Tag Archives: Steven F. Udvar – Hazy Center

May The Fourth

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It’s May 4th and in America that means it’s Star Wars Day. Get it? May the fourth be with you!

To be clear, I am not a Star Wars fan. I have seen maybe two movies and enjoyed neither. However, I do enjoy pop culture and great art and this US mailbox is a work of art.

It is one of 400 dressed as R2 D2 as part of the 30th anniversary of the movie premiere in 2007. They appeared in all fifty states and Puerto Rico.

This one can be found at the Steven F. Udvar- Hazy Center in Washington DC. It was signed by Star Wars creator George Lucas and Postmaster General John E. Potter before it came here.

By the way, this place houses thousands of aviation and space artifacts including the Space Shuttle Discovery. Admission is free but there is a parking fee and it’s well worth a visit if you’re in the D.C. area.

Discovery

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Washington D.C. is chock full of fascinating things to see and there’s a surprise around nearly every corner.

We rolled into town Friday afternoon and made our first stop the Steven F. Udvar – Hazy Center. That’s a long name for a giant museum filled with air and space exhibits. Here you’ll find a Concord, a Lockheed Blackbird and all sorts of other aircraft. For all you Star Wars fans out there, they have an X-wing Starfighter which is undergoing some restoration.

You’ll also find the space shuttle Discovery.

It was the third Space Shuttle orbiter to fly in space and it flew 39 Earth orbital missions from 1984 to 2012. This was the space shuttle of much of my life.

It’s kind of a big deal and I got to stand in front of it with my nerdy “Mom and Dad I’m ok sign” and mug for the camera from beneath a mask.

It’s massive and far larger than I expected. It’s beautiful in its own way too. It just looks like an enormous plane but is capable of so much more. If those wings could talk!

And so began my whirlwind tour of our nation’s Capitol. While this beginning was nine kinds of fabulous, it’s just where the fun began. That night, we checked into our hotel and hit Chinatown for dinner and a walk.

Check back tomorrow for more of the fun! Read more about visiting this Snithsonian museum and it’s sister the National Air and Space Museum by clicking this link.