Southwest, Midwest, Northwest and West; USA
07/03/2003 - 09/08/2003
Museums come in all shapes and sizes, An Oregon coast fishing museum had the smallest endowment.
Along the way, we visited a few museums and galleries in addition to all the National Park visitor center exhibits.
New Mexico and nuclear energy are tightly related. Robin and Duncan's relationship started at a nuclear power plant. Even so, after visiting three or four nuclear museums, we hit critical mass on nuclear displays. Duncan's momentary fixation at one display where you could play forward and backward the video scenes of every atomic bomb test detonation -- pushed us both over the edge.
The New Mexico art galleries were a welcome relief from our nuclear history.
The Bradbury Science Museum displays exhibits about the history of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). LANL originated as the Manhattan Project laboratory. Exhibits include actual cases for atomic bombs, Fat Man and Little Boy, as well as a CRAY computer and videos of atomic testing. A public forum space is reserved for groups disagreeing with LANL's role to display views differing from the official views presented by the museum. BTW, the Bradbury name in the museum is the Bradbury of LANL director fame not the science fiction author.
The New Mexico Natural History Museum displayed extensive exhibits on fossils and results of archeological studies as well as everyone's favorite exhibit - dinosaurs. "On-display archaeologists" worked on the dinosaur specimens of a nearby dig right before our very eyes.
"In 1966, a B-52 on an SAC "airborne alert" mission out of Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, North Carolina, collided with a KC-135 tanker plane during refueling. The plane was severely damaged, dropping its three nuclear weapons over Palomares. One of the bombs spread its radioactive material over the Spanish countryside, forcing the U.S. government to move 1,400 tons of contaminated soil to an American storage area. Another device fell into the Mediterranean Sea, prompting one of the largest search operations in history. The errant bomb was eventually found and recovered on April 7, 1966. The third bomb landed in Palomares nearly intact, spreading no radiation." Here are two of the three "broken arrows"
Yet another museum focused on New Mexico's involvement in nuclear energy. Lots of interesting exhibits covered everything from the Manhattan Project to irradiation of food.
Georgia O'Keefe is a favorite Southwest artist. A museum of her work is in Santa Fe. Disappointingly, there was more work of her husband's, Stieglitz, than her work.
Fantastic art displays created by past and present students of the Institute of American Indian Arts were on display at this museum.
Santa Fe's famous Canyon Road is home to many fantastic galleries. Our favorite was this gallery containing textile and fabric works.
Perhaps this horse should move from the desert up to Nebraska where he could put some meat on his bones.
Chicago's Shedd Aquarium has been on our list of places to go for a long time. Many thorough aquatic exhibits filled the aquarium. Even though we went on a Monday, the place was ridiculously crowded.
For once, the museum is housed inside the museum shop. Now that's honest marketing.
The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum just outside of Tucson is an outdoor museum with trails guiding you through exhibits of desert plants and animals. Very cool...well, not exactly. Go early before it gets really hot.