Smithsonian Visitor Survival Guide

Before we moved to Washington DC, we visited the city many times. One of my favorite Smithsonian Museums is American History. Since I retired last February, every morning my husband and I walk along the national mall. This morning when we were passing by the Smithsonian Castle and gardens, an employee or volunteer handed us a brochure. We must have looked like tourists in our triple layer outerwear braving the twenty degree temps. My husband was going to trash it, but I stuck it in my pocket so I could read about the contents and maybe learn a thing or two without looking it up online, which is what we routinely do these days. We hardly ever rely on hard copy anything - especially for reference materials. So I browsed through it a bit and might check it again more thoroughly to see if there is something we might see or do differently if it catches my eye. What I like most is that there is an average of 202 nice days per year and what I like the least is 113 average days of precipitation. I'm happy to say that we have explored most of the places that are mentioned in the brochure. We have no excuse. For the most part, it is all free - but this city is an expensive place to live so I feel like we are paying for the privilege. But what we like most is all the other stuff that happens around us outside of the Smithsonian buildings and museums. And that is something especially unique - and there's no brochure for that.