The BIG Maze & Backyard Barbeque

[8/30/14]

On the weekends I steal Chad away from his textbooks and we explore DC. One of the big attractions this summer has been the “Big Maze” located in the National Building Museum.

The National Building Museum is pretty cool in and of itself. It was built to house the U.S. Pension Bureau and as a national memorial to the Union forces who fought in the civil war. Because it was built to house pension records and funds, Congress wanted it built to be fireproof! As a result, it was built using an enormous number of bricks (15 million), and is now the largest brick building in the world!

Lots and lots of bricks!

Inside of the National Building Museum -- it was pretty cool!

Now for the main attraction the “Big Maze!” This exhibit was inspired by “ancient labyrinths, garden and hedge mazes of the 17^th and 18^th - century Europe, and modern American corn mazes.” The maze was approximately 18 high and measured 60 feet by 60 feet (and it was all INSIDE!). An interesting aspect about the maze was that it angled! From the middle, you could see 360 degrees, better understanding the path you took in, and better yet how to get out without taking a wrong turn! It was a much easier maze to navigate than any of the corn mazes that I have been to – of course I have never been to the 54,000 square foot corn maze in Nebraska, it is so complex you have to use your smartphone to navigate all of the twists and turns!

View from one of the upper levels looking down into the "Big Maze"

The Museum also has other exhibits regarding architecture, engineering, and design.

Chad decided to build a bridge in the "toy zone" of one exhibit

One exhibit displayed canned food statues. All of the canned food had been donated for the construction and I believe was going to be donated to local organizations to help feed the homeless and less privileged after the exhibit closed. It was pretty amazing what people could put together just by using canned food!

Chad liked the animal crackers best

I preferred Mario Cart! 

Afterwards we planned on eating Hill Country’s Backyard Barbeque, enjoying the “summer block party” the National Building Museum hosts. Hill Country’s Backyard Barbeque is an award winning Texas-style barbeque, all of the reviews sounded great, and I was craving a good barbeque. Chad and I ordered some food and sat down at a picnic table.

The atmosphere was really fun. They had music playing (unfortunately the live music started later in the evening), and bean-bag toss games scattered throughout the area. Sadly, our food wasn’t that great, plus the sides were way small and we paid way too much than it was worth! Afterwards, Chad mentioned that since it’s main feature was alcoholic drinks, it was no wonder their food wasn’t that great – if people are there just for drinks they don’t really care about the food.

The night wasn’t a total bust because Chad and I got to play a quick game of bean-bag toss – we have to keep our skills up in order to beat John at the next 4^th of July barbeque – that is until some little kids came and took over our game… J haha Chad and I both got a pretty good laugh out of that

The food might not have been the best, but it was still an awesome night!!