Tuesday at the Museums

Tuesday we were back to Balboa Park for the free museums on the first Tuesday.  We were going to the Rueben H. Fleet Science Center, The Natural History Museum, and the Model Railroad Museum. 

We went to the Science Center first.  And it was a huge disappointment.  Some of the exhibits on the website have been gone for months.  Other exhibits they highlight are just one hands on station. The website said it was for all ages.  Well maybe all ages of children.  It was really geared toward school age children.  Lots and lots of hands on exhibits.  And the museum was full of school children on a field trip.  There was one wise young teenager who made a comment I loved.  He looked over the railing at all the children and exhibits and said:

                          

            “This looks and sounds like Chuck E. Cheese.” 

We left quickly and went across to the Natural History Museum.

Gorgeous building.  My knee looked at all those steps and said, “I don’t think so!”  Luckily they had a ramp to the basement and an elevator up to the first floor.

They had lots of replicas of dinosaurs, lots of fossils, and skulls: prehistoric and current animals. 

One of many dinosaurs.  To the right is a room full of small dinosaurs, and other animals of that era.  As children enter they can get a two sided laminated page with animals to look for.  The kids were having a ball looking for the animals.

This little guy was enthralled by these fossils of ocean life.  He stood there and just stared.  That is the beauty of good museums, child high exhibits and weird looking things.

The next part of the museum showed how the earth has changed through the ages.  There were rocks showing the layers of the years.  There were fossils, maps to change from past to  present, and more animals to show how they have evolved. 

                         

Volcanic Rock.

 

We couldn’t believe the size of this jade.  I should have put Marty beside it.  It was at least 6 feet tall.  Beautiful!

This is just to show you the architecture of the inside of the building. 

Be sure to enlarge this and the next picture and read them.  They will explain the third picture.

                                           

I knew they used “bugs” to clean bones.  To see it in action was really interesting.

We really really liked the Natural History Museum.  We next went to the Model Railroad Museum.  That was our third choice, and we weren’t really that interested in  going.  But we were there, so we went.

Next blog is about the Model Trains.  Stay tuned.