Sunday, January 10, 2016

Gunston Hall VS College Park Aviation Museum

Jayme Metzgar writes at The Federalist of the shameful irony of Obama demanding gun control at George Mason University.

I've become very edity-y and intolerant lately and tend to drop things at the first adjective I don't like, anything that offends me. I nearly dropped this right off at the beginning and I'm glad that I didn't.
George Mason, born in Fairfax County, Virginia, was the most influential Founding Father you’ve never heard of.
I didn't like that.  Touchy, I know. I didn't expect anything interesting after that. Had I dropped it, I'd miss the part about Mason refusing to sign the Declaration of Independence because it didn't have the elements of the Bill of Rights. I did not know that.

And I would have have missed the comment to the article: A visit to George Mason's home, Gunston Hall, is definitely worth it.

Fine. Let's look.

Gunston Hall Home
Gunston Hall Events Calendar
Gunston Hall - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gunston Hall - Encyclopedia Virginia
Google Images [gunston hall]

The first few go to gunstonhall.org, they can use some help with their website. By their website there is not much going on. It does not look interesting. Still, sparse as it is, there is a puzzle for children and children's books with titles like "No, I won't sign it!" Meaning children visitors would know what has taken this long for me.

Gunston Hall Plantation - 26 Photos - Landmarks ... - Yelp

Odd to say it, this is the most useful of the links. The whole place opened up with these reviews. The place gets five stars. Visitors are stoked about what they encountered. The activities available especially for children are excellent. A true hidden treasure is how they describe it. An inexpensive entry fee gets quite a lot of return for children. Hands-on museum. An associated airport museum that has their attention. They get to wear costumes of the era and climb all over. The reviews are surprising to read. They describe the place better than anything. A few sampling:

Wait, nothing is matching.

Hang on.

That's it for Gunston Hall. End of post. Goodbye.

What a bummer. The actual reviews for Gunston Hall are not that great. The place sounds like a drag and the photos show it's a drag. The people who rate it highly like it for odd things, fancy wallpaper for example, and boxwood and  replicated buildings around a genuine well. And slave quarters most likely understated.

No, the reviews on Yelp are mixed with their internal advertisement. I clicked on a review inserted "Craving an adventure? Explore today's events!" I did not realize that would take me off Gunston Hall and onto the College Park Aviation Museum since it's right there at top of results.

Go to the Aviation Museum instead, if you're museum cruising. It's a lot more fun than creaky old Gunston Hall that disallows interior photographs. Compare the Aviation Museum that invites them, the whole attitude is different.

* We rented the mezzanine but they allowed us (our guests AND their kids!) access to the ENTIRE museum!  Everyone loved all the hands on exhibits. The staff was absolutely wonderful and accomodating and I could not have been happier.

* A delightful, historic museum to spend a morning or afternoon with the kids, or even an adult airplane buff.

You can fly a simulator plane, or try to.  Neither my husband or granddaughter ever got the plane off the ground.  Great photo ops with the helmets, goggles and other pilot costume items.

* Inside the museum are several actual airplane, including one that you can get inside of.

* This is Not a do not touch museum. While the displays are not huge it is just right for kids 3-8 years old. The airport holds lots of special events through out the year.

* We had my son's 5th birthday party here - it was excellent.  I booked it sight unseen and hoped for the best.  We were not disappointed.  All of the kids hated to leave.

1 comment:

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

No more guns for SS agents. Let's start there.