Cheap winter fun for everyone

Just because sunny summer afternoons in the park are long gone doesn't mean that Blazers have to stay cooped up at home. Chips found a plethora of inexpensive activities just a short Metro ride away. We'll guide you to free movies, live music and even an outer space adventure.

Ice skating
National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden
$5 with student ID, $2.50 skate rental

A few blocks from the National Archives Metro stop, an ice skating rink sits surrounded by a spindly bronze spider, a contemplative donkey and a white cube pyramid in the middle of the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden. On a windy November morning, a few well-bundled skaters circle the ice.
At night, twinkling holiday lights and lamps illuminate the rink in the garden's center, converted during the winter from a reflecting pool and fountain to a skating area.

Junior Jackie Hussein enjoyed the pleasant environment when she skated at the Garden. "[The rink] was really pretty because of the lights that reflected on the ice. It gave a friendly kind of atmosphere," she recalls. "It's much better than the Wheaton ice rink."

Plus, a brightly lit indoor cafe next to the ice offers chairs to rest weary limbs and sells skaters warm drinks, hot meals and munchies.

Pickford Theater at the Library of Congress
Free, reservations made at 202-707-5677
www.loc.gov/rr/mopic/pickford

The Mary Pickford Theater, located one block from the Capital South Metro stop in the Library of Congress Madison Building, isn't your regular mall movie theater; there are no popcorn stands, no wall-sized projection screens and none of today's hottest flicks. The cinema does, however, show an eclectic assortment of archived films several times a week in an intimate setting—and doesn't charge a cent.

Tickets must be reserved in advance and picked up at least ten minutes before each show because of the theater's 64-person capacity. Nevertheless, standbys are admitted if there are empty seats.

The theater mainly screens nominees for the National Film Registry, movies that are at least ten years old and deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant." Upcoming films include critically acclaimed WWII drama The Train on Jan 10 and 1959's Girls Town, featuring jazz star Mel Torme and "50's bad girl" Mamie Van Doren on Jan 14.

Movies are personally introduced by the program director, and a cozy atmosphere permeates the room as the projector lights up with scenes of yesteryear. From idealized 1930s romances to Pee-wee Herman's annoying-yet-nostalgic catchphrase––"I know you are but what am I?"—there's something for everyone in the Library's many reels of stashed glimpses of the past.

Planetarium at the Rock Creek Park
Free, tickets available at the Nature Center
www.nps.gov/rocr/planetarium

The stars come out early every weekend at Rock Creek Park, when the Park's planetarium, unique in the entire National Park system, powers up to enlighten during its "Exploring the Universe" astronomy program.

The free session, which is targeted at people ages seven and up, takes place at 4:00 p.m. every Saturday and Sunday and covers a wide range of material about the sun, stars, moons and planets. Depending on the audience, the program can focus on elementary concepts or include more detailed explanations.
Shows also tie in current astronomical occurrences like November's Leonid meteor shower, according to Park Ranger Lora Williams. "We like to update people about current events relating to the night sky," she explains.

Jazz Cafe at the Natural History Museum
Free, dinner optional
www.mnh.si.edu/imax/jazzcafe.html

Although the Museum of Natural History officially closes at 6:00 p.m., visitors continue to trickle in after-hours through the Constitution Ave entrance every Friday night, when the Museum's Atrium cafeteria turns into the candlelit Jazz Cafe.

The music draws a diverse crowd; in one night, artsy 20-somethings in goatees and berets, balding men with wine glasses, conservatively dressed senior citizens and a small group of teenage boys and girls all listen to the steady bass plucks, drum hits and electric guitar strums of the musicians jamming onstage.

The only drawback is that to sit in the audience area, guests must purchase food. Aromatic wafts of grilled fish and baked pasta smell appealing, but beware of the prices on the newly revamped buffet menu, which range from $4.95 for a side Caesar salad to $21.50 for jumbo lump crab cakes. Luckily, tables and chairs, as well as a snack table, are set up in a lighted area just outside the barred-off dining area for those who just want to hang out free of charge.

Conservatory at the U.S. Botanic Garden
Free
www.usbg.gov

It may be wintry cold outside, but inside the greenhouses of the U.S. Botanic Garden on the Mall, moist, humid air, fragrant foliage and trickling fountains make for a perfect refuge.
Twelve mini conservatories allow visitors to experience a myriad of worldwide habitats confined under the greenhouse glass. Sweet tropical scents, bird calls and hissing mist machines create a realistic atmosphere in the central jungle exhibit, which is designed as an abandoned plantation. Stone paths criss-cross under hanging foliage and stairs lead to a mezzanine at the top of the 93-foot canopy.

Other exhibits include an Asian meditation garden, a desert oasis, and a primeval landscape. Real treasure, however, is found in the exquisite orchid collection. Around 200 jaw-dropping exotic orchids in a kaleidoscope of colors, shapes and sizes prove themselves to be the Botanic Garden's true gems.