NASM Udvar-Hazy Center

Just went there last Friday myself.

My first hint is to think about approaching the place from the south instead
of the north. We were southbound on VA Rt. 28, and there were cars backed
up for about 2 miles before the exit. Granted, this was on a Friday, with
schools still closed for the holidays, with good weather, and the place had
just opened a few weeks earlier. But if you hit a backup on southbound 28,
you may want to zip past the backup, turn around, and take the non-backed-up
exit off of northbound 28.

As far as signs go, I had zero problem finding the place without any prior
research. I got on the Dulles Greenway toll road where it begins in
Leesburg, and there was a sign for Udvar-Hazy within the first mile.

The parking situation just plain sucks. I don't mind paying the $12, but
they collect the money as each car is entering the parking lot. As a
result, there are huge backups just getting into the place. And the people
taking the $12 are spectacularly less than effecient. I had exact change
ready, and instantly handed over the cash once I was honored enough to get
up to the booth. It took (no lie) 2 full minutes to complete the
transaction, get a little piece of paper to put on dashboard, and open the
gate.

From there, we waiting in a quick line to get in the front door and through
security. They had given up all hope of screening people. You just walked
through the metal detector without taking your keys, cell phone, etc. out of
your pockets. Of course, the detector was beeping on everyone, so they just
looked in everyone's bags.

After clearing security, I had to go! It had been about a 45 minute wait in
traffic, and a 15 minute wait to get through security, and a 2-hour drive
from central PA before that, and all that coffee.. and I had my 3-year-old
with me. We went in and turned right to go down a hall. There are some
toilets there, but about 300 other people had the same idea. If you end up
in this situation, try turning left and going past the gift shop and where
the food court will eventually be. Or just go into the museum itself and
find a toilet there.

I have to agree on the ergonomics of the place. There are all kinds of
stairways and ramps to get onto the walkways. But some of the walkways
almost appear to be dead ends. They aren't really dead ends, but there were
people stumbling around who couldn't find the stairways. Additionally, if
you wanted to go from one walkway to another, you usually had to descend
down to the main floor, walk across, and then climb back up.

The collection in the place is nowhere near complete, especially in the
space area. They had all of two capsules and the Space Shuttle mock-up that
was used for glide testing, and that was about it. But then again, a good
deal of the place isn't ready yet. The food court is still being worked on,
so the food was being done on the main exhibit floor. Someday, I guess,
there won't be any room on the main exhibit floor for this kind of thing,
but right now there is.

The exhibits that are there are almost all simple static displays, with
barricades to prevent you from getting too close. Very little was
interactive in any way, and you couldn't walk through -- of even look
inside -- any of planes like you can in the downtown museum. The signage to
describe each exhibit was pretty weak. Each exhibit had a blurb that
wouldn't even fill your basic 3-by-5 inch index card, along with a small
number of statistics. I, for one, would have liked more information. The
way it is now, I couldn't see anything other than the outside of the planes,
and I couldn't learn much from reading about them. Instead, I turned into a
psudo-docent for my wife, kid, mother, and (often) those who stood around
us.

They do have free guided tours, which might have added something, but we
didn't try that option out for fear of long lines. The few interactive
things that were there, like the single simulator or the tower that lets you
look over IAD field, had lines of at least half an hour if not longer.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I went. But I also wish that I had waited
another 6 months or so, when the building will be more complete, more of the
collection will be installed, and the lines will be somewhat shorter.