Update on day 6 of our road trip

Hello! sorry I forgot to post yesterday. It was very late, and I wasn’t having the best day. yesterday we went to the Smithsonian national Air and Space museum! it was AWESOME!!! but first, the morning was kind of slow. it was a great day, and until we got to the line of the museum i was very happy. the line was very long. very very (very x10) long. however, it was moving very quickly so we got there in no time. in the museum, we saw the very first thing on display in the lobby: the model of the starship Enterprise that was used for the original Star Trek! it was lucky we got there when we did, because the model was all lit up and colorful! by the way, almost everything (excluding things like Voyager 1) were real! we went to two exhibits yesterday. the first one was called to the moon and was about getting to the moon, from the fantasies before we discovered it was possible to get to the moon. there was a variety of capsules there, like: the Freedom 7 capsule used during the Mercury missions that could hold one person; the capsule used during the Gemini missions that held two people; and the return capsule of Apollo 11. I was intruiged the most by the images and information of whet people thought the moon was like before they discovered what it was really like. there were three main periods of different views about what the moon was like. the first one was that the moon was very vibrant and full of life. i found that the stories at this point had two things in common: 1, the characters reached the moon by getting in a big cannonball and then launching the cannonball out of a really really really really big cannon; and 2, there were aliens there. the second thought was after the discovery that the moon couldn’t be full of life, and was that the moon was covered in jagged crater edges, broken mountain ranges, and shattered valleys. the final and correct view is that the moon is covered in valleys, craters, and mountains, but they were rounded from a constant storm of dust and meteorites from space. I liked seeing everything about this. there was also a display of a model of an LRV (Lunar Roving Vehicle) and a wheel and fender from a real one that was duct-taped together! DUC T-TAPED TOGETHER! ON THE MOON!!! the LRV was not a real one that has been on the moon because all the LRVs on the moon are still on the moon. OH! i forgot! there was a model of a T-70 X-wing on display above the stairs! it was very interesting because it was the real thing that was used while filming episode IX of Star Wars and there was a sign talking about it! I also spent a good 5 minutes explaining the various differences between the T-65 X-wing (what Luke Skywalker flew) and the T-70 (used after the Empire, was on display). after that, we moved on to the section about planets. there was a display made up of several screens on one of the walls and one and only one of the panels was rotated 180 degrees, meaning it was ypside down! it was hilarious!! there was then a display about Pluto. I read very deeply into the items about the moons of Pluto, and asked an attendant for more information. Pluto has five moons, one of which is very large in comparison: Charon. the other moons are as follows: Hydra, Styx, Nix, and Kerberos. all of these names have signifigance in Greek mythology. they are: Pluto is the god of the Underworld, and sometimes known as Hades; Kerberos is the 3-headed gurd dog of the underworld; Styx is the river a spirit must cross to access the Underworld; Charon is the boatman for the Styx; and Nix is a somewhat obscure goddess of darkness. Nix is a very fitting name for my D&D character as well, as my character is a rogue. to be clear, i named Nix BEFORE i learned about either the moon or the goddess.we then saw some stuff about the rovers on Mars, and i thought i should tell you this: the rover Opprotunity has lost power because there was too much dust on its solar panels. however, if the dust comes off somehow, Opporotunity should come back! after that, we visited a small exhibit about speed. my dad chose this one, and i wasn’t paying much attention to that. after we came home, we got a pizza and played Mystic Market, which is a very intruiging game that resembles the stock markets. i just like it because i like the game, not the stock markets. it was a very good day. i’m rambling now, so thanks for putting up with this. anyways, Goodbye! -Colin