Links to Places That Matter: Museum Edition

Heritage Travel, Inc. recently visited Philadelphia, the “City of Brotherly Love,” for the annual American Association of Museums (AAM) conference. It was a great experience, and we met many people from a broad range of interesting museums located all over the world.

Our biggest takeaway from AAM was the understanding of how many different museums cover a wide plethora of interests, taking visitors on multifaceted journeys through history and heritage. This is the inspiration for this week’s edition of Links to Places That Matter.

Here are a few places that may peak your interest:

• The Museumist blog reviews the Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture located in Spokane, Washington. The MAC (as it’s affectionately known) has a diverse collection of exhibits, covering regional history as well as other interesting facets of culture.

• Did you know that the National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. reopened in November 2008 following a two-year-long renovation? Mary Billingsley, Director of Media Relations for Heritage Travel, shared her experiences during a recent visit there with a gaggle of third-graders. In her blog post, Mary highlighted some of the museum’s new interactive exhibits that her group of kids really enjoyed.

• RoadsideAmerica.com features sites and museums that are more offbeat. For instance, two museums that were featured recently are the Titanic Museum in Indian Orchard, Massachusetts, which is the first Titanic museum in the U.S. and home to a collection of artifacts and memorabilia (many donated by actual survivors), all packed into a couple of rooms at the back of a jewelry store. The other is the Toy Robot Museum in Adamstown, Pennsylvania, featuring one man’s collection of thousands of toy robots – old and new, big and small. Visitors can even play with some of these robots!

• If you have never used Twitter before (or have been avoiding it), you may want to try it out as you plan your next museum visit. More and more museums are using Twitter to get the word out about new exhibits, upcoming events, and even special discounts and offers. Read more about tweeting museums on Worldhum.

Enjoy!

Kari

Kari Rippetoe is the Marketing Manager at Heritage Travel, Inc., a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation


Photo Credit: Philadelphia, Flickr, vic15

Segway Tour of Washington Offers Unique Perspective

My family and I recently took in the monuments and sites around Washington, D.C. Now comes the special part: we made our way around all the usual sites in just about two hours, by riding on Segways!

Capital Segway offers terrific tours of D.C. using this unique personal transportation device. It’s easy to get the hang of riding the Segway. The friendly staff at Capital Segway showed us a safety video and then demonstrated riding techniques before we each gave it a try. Basically, if you can ride a bike (and probably even if you can’t), you can ride a Segway.

After all 15 members of our tour group donned helmets and got assigned to Segways, we spent about 20 minutes zooming around on the sidewalk in front and then in the park across the street. All went well. In fact, it wasn’t long before we were all ready to head out for our tour.

We went a few blocks south and west and found ourselves directly in front of the first stop on our tour: the White House. On Segways, you can go just about anywhere pedestrians can go; so we were able to Segway ourselves on Pennsylvania Avenue, directly in front of the White House where, sadly, cars are no longer able to drive.

From there, our next stop was the Washington Monument. We learned that the monument’s construction happened in two phases, as construction was halted midway due to the Civil War.

We continued along the National Mall and passed by the Smithsonian museums, including the National Air & Space Museum, where the tourist traffic was so heavy we had to weave in and out of the people on the sidewalk. (It was fun seeing the looks on faces as they saw 15 of us whiz along so effortlessly.) We stopped in front of the Smithsonian’s headquarters, known as the Castle. We were not permitted inside the gates because the exterior garden – on ground level – is, in fact, a rooftop garden that sits on top of museum space underground.

From the Castle, we navigated past the Federal Aviation Administration buildings to the U.S. Botanical Garden. Now, I’m from New York City originally and, I must confess, I think the real botanical gardens of the U.S. are in the Bronx and Brooklyn. (I’m also aware of The Arnold Arboretum in Boston.) This was my first visit to the U.S. Botanical Garden, which is quite a bit smaller. But it is well worth a visit!

Next came the Capitol building. After a failed attempt to attend President Obama’s inauguration (I had one of those notorious blue tickets – it’s a long story...), it was nice to easily enter the grounds and stand in the very spot from which our new president first addressed the nation following his swearing-in.

As we wended our way back, we passed the Newseum, and noted the modest tribute to Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) across the street (not to be confused with the larger FDR Memorial along the tidal basin).

The Segway tour of D.C.’s monuments and sites was fantastic, and I recommend it highly to anyone seeking a novel way to take in more sights than is usually possible on foot; at least in such a brief period of time. Not only did the Segway tour gave me a unique perspective on the city, the experience also gave me an alternative way to experience a place. In fact, a few days after my D.C. Segway tour, I was in Chicago and discovered similar Segway tours there, too. Although I didn’t have time this trip; I definitely plan to take one of their architectural tours the next time I’m back in Chicago.

John I. Williams, Jr., is President and CEO of Heritage Travel, Inc., a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation

Have you ever been on a Segway tour, or taken another another unique sightseeing tour? Post a comment about your experience!

photo credit: Segway

It's All About the Experiences

As I write this, I’m making the commute into Washington, D.C. I recently moved to Charlottesville, Virginia from the D.C area, so now I’ve switched from a daily, one-hour commute via an underground train to a weekly, two-hour commute – on an above-ground train.

It’s a very different way of commuting for me – and a different way of traveling in general as well – which is what inspired me to write this post. I’m able to take in the scenery and savor the journey, which I feel quite lucky to be able to do. I can look out a picture window at the trees, hills, streams and towns going by.

Today as I gaze out the train’s window, I think about my challenge last fall when my parents came to visit me from Texas. I had to come up with an agenda of “stuff to do,” something I struggle with because I don’t really share the same interests as my parents. They love antiquing, while I’m not all that keen on it (unless I’m looking for a specific piece). I like visiting museums, but museums bore my parents. I still remember how anxious I felt as I tried to figure out what to do. But when they arrived, it became much easier because I stopped thinking of “stuff to do” and instead thought of how we could best enjoy our time together.

One thing both my parents and I like to do is travel, and they love taking little road “jaunts” to nearby towns and cities to discover something new. So, that’s what we did. We drove to Winchester, Virginia and explored the downtown area, visiting several antique shops (naturally) and a farmer’s market (I’m a foodie and localvore), as well as stopping at the Blandy Experimental Farm and State Arboretum of Virginia on the way. We drove up to Annapolis and visited the Naval Academy, taking time to experience the other historical and cultural treasures the city had to offer. We drove around without a plan, stopping along the way at anything that interested us and just soaking in the journey without worrying about the destination.

I think both my parents and I enjoyed the trip so much more when we were less focused on the destination and more focused on the journey. We were all able to experience things that each of us enjoyed without getting bored or worrying about “what do we do next.”

As I sit here on the train watching the scenery pass before my eyes, I realize that I now have the opportunity to experience the journey rather than having to tolerate the trip – which is what made my parents’ visit that much better for me. I encourage you to do the same whenever possible during your travels – whether you’re taking a cross-country train trip, or just road-“jaunting” through local towns. It’s the experiences that matter and the experiences we take home with us. The new online community that will be launching soon will be a place to share your experiences with those who share your interests and passions.

What is your most memorable travel experience? Share a part of your journey in the comments section below.

Kari Rippetoe is the Marketing Manager at Heritage Travel, Inc., a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation

Photo Credit: U.S. Naval Academy Chapel, Annapolis, Md., by Kari Rippetoe