If you gotta pick one....

Flipping around the Interweb this morning, I ran across a Wired article entitled "Five Great Interactive Museums to Visit this Summer" and realized that I hadn't addressed a common question I've received from many of my visitors. With the abundance of world-class free museums in Washington, DC (Smithsonian, National Gallery of Art, Holocaust Memorial Museum, Building Museum, etc. etc.), it is possible to spend weeks here, visit a new museum every day, and never pay a cent. Unless, of course, you want to buy lunch in one of them and then have to sell a kidney, but that's a different story. But since you've made it all the way to DC, folks often want to splurge and shell out money for one of the pay museums; the ones that actually cost U.S. dollars. So watch one?

When the International Spy Museum opened in 2002, many people, including myself, were skeptical. Would visitors and locals alike, trained like Pavlov's dogs to expect free museums, pay almost twenty bucks a head to see a museum when you can walk across the street and go to a free one? The answer, of course, was a resounding yes, and the Spy Museum was followed by the Newseum, the National Museum of Crime and Punishment, and, for some inexplicable reason, Madame Tussauds. So now the question becomes, if I'm going to blow fifty plus dollars taking my family to a museum, which one?

For me, the answer is simple: the Newseum. When this museum opened last spring, I was dubious. I had visited it's previous incarnation across the river in Rosslyn and liked it, but hadn't missed it much when it closed. I was ready to give the new and improved version a shot, but then I was annoyed by their ad campaign, centered around billing themselves as "the World's Most Interactive Museum". It's a ridiculous claim. How do you measure interactivity? What standard do you use? Have you checked all the other museums in the world? And while we're at, why is interactivity inherently good? Museum experience is all about creating connections with your subject, and interactivity, while a useful tool, is just that. It isn't a basis on which a museum should be judged. It's like billing yourself as having the "most floor space" or "cleanest restrooms". Fine but, at best, you're celebrating the supporting cast.

I'm glad I didn't let my intellectual snobbery get in the way. While I still maintain that the marketing type that came up with that slogan shout be shot, or at least beaten severally as a warning to others, the Newseum has the goods. The vaunted interactivity is fine, and even adds to the experience, but with so much more to offer, why sell that? Their exhibits are well crafted, full of authentic artifacts, and engaging. The building itself is well laid out, with a thoughtful path that allows deviations if something else interests you, and, perhaps most importantly, easily handles large amounts of people without feeling crowded (Spy Museum, take note here).

A little advice to get the most out of your twenty bucks ($13 for kids 7-18): When I come in, I usually skip the intro film. It's ok, and if you're looking for some time off your feet take advantage of it, but it's mostly a sales pitch for the ticket you just paid for. Head downstairs, decline the film, swing by the watchtower from Checkpoint Charlie and take the World's Largest Glass Elevator (or so they claim) to the sixth floor. If you don't know what Checkpoint Charlie is/was, it'll probably be covered when your class learns about Ancient History.

Upon exiting the elevator, I always enjoy the "Today's Front Pages", where they print up that day's front page from a Representative newspaper in most states and several foreign countries. Hey! Here's a fun game: see if your city's newspaper went out of business while you're on vacation! Kidding aside, it's interesting to compare the placement of articles and what makes/doesn't make the front page across the country. If the weather is nice, be sure to check out the view of Pennsylvania Avenue from the Terrace.

On the way down, you might wish to pick and choose which galleries to see. Any of them can take at least a half hour to thoroughly explore, so budget your time. I'd be sure not to miss the 9/11 gallery on the fourth floor. I try to watch the video once a year but, frankly, it's often more than I can take. The "Great Books" and "News History" galleries on the fifth floor are worth visiting as well. For those of you who can't miss it, the flashing lights and interactive stuff is mostly on the second floor. The 4-D movie "I-witness" is fun and a nice twenty minute break. It is, to put it mildly, a non-critical look at the media, but hey, the seats shake. The cafe, on the concourse level, is good, albeit not a bargain at standard museum cafe prices. Finally, "G-Men and Journalists", also on the concourse level, is well done and only on display through this year. It's a great look at the relationship between law enforcement and the media.

