My Fave Place in DC: The International Spy Museum

I’m a big believer in fairness. Fairness makes me feel like a better person. But, I can also be left feeling that adjudicating what is fair is a thankless task. Take a squabble between two children over the only blue soccer ball. Who is to say who had the ball first. I wasn’t there. Child #1 claims ownership, but isn’t it Child #2’s turn to have the ball? And couldn’t they share the ball? And what about the brand new red ball, isn’t that good enough?! Refereeing what is fair is not for the weak.

There is one area where I will always give myself high marks for fairness: experiences. I’m a stickler when it comes to making sure that the kids have the same experiences. The two older ones saw Sesame Street Live, so of course my son had to be taken when he was old enough. We took the older two to Disney World when the youngest was three so we took my son when he was 3. I practice the same level of equality with local places in DC.

A few years ago, I took my Teen to the International Spy Museum while my husband took our Tween and Kid to the Zoo. I wanted to wait for my youngest to be old enough to benefit from the full experience of the Spy Museum. This week as a part of his 9-year-old birthday celebration we took our son to the Spy Museum.

The museum is a rabbit warren of rooms covering different eras of espionage, spying, and code breaking. I observed many small children on the day we visited who desperately wanted to run around. There’s not enough space inside for that type of play. From the conversations I had with my son, I could tell that he was old enough to not only read the labels on the display cases, but also understand them.

Visitors to the International Spy Museum enter through a pleasing entryway on F St., N.W. Once inside with tickets in hand, we were led to a set of elevators. The elevators took us up to the museum entry point. After stepping off the elevator at the Permanent Exhibits (Espionage, School for Spies, Weapons of Mass Destruction, and the History of History), we were instructed by the guide to choose an identity from those listed on the columns. This identity would be our cover for our visit to the Spy Museum.

We all chose someone close to in age, so that we could maintain our cover story. The kids picked kids who were around their age. We were told by a museum guard to memorize our “covers.” Could we stay undercover?

Is there a kid out there who does not love periscopes, walkie talkies, or phones made out of tin cans. We walked from display case to display case marveling at how large and bulky the early bugging devices were. Although these devices fit in buttonholes and hats, they did not look comfortable to wear under clothing. Today’s miniscule gadgets are marvels of invention, but can you imagine lugging around the equipment carried by Cold War spies?

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