How a day trip is planned over Twitter.

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I was waiting for a good way to catch up on my 100 Things I Will Miss About DC project…and of course, it fell in my lap via Twitter.

nickf4rr: OH (At NPR Headquarters): “All it takes is a bad daily newspaper to go broke, and suddenly you guys are the new funding model.” [link]

sillycaitlin: @Nickf4rr What do I have to do to get to hang out at NPR HQ, too? [link]

nickf4rr: @sillycaitlin They do tours every Thursday morning at 11 AM. I’m sure they’d get a kick out of the dress if you still have it! [link]

Tours of NPR Headquarters
NPR Services offers one-hour public tours every Thursday morning at 11 a.m. Meet us in the lobby of our headquarters located at 635 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC, (Gallery Place / Chinatown Metro Stop on the Yellow, Green, and Red Lines). NPR also provides tours for university groups, media students and other organizations.

sillycaitlin: @Nickf4rr Oh man, that sounds like it would make an awesome day trip! [link]

nickf4rr: @sillycaitlin I must put together the most awesome day trip in DC possible before I move to NYC. Interested? What else would be on it? [link]

kellbot: @Nickf4rr newseum! I haven’t seen it since it reopened. also the arboretum is cool but kind of a pain to get to [link]

Newseum Blends High-Tech With Historical
The Newseum — a 250,000-square-foot museum of news — offers visitors an experience that blends five centuries of news history with up-to-the-second technology and hands-on exhibits.  The Newseum features seven levels of galleries, theaters, retail spaces and visitor services. It offers a unique environment that takes museumgoers behind the scenes to experience how and why news is made.

sillycaitlin: @Nickf4rr I might be able to get a 24 hour flu sometime Um, Natural History Museum? @kellbot is better versed in DC than I am. [link]

Introduction to the National Museum of Natural History
The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is part of the Smithsonian Institution, the world’s preeminent museum and research complex. The Museum is dedicated to inspiring curiosity, discovery, and learning about the natural world through its unparalleled research, collections, exhibitions, and education outreach programs. Opened in 1910, the green-domed museum on the National Mall was among the first Smithsonian building constructed exclusively to house the national collections and research facilities.
Whether looking at the history and cultures of Africa, describing our earliest Mammalian ancestor or primate diversity around the world, examining ancient life forms including the ever popular dinosaurs, or exploring the beauty of rare gemstones such as uniquely colored diamonds, the Museum’s temporary and permanent exhibitions serve to educate, enlighten and entertain millions of visitors each year. The main building on the National Mall contains 1.5 million square feet of space overall and 325,000 square feet of exhibition and public space; altogether the Museum is the size of 18 football fields, and houses over 1000 employees. With a growing network of interactive websites, the Museum is transforming itself into a hub for national and international electronic education, accessible to anyone with access to the internet.

sillycaitlin: @kellbot @Nickf4rr ooh isn’t there a spy museum down there too? [link]

Learn about the authentic tradecraft that has been used throughout time and around the world. Hear spies, in their own words, describe the challenges and the “game” of spying.

A spy must live a life of lies. Adopt a cover identity and learn why an operative needs one. See the credentials an agent must have to get in—or out, as in the case of six Americans exfiltrated from revolutionary Iran in 1979, courtesy of the Canadian Ambassador— and the CIA. Proceed directly to the Briefing Film where you’ll come face to face with the real world of spying. Spies are motivated for very different reasons–what might motivate you? Patriotism? Money? A compromising situation? Your own ego?

nickf4rr: @kellbot @sillycaitlin How’s Thursday, July 16? Capitol -> NPR -> Newseum -> Spy Museum -> SAAM -> Old Post Office -> Mall Memorials? [link]

Visiting the US Capitol!

The United States Capitol is a monument, a working office building, and one of the most recognizable symbols of representative democracy in the world.

The Galleries of the Senate and House of Representatives Chambers are open to the public whenever either body is in session. The House of Representatives is open when the House is out of session, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Tours of the U.S. Capitol need to be scheduled in advance through the Advance Reservation System or through the office of one of your Senators or your Representative.

The Old Post Office and Pavillion
This unique site stands on Pennsylvania Avenue near the halfway point between the White House and the Capitol. The Old Post Office Tower ranks third in height among the buildings of the Nation’s Capital, soaring to a majestic 315 feet. At the 270 foot level, there is an observation deck allowing visitors an awe inspiring view of Washington D.C. and the surrounding area. Beneath the observation deck is the one hundred and eleven year old tower clock. On the tenth floor are the beautiful Bells of Congress. These bells are replicas of those at London’s Westminster Abbey and were a Bicentennial gift from the Ditchley Foundation in England.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum, the nation’s first collection of American art, is an unparalleled record of the American experience. The collection captures the aspirations, character and imagination of the American people throughout three centuries. The American Art Museum is the home to one of the largest and most inclusive collections of American art in the world. Its artworks reveal key aspects of America’s rich artistic and cultural history from the colonial period to today. More than 7,000 artists are represented in the collection, including major masters, such as John Singleton Copley, Gilbert Stuart, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, Childe Hassam, Mary Cassatt, Georgia O’Keeffe, Edward Hopper, Jacob Lawrence, Helen Frankenthaler, Christo, David Hockney, Jenny Holzer, Lee Friedlander, Nam June Paik, Martin Puryear, and Robert Rauschenberg.

The Museum has been a leader in identifying significant aspects of American visual culture and actively collecting and exhibiting works of art before many other major public collections. American Art has the largest collection of New Deal art and the finest collections of contemporary craft, American impressionist paintings, and masterpieces from the Gilded Age. Other pioneering collections include historic and contemporary folk art, work by African American and Latino artists, photography from its origins in the nineteenth century to contemporary works, images of western expansion, and realist art from the first half of the twentieth century. In recent years, the Museum has focused on strengthening its contemporary art collection through acquisitions and by commissioning new artworks.

A recent renovation of the Museum’s historic main building expanded the permanent collection galleries and created innovative new public spaces. The Luce Foundation Center for American Art, the first visible art storage and study center in Washington, allows visitors to browse more than 3,300 works from the collection. It adjoins the Lunder Conservation Center, which is shared with the National Portrait Gallery, the first art conservation facility to allow the public permanent behind-the-scenes views of the preservation work of museums.

kellbot: @Nickf4rr I’m down [link]

sillycaitlin: @kellbot @Nickf4rr Alas, I’ll be out of town that Thurs; how about the one after? [link]

nickf4rr: @sillycaitlin Thursday 23 Jul? DC for the day? Who else from NYC is in? @potatono set a trend! http://bit.ly/dcdaytrip #dcdaytrip [link]

sillycaitlin: @Nickf4rr Theoretically yes, but if my work is imploding I may not be able to escape; no way to know until a few days before, unfortunately.

And the planning continues!