Museum of American History

After getting our fill of natural history we went next door to the Museum of American History. In the lobby I saw Dale Earnhardt’s helmet!Right then I knew this museum would be pretty cool. We got to see

Julia Child’s kitchen:

Dorothy’s ruby slippers:

Archie’s chair (from All in the Family):

and various other pieces of Americana. I really liked the exhibit on the dresses worn by the First Ladies but it was super crowded so we didn’t spend much time there.

Hillary Clinton's:
Laura Bush's:
Michelle Obama's:
They were all so pretty and it’s interesting to see how the styles have changed over time. An exhibit all about Lincoln was neat as well.

We also got to see the original Star Spangled Banner and it meant a lot more, knowing the story behind it (pictures were not allowed of this).

My favorite part of this museum by far was finally getting a glimpse of the elusive Tarryall coin! Jess and I were co-workers at the Tarryall River Ranch and while living in Colorado we spent a lot of time researching the history of the Tarryall area. We found out that Dr. John Parsons set up a mint at Tarryall and issued $20 gold ingots and subsequently, $2½ and $5 pieces were issued. The mint, which may have been located on the back of a wagon, operated only a few months. These coins are extremely rare and in our research we found that one was housed at the Smithsonian so we went looking for it and lo and behold there it was! It was super exciting to think of a little coin from the gold town of Tarryall is in the Smithsonian!