Day 3

Kramer looked a little more comfortable in our absence last night. He slept for a while on our bed, and this morning, he was playing the way he usually does—doing his zoomies and chasing his tail. Still, we intend to get him a friend.

Thank you to my cousin, Kerry, for offering up an idea on how we could spend this dreary icky rainy day. I did not know there was a branch of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Virginia near Dulles airport until she told me about it. Since the forecast for today was all rain and Kati was adamant about staying dry, we headed to the museum and I’m glad we did. We arrived shortly after they opened and just in time for a tour. I love tours. Otherwise, museums overwhelm me because I hate to read. Okay, I heard that collective gasp. It contradicts everything you know about me. But it’s true. I love to read books because I can be in motion and they are laid out in a way that I can just relax and let my brain take over. Reading at museums is different. The information is sprawled out and the exhibits are large and my attention span—or lack thereof—defeats me every time. Tours are so much better. They are interactive, they offer stories instead of dry facts, and you have the option asking questions—my favorite part.

Kati has a new rule for me because, apparently, I embarrass her. In order to be able to write a thorough account of what I learn, I need to take notes, which in this glorious age of technology means tapping away on my phone. The perception—Kati says—when I am on my phone is that I am being rude and not paying attention, when in reality I am hyper focused. I actually pay better attention while taking notes because I fall completely into school mode. To avoid Kati being embarrassed, she has requested that I announce to the tour guide the fact that I am a studious blogger and teacher which is why I may appear distracted and disinterested.

In the late 1800, Samuel Langley was the secretary of the Smithsonian Institute and he had a penchant for making model airplanes. Nineteen ninety eight saw the United States at war with Spain. Hoping to get an advantage, the army approached Langley and asked if he would be able to make his model planes big enough to fly with a human pilot. Langley set to work trying to do as the army requested. It took him five years, but he finally developed a plane that he felt was ready to be tested. Twice—once on October 7, 1903 and again on December 8–he attempted to fly the plane. Twice it crashed into the river. He never had an opportunity to make a third attempt because roughly ten days after his second failed attempt, he was upstaged by two brothers in North Carolina.

Two summers ago, we visited Kitty Hawk because G3 wanted to see where the Wright Brothers succeeded in achieving flight. (The bonus of that trip was discovering the beauty of the Outer Banks.) While there, the tour guide praised the Wright brothers, hailing them as American heroes. And they were—to an extent. But there are more than one side to every story. Today, we learned how the Wright Brothers obstructed the advancement of technology in pursuit of the good old dollar. Having gotten an airplane to fly, the got a patent from the Government. This gave them exclusive rights to manufacture planes in America. Every time someone else tried to make a plane, the Wright brothers sued.

Meanwhile, in Europe, technological advancement soared and England, France, and Germany surpassed America. Enter World War I. When America entered the war in 1917, we had pilots, but virtually no planes. Our pilots had to fly British and French planes. This information infuriated Kati. How could the Wright Brothers selfishness make us so vulnerable? Well, I agree with her frustration, but Is that not the American way? You can’t villainize the Wright Brothers without criticizing American corporate greed on the whole. You can’t be angry at the brothers for wanting to make money when that’s what capitalism is all about? But yes, putting the needs of individuals and corporations first, absolutely, without a doubt is not in best interests of Americans as a whole. Look no further than the greed of pharmaceutical companies as a shining example. But I digress.

“What is Mach speed?” The tour guide asked. Most of us knew it referenced the speed of sound, but we could not elucidate on that simple response. The tour guide filled us in. The term was named after an Austrian physicist Ernst Mach who studied and experimented with shock waves. The speed of sound is roughly 75O miles an hour or mach 1.

On display in the museum was the Enola Gay which was piloted by Samuel Tibbets. If the name sounds familiar, it should. It was the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. I always thought it was an odd name for a plane, but I learned today that it was named after the pilot’s mother. The bomb was dropped at 8:15 AM and it took 45 seconds to fall. By then, the plane was already nine miles away.

There are several Nazi and Japanese planes at the museum, a testament to American eagerness to steal technology from the enemy. During the war, Americans recovered downed enemy planes with the intention of taking the plane home to be studied and analyzed. And the Germans especially were testing out some rather advanced ideas. By late 1943, the Germans knew they were losing. As a result, they increased their own efforts to produce better planes, often rushing them from the lab into production.

The Discovery shuttle was in the museum. It was the craft responsible for putting the Hubble telescope into space. The new Artemis program in NASA has revived efforts to put Americans on the moon. Artemis III is projected to put 4 astronauts on the moon in either 2028 or 2029.

A12 planes were an upgrade from the U2 planes used to spy on the USSR during the Cold War. The air force envied them and wanted something similar so they developed the SR71 planes, which were better known as Blackbird planes. They were made from titanium which is mined almost exclusively in what was the USSR. To make planes to spy against our enemy and to be ready to fight our enemy we needed to buy raw materials from said enemy. To achieve this, the CIA set up many fake companies and each company purchased a small amount of titanium. Collectively, the companies purchased enough to satisfy military needs and the USSR never found out.

Those are the historical highlights of the tour. The information I could follow and comprehend. I am sorry to report that I was not as diligent about my notes regarding the science behind flight. I just don’t have enough background knowledge and understanding to anchor my attention and extract the relevant facts. But it’s probably better that way because I have rambled way too much. Hopefully, you aren’t too bored.

After the tour, Kati continued her kitten research while G3 and I walked around. I know he really enjoyed the museum because he took more pictures than he ever had before. But he was mostly interested in the historical planes. The modern ones didn’t quite draw his attention.

By the time we left, Kati and G3 were famished. We went to the Burger Shack which was only a few miles away. I very much liked the falafel burger and Kati said her burger was one of the tastiest she’s ever had. G3 ate his but didn’t seem as enthralled. Before leaving, he and I got chocolate shakes that were also really good.

The rain stopped briefly, so when we finished eating we detoured to Great Falls Park, also recommended by my cousin. Considering all the rain that had fallen, the river was swollen and the falls were gorgeous. The water rushed over the falls and was both majestic and powerful as it beat against the rocks and churned against itself. Kati opted to stay in the car and G3 came with me but seemed unenthused—we’ve seen dozens of waterfalls in our travels—but I was happy for the stop, the brief time outside. If only we had more time and the weather wasn’t calling for more rain, a longer hike would have made the day even better. But I got to see the falls so I am grateful for that.

We are now driving home. Kati is nibbling on red licorice. It apparently contains some sort of magic substance—perhaps sugar—that keeps her awake when she drives. And G3 is sound asleep in the back. Now I will set my writing aside and read some before it gets too dark. I’m reading Hijab Butch Blues. It’s the next book my Sapphic book club is set to discuss. I can’t believe how much I am enjoying it. I have read a fair amount of memoirs and this is by far one of the best. The writing is superb—engaging and entertaining. And I am enjoying this journey into a world where queerness intersects with Islam. My knowledge of Islam is sadly lacking, and the memoir enables me to see beyond the stereotypes. The stories from the Quran the author shares are familiar, thought they do differ in some details from the Bible stories I grew up with. If you like memoirs, I highly recommend it.

When we got home, Kramer was hiding under our bed, but it didn’t take him long to come out. I think he is happy we are home.