Field Trip...

On Saturday, Mom, Amanda, Monica, my sister-in-law's niece (I wish I could remember her name) and I decided to go to the Academy of Natural Science. I thought, at first, that there wouldn't be a lot to do because our last visit several years ago (when my grandfather was still alive) was somewhat underwhelming. But, this time around, nearly all of the exhibit spaces were open and there were even a couple of surprises. The first surprise came in the form of a live animal exhibit. We were treated to a meet and greet session with an owl and a hawk -- the hawk was a bit on the grumpy side, so, we didn't get too close, but, the staff were kind enough to walk around with the owl so that we could get a fairly close look.

The second big hit of the day was the butterfly exhibit. It was a bit warm, but, still it was very nice to see all of the beautiful butterflies. The plain white butterflies that we have here can't compare to the more exotic fare in the hot room at the Academy of Natural Science.

Then, of course, we got to see the dinosaur bones and the displays of more recently deceased animals. The thing that struck me, was the sheer size of the bison on display. In general, the animals on display were a bit smaller than some of the real-life counterparts I saw at the zoo. So, if the stuffed bison were impressive, I'm sure that live bison must be even more impressive.

I scored a trilobite fossil. According to Wikipedia...

Ttrilobites are hard-shelled, segmented members of the phylum Arthropoda and the class Trilobita that appear in the fossil record for almost 300 million years—from about 540 to 251 million years ago. The most common trilobites were about 1-3.5 inches in length. The trilobites are considered to be the first animals to have evolved true eyes.

Although they are old, trilobite fossils aren't really all that rare, so, the price for this specimen was very reasonable. We don't come here very often, so, I thought I might want to take something interesting home with me.

We took a break for lunch at Ruby Tuesday. The food was good, but, the strawberry lemonade was not a big hit.

Afterwards, we went to the Franklin Institute...

The Franklin Institute has changed quite a bit since my last visit. All of the usual exhibits are there, but, they were arranged in a sort of maze that made the exhibit spaces seem a bit crowded and confusing. It was good, but, after the butterfly exhibit across the street, the Franklin Institute seemed to be somewhat anti-climactic.

We spent several hours at the Franklin Institute and went through all of the major exhibits. The big hits were, of course, the heart and the trains. But, we had some laughs at the lightning exhibit. There aren't too many pictures, because, for the first time ever, my camera actually ran out of memory. Hopefully, the video will be worth the sacrifice. Overall, it was a very good day. And, it looks like my sister-in-law's niece has a new favorite uncle-in-law.

For dinner, we ate at Burger King. To which my sister-in-law's niece commented -- "Why can't we eat at a REAL restaurant?" Out of the mouths of babes come pearls of wisdom.