Today ... a super fun day... field trip. Chaperoned the last field trip of the year for my youngest child's school ... and I have to admit, I was dragging my feet on a "yes" to doing this one. It was to The National Infantry Museum. I saw this collection several years ago, and while the "stuff" was definitely cool, it just wasn't presented in a compelling manner. I did the trip only because she said please. Lucky me!I didn't know that they had moved the collection to a setting which elevated it to jewel status ... seriously a world class museum ... built with private funds and open to the public free of charge, it was a day of discovering a little bit about the cost of freedom. Hmmm ... I say that, and it's sort of true ... this was a prettied up version of that truth. Their web page doesn't begin to do justice to the experience. I'm going back as soon as possible ... we had time for only three of the galleries and blasted through those. Here is a bit of what I saw, though they don't begin to convey the drama present in the multi-media presentation:

graffiti on the Westward facing side of the wall the Eastward facing side was bare  

Our guide said the Civil War Gallery is "growing"  and will open in full blown glory within the next five years.

All of the clothing and hardware is authentic ... he kept on emphasizing that "this was the real deal ... none of that Hollywood" stuff.  All the guides are veteran's, ours a Huey radio man.

This one was from the WWII Gallery ... I loved the actually footage captured by abbots on the ground camera man ... talk about embedded.  Black and white reel with sound screening in the canopy of this parachute.  Wow.  Footage like this was running in support of the documentation in each gallery, and it was creatively integrated enriching the telling of these events.

Here, footage is screened on the face of a cliff at "Omaha Beach".  The Figures in the exhibits were caste from servicemen returning from Afghanistan and Iran ... for me a lot of the story is expressed in the faces of the warriors, and their faces and the photographed faces were very moving.  In the Vietnam Gallery we actually walked through the jungle ... I grew up on images of that time ... the exhibit creators did a wonderful job of expressing the ambiance ... the resolve and the ambiguity with out the graphic images I expected to see revisited from the pages of LIFE magazine.

Special effects behind the Captain's bayonet made me jump at this  vignette !

After the "way too fast" look at several of the galleries, we saw an IMAX movie in the on site theater.  I love IMAX movies!  This one was the best ever ... Lewis and Clark: The Great Journey West.  I love the majesty of this great country ... and the audacity of this expedition and it's co-captains is an epic story that I am going to learn more about.  As a kid learning the facts, I was unable to appreciate the adventure ... the spirit and will ... the determination of these men and also those native people groups.  I wonder if this spirit still exists on the planet ... I think it calls to us.

Truly a wonderful day.  I needed a day like this.  It makes me proud to be part of the American heritage, and fosters confidence in the evolving story of our country.