talked with him for quite a while, as he had some pretty cool stories to tell and well-refined pictures to show us. He'd taken hundreds of thousands of photos with his D100E 35mp camera (that's a really good camera); he would just take pictures at random of anything that fascinated him. It was kinda crazy how much work went into his craft, too. He'd been to Utah, overseas, and even underwater to make his collections, and it was an eye-opening experience.
Next, we browsed around and entered the studio of Judith Codey, who worked with wood prints. I didn't take as many notes as possible here, but her works were like paintings on wood. She showed us about half a dozen of her favorite projects, and demonstrated how she'd put down layers of different colors to make her pictures as fine as possible. She's worked at the Torpedo Factory for 40 years, nearly as long as its existence. I enjoyed seeing her displays for sure. Our next artist we interviewed briefly was Mrs. Marian van Iandigham. She worked with paintings, and had been at the Factory since 1974. 
We had a few more things to do in the Factory, and next up was finding an African American artist to interview. Unfortunately, there weren't any permanent members there at the time, and since our final artist, Poppi, wasn't there yet either, the group elected on heading to our next destination. On to station 2!

Station 2: Quite a Watery Waterfront, and a Freedom Museum
We were HUNGRY (or maybe it was just me, I had a small breakfast), but we wanted to knock out our POI's first, so we set out on a 25 minute trek in the rain to the Alexandria Waterfront Park. It was a nice park on the edge of the Potomac River. A freaky view of the foggy river (hence Foggy Bottom) and a group photo later, we began to make our way to our final destination.
Our final assignment was to visit the Freedom House Museum.

The display at the Freedom House Museum

 It had the most historical background of our POI's, as it was a slave trade hub where Solomon Northrup from the movie Twelve Years a Slave was sold into slavery in 1841. He was a free man who lived in New York, and when he was approached in a business offer by two white men, he accepted. Sadly, the men kidnapped him and sold him in a slave state. Northrup regained his freedom in 1853 and wrote the book Twelve Years a Slave. After another long walk to the Museum, we entered, and were greeted by Ms. Chatman. We explained how our class worked, and she individually shook our hands and proceeded to tell us about the slave trade that went through Freedom House. Back then it was one of the finest places to buy slaves back then, and the wealthiest men in the country would gather and haggle over who they wanted and whatnot. The actual museum was in the basement of the building, so Ms. Chatman showed us down there and left us to explore and take pictures. It was a very interesting exhibit with examples of what the slaves wore, mock posters from then, a small model of what the actual Freedom House looked like, and even a touch screen display with some detailed information. Once we finished observing, we went back upstairs to thank Ms. Chatman.

Alright, almost done, stay with me. By the time we were finished at Freedom House, it was around 1:00, and we had one more assignment back at the Torpedo Factory. The group still had to interview the artist "Poppi," who hadn't been there in the morning. Another rainy walk later, we hustled over to studio 226 to find Poppi. Sadly, she wasn't in that day though, but we got plenty of information about her art and career at the factory. Her actual name was Dawn Benedetto, and she worked with elegant beads and inexpensive jewelry. Honestly it looked like stuff we'd found back at Bedazzled (remember the "bedazzling business?"). She's worked at the Torpedo Factory since 1997 and clearly was one of their more upstanding artists.

Some of the beads crafted by Poppi

 











And that was about it for the day! Metro Journey 5 gave us all an insight to what Alexandria is like, and once again showed us the many understated landmarks you can find in this area. Stay tuned for MJ #6! Until next time, dear reader!

Art

ART

ARRRRRRRRRRT :)

And...art. I loved the place, though!