Wandering with Walt

Today I went exploring with my second cousin, once removed, Walt, who is almost 50 years wiser than I am. He is an ex-FBI agent , so needless to say, knows a lot about the area. He talked about one major difference in security between then and now. He started working for the service just as the Viet Nam War was beginning. At that time the attitude was that the Capitol was "The People's House". He once pulled up with a man from the UK at 10 pm, and a Capitol Policemen took them on an exclusive tour once he simply introduced himself. Tonight on our walk back to his car, a Policeman in a Blazer watched our every move as Walt took pictures of the East Front of the Capitol. Times have changed, and I got to hear a lot about Walt's life, and we saw a lot of parallels. In 11th grade, I took a week-long trip to Browning, Montana at an Indian Reservation as a mission trip. In his sophomore year of college, he worked on a ranch 30 miles north of Browning, and we could talk about many of the same sights and sounds. He also went to the U, joined a fraternity, and has a law degree, something I have looked at quite extensively. It's all in the family.

Walt and I decided to go to places that I had never been before, most of the lesser toured museums. I was glad we did. Our tour took us first to the mini-Arboretum just off the mall, then to the National Museum of the American Indian. Here I learned a lot, noticed how close the creation stories are of all cultures, and ate some good food. I would recommend this museum (along with the rest of the institution) to everyone. It gives a different look at the colonization of the Americas, the building of the border fence (right through two Indian reservations), and modern day life of Indians mixed with their culture. After an hour and a half tour, I still want to go back. Then we went to the Smithsonian Castle, the original museum, because I asked who Smithson was... and that is quite an interesting story, one that I had never heard. The last two museums were the African Art Gallery, and Sackler Gallery. I never knew these museums existed, because they are underground. So in conclusion, all the Smithsonian Museums are great, but the lesser traveled museums sometimes offer just as much, with less of a crowd. I am cutting this short to get to some homework. Have a great week!