The Washington Bug Room - A Travel Reflection

Free museums are awesome, and Washington D.C has tons of them.  This is how I spent one romantic vacation with the Travel Boyfriend, ducking in and out of exhibits on Indians, Spaceflight and bugs.

If you hate bugs, the Insect Zoo at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History may be a bit creepy.  I'm not a huge fan of crawlies with more than four legs, but the Travel Boyfriend couldn't wait to see them.  So I put on my Fabulous Girlfriend Hat and followed him in.

The ick factor is high when you put your face a foot away from something with three hundred eyes, but I liked the idea of "safely" interacting with the creatures.  They couldn't get me and I could make fun of them.  I strolled around the first two cages congratulating myself for being brave.

Two minutes later my phone rang.  It was the Writer's Digest calling to say they were going to publish an essay of mine.  This being the first time I was ever published, the Travel Boyfriend and I jumped up and down and hugged and we both blew kisses at the tarantulas.

For the rest of my life, I will have a soft spot for bugs in glass aquariums.

Thanks to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History for the photo.

Comments

[Rachel Burton]

I have an awesome dead tarantula framed in glass. I got it in Peru and it's enormous!

[Melody Platz]

Rachel,

Where do you display this enormous petrified monster?

[Dube]

Sounds interesting - but my extreme fear of bugs would keep me from ever going. :-P

[Dube]

Sounds interesting - but my extreme fear of bugs would keep me from ever going. :-P

[Melody Platz]

Hey Dube,

I'll keep my bug posts to a minimum just for you.