The Cosmos Club was formed in 1878, at the home of John Wesley Powell, a geologist and explorer. It has moved several times and expanded and was renovated and is now in a French Renaissance mansion on Massachusetts Ave in Washington DC. It is a private club for people distinguished in Science, Literature, and the Arts. And apparently politics because it boasts “Our members have included three Presidents, two Vice Presidents, 14 Supreme Court justices, 36 Nobel Prize winners, 61 Pulitzer Prize winners, and 55 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom–and this list continues to grow.” My friends and I were none of those things. But we got invited to the party anyway. The place was impressive.

It was a quick trip but we managed to hit three Smithsonian Museums. At the Hirschhorn we saw an amazing Basquiat painting. He started out in the 1970’s as a New York City graffiti artist SAMO. Basquiat died at 27 of a heroin overdose so the exhibit was not a large one….

From there we hit the African Art museum to see a show by a Nigerian artist – Onobrakpeya. I didn’t think the show was very inspiring. I liked his earlier work better. Then we moved on to the National American History museum because we wanted to see Abraham Lincoln’s hat and Julia Child’s kitchen.

The airport was all ready for the holidays. Bye Bye Washington DC.