Plan on spending at least three hours at the Newseum. I give my eighth graders an hour at the Spy Museum and some of them are already out in forty five minutes. At the Newseum, I'm invariably hunting down a couple and they want to go back the next day.

Dear God! It's 5 pm, the kids are restless, and I'm out of ideas!

I thought I had a pretty good idea of fun things to do in DC at night, but upon reflection, I'm afraid most of them aren't terribly kid friendly. Having small kids, it's pretty easy (put them to bed), but what to do with older kids who just won't go down at 7:30? As it would be irresponsible for me to suggest NyQuil, let's see what we can do for the reader who recently asked:

"What are the best night time activities for 10-12 year olds? I am planning on doing the DC by Foot and night tour of monuments. Any info on places open past 5:30 would be a big help."

Well, you're off to a good start with DC by Foot. These guys put on a good show, and have a lot of fun doing it. I think it's a great way to get to know the memorials on a personal level. The tour is free, but make sure you tip the guides. And to stay on topic, kids love them and they have a 6 pm tour most nights.

Some other options:

1. Museums: As a guide, I'm often faced with filling time between museums closing and a 8 pm dinner. Traditionally, that has been one of the reasons the Archive's busiest time seems to be after 5. Fortunately, other museums have steadily started to stay open until 7, which is a trend that I heartily support. The National Portrait Gallery and the Holocaust Memorial Museum (seasonally) have had extended hours for some time now and perhaps the most exciting thing that's happened to me in some time is this year several of the Smithsonians will be open until 7:30 (Air and Space, Natural History, and American History). Moving on from the sadness that is my life, many of the for-profit museums naturally will take your money into the evening. The new Crime and Punishment Museum is a lot of fun, and I enjoyed the Spy Museum, at least the first thirty times I saw it. Be sure to check ahead with your specific date in mind. Some of these hours are seasonal.

2. Theater: Washington, DC has a great selection of theaters to choose from, with a kid-friendly performance showing at least one of them generally at any given time. The Kennedy Center's Shear Madness has been playing for over twenty years and is a staple of my eighth grade tours. But I prefer the downtown theaters both for their ambiance as well as their Metro friendly locations. The National, the Warner, the Shakespeare, and Ford's all have been known to put on shows accessible to kids. I particularly recommend this as the best way to experience Ford's Theater, just like President Lincoln did. Well, almost. Heck, you've got to get a ticket anyway nowadays to get in, you might as well see a performance while you're there. If you're in town before May 24th, The Civil War is a musical tribute to the war that I would enjoy taking a twelve year old to. Not everyone is sucked into a love of history the way I was, and this performance is quite moving. It might even beat an i-pod for an hour or so. It's recommended for kids twelve and up, as it has some historical images of slavery and the war, so keep that in mind for kids a little younger.

3. Movies: Sure, you can do this at home, but sometimes it's nice to take a break from trudging through museums with something familiar. Gallery Place in Chinatown and the AMC Loews in Georgetown are both good multiplexes with plenty of dining and touring options in the near vicinity. But if you'd still like to take in some history, the Uptown Theater in Cleveland Park is a historic, single screen movie theater that has hosted, among others, the world premier of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Sadly, it has wilted those laurels by repeating the trick for some crappy Kevin Costner flicks. But it's still a great theater and my go to place for a movie that benefits from the big screen.

If anyone else has some ideas for things kids might enjoy in the evening, please leave them in the comments. I imagine this will become even more important to me in years to come, so let's all put our thinking caps on.

What have you done with Ford's Theater?

Back in the day when dinosaurs roamed the earth, there was one place that captured the imaginations of die hard Lincoln aficionados and casual tourists alike: Ford's Theater. Ford's Theater was widely popular for being what is was: the Place Where Lincoln Was Shot. You go in, and in a small dark basement was The Gun That Killed Lincoln. No one, not even the most jaded, i-pod listening, FBI t-shirt wearing, 8th grader, needed interpretation. There it all was; the gun, the overcoat with the President's blood, the shackles the conspirators wore; all of it, just sitting there. And the kids were entranced. They didn't need themed displays. They didn't want interactive toys. They saw History, and they knew it. Coupled with the excellent restoration of the theater based on pictures taken shortly after the assassination by Mathew Brady, it was an excellent place to connect with one of America's most pivotal moments.

