National Air and Space Museum

If you could take just one photo: National Air and Space Museum

You may never get to rocket to the moon or fly a vintage plane, but luckily for you the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., gives you an up-close-and-personal view of aviation history. Scads of exhibits chronicle the United States’ long love affair with air and space travel. From the space suits worn by Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong, to Charles Lindbergh’s 1903 Flyer Spirit of St. Louis, pretty much anything and everything aviation-related is yours to see and learn about. And I can’t leave out companion facility Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in nearby Chantilly, VA. Here you can actually see the Space Shuttle “Enterprise” and a whole host of other space and aviation wonders. If you take a trip to Washington, D.C., this year, you literally have to make the trek to the National Air and Space Museum. It’s a fun day for the whole family!

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The force of acceleration presses you back against your seat. The clouds part, and you emerge into the immense cerulean vault of the sky. The engine noise recedes. Sunlight splinters on the perspex of your canopy. You level off and scan the horizon—you are the horizon. Unfettered by trivialities like gravity, you rule over a vast and lonely kingdom. Then a tug at your arm brings you back to the present. Have you been hit by enemy fire? No, it's just your kid urging you on to the next awe-inspiring aeronautical exhibit. Perhaps no place on the planet can set you free from its bonds like the National Air and Space Museum.

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