By Meghan Meier
Star Wars or Spy Wars: The International Spy Museum and its exhibitions and interactive experiences are recognized as a hot spot for all things covert. But come May 4, the museum is traveling to intergalactic heights. All you need is the code phrase, “May the Fourth be with you,” and you will be invited to join Spy Museum historian Dr. Vince Houghton and Star Wars: The Magic of Myth author Mary S. Henderson as they discuss the spy influences in the beloved Star Wars series starting at 6:30 p.m. // 800 F St. NW, Washington, DC
Archaeology Family Dig Day: If you want to hone your Indiana Jones skills, you don’t have to travel far to fulfill that urge. At the Alexandria Archaeology Museum, the whole family can participate in on-site digs and learn how to locate artifacts hidden beneath the Earth’s surface. However, you will want to plan ahead and make reservations as this event fills up quickly. Dig days during the summer will take place on select Saturdays on June 18 and July 9 from 1:30-3 p.m. // 105 N. Union St., Suite 327, Alexandria
Awesome Con 2016: What do you get when Dr. Who, Harry Potter, Star Trek, comic innovators and more all gather under one roof? A high-flying pop culture convention. Located at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center from June 3 to 5, this annual event gives you and your team of superhero friends the opportunity to get up close and personal with your favorite TV characters and comic legends. But this year, a new addition is coming to the convention. Presented by the Science Channel, the Awesome Con Science Fair will feature headliner Bill Nye and will run across all three days of the event to put a focus on STEM programs. // 801 Mount Vernon Place NW, Washington, DC
Wolf Trap: This summer, audiences can experience the sounds of some of cinema’s most iconic soundtracks as performed by the National Symphony Orchestra during a three-concert event. Beginning on June 30, the symphony will perform music from DreamWorks animated movies like Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon and beyond. The cinematic music experience will continue on July 9 with the melodic trumpet solos of the world’s most heroic archaeologist, Indiana Jones, as he makes the ambitious journey to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis. If you would rather lift off the ground and boldly go where no man has gone before, on July 30, the symphony will play the score from the J. J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness adaptation. // Filene Center, 1551 Trap Road, Vienna
ZERO-G Experience: This event will give Frank Sinatra’s “Come Fly With Me” a whole new meaning. On July 23, Zero Gravity Corporation’s G-Force One will land in D.C. to pick up its next group of passengers, and you will have the opportunity to step inside the shoes of an astronaut and experience what it’s like to exist in a weightless environment. The flight will include 12 to 15 parabolic maneuvers that create a weightlessness period of up to 30 seconds each. In total, float time during the ZERO-G Experience is seven or eight minutes. // 4601 N. Fairfax Drive, Suite 1200, Arlington
Gravelly Point Park: If you get a thrill from the roar of a Boeing 747’s jet propulsion and the reverberation as it takes flight, then you will want to take a trip to Gravelly Point Park. The park offers the perfect vantage point of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, so you can watch airplanes soar on and off the runways with your feet firmly planted on the ground. // George Washington Parkway, Arlington
