One of my favorite places to visit is Washington D.C.  I love American History and I’m something of a political junkie too, so a trip to the Nation’s Capital always gets my patriotic blood flowing.  We have visited four times through the years even though I’ve never been elected to anything.  And we have enjoyed seeing the White House, the Capitol Building, and many of the Memorials and Monuments.  If you’ve never been, I also highly recommend visiting the Smithsonian Institution.  For those who do not know, it consists of about 18 different museums, and 10 of them are right on the National Mall.  We have visited a number of them, and they have something for everyone.  My personal favorites are the National Museum of American History, the Air and Space Museum, the National Museum of Natural History, and the National Portrait Gallery.  The next time we visit, we want to see the new National Museum of the American Indian, since Liz and I both have Cherokee Indian blood in our family tree.  There are a lot of good museums around the country, but the Smithsonian is a real American treasure chest.  Be sure to add it to your bucket list.

Amen on the Smithsonian!!  We were able to visit several times while living outside D. C. but never saw all of the facilities.  Their constant updating and rotation of displays makes every visit seem new.  I was also fortunate enough to tour the aviation warehouse and research facility.  This is where they store and restore pieces for display in the mall museum.  For instance, they have the rest of the Caroline (Kennedy's campaign plane) stored there along with the Enola Gay (dropped the atomic bomb).  In the Air and Space Museum they only display the cabin of the Caroline.  If you are a real aviation buff - this is the place to go.  I just looked on line to see if I could find where it is located since they were about out of room in Suitland.  This must now be The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport.  It does show that the Enola Gay is on display.  Anyway - big DITTO on the Smithsonian!!! 

I also love the Smithsonian, but have still not visited each one of the buildings. As you said, to do it right could take days, even weeks. The funniest story I have about visiting there occurred back in 2004. Our first grandson had been born at Bethesda a few months earlier, and we went to visit him, Chuck and Annie. We flew Dick's folks in so they could see their first great-grandchild. At the time, Dick's sweet dad was still mobile, but needed a wheelchair to get around those vast D.C. sites. One rainy day Dick and I took his mom and dad out for sightseeing, to include a stop at the Smithsonian. We knew we didn't have much time, so thought the American History Museum would be one they might enjoy most. In the rain, Dick drove as close as he could to the entrance to let his mom and me out, then he was going to find parking and bring his daddy in the wheelchair. Here we are, coming to a stop at a busy place, and were hurriedly trying to get out of the car with umbrellas, etc. Dick's patience is being tested already, when his Daddy (who had no idea about the size of this place) said , "I'll stay in the car while y'all go in". Well, as you know, the Smithsonian is not a place you dash into and out of in 15 minutes. Dick ended up taking his dad to another site, the rain stopped, and his mom and I happened to enter the museum just as a guided tour was beginning. We took the 1 hour abbreviated tour, called Dick to pick us up, and all was well. Dick's mom enjoyed it and could say she went to the Smithsonian, and Dick's daddy was happy too. All's well that ends well.