Well, time moves on and the universe continues it's inevitable push towards entropy. The powers that be decided it was time to sink $50 million into bringing Ford's Theater into the 21st Century. Here's a project I enthusiastically supported. The theater needed work. It wasn't ADA compliant, there was no lobby (and hence no bar!), and any time I hear "historic site" and "dated electrical plan" I cringe and feel the need to throw money at it. And, while they're at, if they could fix those chairs that felt as if I was scourging myself for some unknown sin, well, that would be fine too. All in all, my old friend was in bad shape, and I wished her all the best while she had some needed surgery.

It turns out, however, in addition to the needed bypass surgery, my friend had been sold a bill of goods by a plastic surgeon. Face lifts, augmentations, all kids of things were done to her to get her to look younger and hipper. And like so much plastic surgery, it was all so unnecessary. Eager to hear more about the renovations, I attended a public meeting held by the National Park Service and the Ford's Theater Society, the two organizations that jointly run the Theater as both a monument and a functioning theater. What I heard made me cringe.

First off, the Theater will now only be accessible by timed tickets. Previously, you waited in line if you wished to see the Park Ranger give his hourly presentation at the Theater. At times, you got a good one, and the presentation was worth the wait. Generally, it was just some NPS hack up there boring the kids. So I was able skip all of that and take my groups up to the balcony, let them take their pictures, point out a few items, and head down to the museum. It was quick, and it was real. The kids loved it and it was a meaningful and concise visit. Then we would head outside, do a quick tour of the Peterson House (across the street where Lincoln died) and be on our merry way.

Now, we have to get timed tickets. For all of it, including the Peterson House. And you have to suffer through the godawful Park Service presentation in order to see the museum. That's fine for the big tour companies who churn thousands of eight graders through the city (Worldstrides, I'm looking at you here), but for the casual visitor, it kills the drop in visit. So now, if you're coming to DC and don't have Ford's already planned out on your itinerary, it ain't happening. No more quick visits. It's now A Thing. And for us locals, who used to drop in with visitors when we happened to be downtown, the tickets pull Ford's Theater out of the fabric of our city. Now it's a planned event, something that you have to mean to do. It rips away the spontaneity that made Ford's Theater so accessible to us. Now it's like the Capitol, the White House, the Washington Monument; something locals won't do because it's a hassle.

And this may be for the best, because the other great failing in the new plan is the reworking of the museum. The same museum that was one of my favorite haunts has been spruced up. No longer will it be quaint yet meaningful experience of yore. Now, instead of "just" being the place where Lincoln died, they want to tell the comprehensive story of Lincoln in DC. Thanks folks, without you, I just might not notice that Lincoln had lived here. Unless of course I went to any other museum in town! Focus on what you have, the story of the Lincoln Assassination and quit trying to re-teach the whole Civil War.

My final frustration is one that transcends just Ford's Theater. Everyone is trying to be more "interactive" and less static. In the last year alone we've had the Newseum and the Museum of Crime and Punishment open up, to join many other infotainment centers. Now, I like a game room as much as the next guy and both of the places I mention above I heartily recommend. But they have to catch you with bells and whistles because they don't have it. That rare quality of being on a site where History with a capital H happened. Ford's has it, why squander it with touch screens and gizmos? You were drawing in the crowds; why try to compete with the flashing lights?

I haven't seen the Theater yet, as it just reopened and I'll be damned if I wait in line for a ticket. It's like a friend asking you to make an appointment when you stop by. I will swing by next week with a tour group, so I'll give everyone an update with my impressions once I see it. I wish I could tell you when the museum proper opens, but as of today (Feb 21st) the Park Service's website still says that the Theater itself will open February 12th. Crackerjack web presence you guys got there. At least they note that "Winter can bring cold temperatures, frozen precipitation and, on occasions, major snowstorms." Awesome, thanks.

Anyway, as always, if anyone else out there happens across Ford's any time soon, please leave your impressions in the comments. Despite my misgivings, I hope others with fresh eyes have a positive experience there.