A Night at the Museum

I can't wait to share the photos of our "Night at the Museum"!!! I have lots more from CKU that I want to share, too...but I can't wait for everyone to see these! This is a photo of Madeline, Emma and Ashley - Madeline's wonderful roommate. We had just had a "picnic" dinner at their dorm/apartment and then headed out to the Museum of Natural History.

This is a photo of Emma when we got into the museum. We were in line for the Mythic Creatures exhibit. I thought it was okay...it didn't grab me like the MAPS exhibit did, but it was good.

After we saw this, the four of us headed out into the museum. We went straight to the freight elevator to be lifted to the fourth floor/attic of the museum. This is where the collections are stored. Our first stop was the shop. This is where they make the displays of the exhibits as well as fix anything that is broken within the museum.

It was like any typical workshop. Nothing new and/or exciting...but there were LOTS of tools! We then proceeded to the "design loft" that was up above the shop. There were lots of cubicles like these: This is where the exhibit workers created/worked on the coming/existing exhibits. It was very interesting to see what was there. In one little conference room there were two people who were talking about the upcoming Aztec exhibit. It will be 10,000 square feet of Aztec ruins, etc. It looked and sounded wonderful. Here's a fun fact: They have their exhibits planned through 2011! Holy cow! I don't know what I am doing tomorrow let alone through 2011!!!

Next we moved on to the Art Department. This is where they make the models that are used in the museum. It was very interesting. Many of the workers in this department have art degrees from The Art Museum in Chicago.

This is a photo of the hallways that we were "running around". They went on forever and luckily they had maps posted at all of the 'intersections'. LOL! There were offices and hallways leading to more and more storage areas. It could be a creepy place at night!

This is a picture of the book bindery. This woman made each of us a bookmark. It is too cool. She showed us the fonts and told us how the books are stamped before they are bound. Book restoration is a biggie at the museum...I would like to try restoring a book or two...

Then next photos were taken during our favorite part of our visit to the museum. We were in the BIRD section and we got to hold TONS of birds and bird objects!!! The last photo is Madeline poking fun of me...As most of you who know me know that I am afraid of birds (thank you Alfred Hitchcock). This was a fun section for me, but I was not interested in holding anything. The girls went wild! They loved holding it all. In this room there was also a man who was skinning an owl. It had run into a high tension wire and they were going to stuff it and keep it in their collection.

Isn't she funny???? This is a photo of the Botany section. Emma is standing by one of the HUNDREDS of cabinets that house the pressed plant samples. At the end of the Botany hallway, we were able to create a sample of a pressed Queen's Anne Lace plant. Too cool.

These were my favorite photos from the museum. I have so many more - too many to share on-line. It was such fun. After about 4 hours of being "behind the scenes" we ventured into other parts of the museum. The greatest thing was that most of the exhibits were empty because everyone was still wandering around...many people had left. By this time it was 9PM. This photo is one of me looking through the "eyes" of a fish...it was very goofy looking looking through their eyes! I am grateful I am not a fish! HA HA!!

This is one of the last photos of the evening...it was taken in the African section of the mammals. I thought it made a pretty backdrop for a picture. After this we headed to the parking garage and dropped Madeline and Ashley off at their dorm/apartment.

This "Night at the Museum" was wonderful. We were delirious with exhaustion that night and the next day but we had so much fun! I hope you have enjoyed looking at my pictures and come back again soon. I have been busy creating and will share some of my things soon. However, it's back-to-school tomorrow....but it's only for 8 more weeks and then we have summer vacation! Thank heavens I am a teacher!!! Yahoo!!! Thanks for looking.