A braincase and a backbone

Enough can not be said about the American Museum of Natural History.  I go as often as I can.  (They still don't sell bottled water) but I don't want to sleet there again.  One of the reasons I go a lot is because the price of admission is SUGGESTED.  You don't have to pay the Adults:  $16 SUGGESTED PRICE.  You could, considering that is is only a little more that the price of a movie.  For whatever ya wanna pay you can see the dinosaurs, the moon rocks, the Hall of Mammals,...... you know the rest  .  Give them a buck and spend the whole day there  "includes admission to all 45 Museum halls and the Rose Center for Earth and Space".

But you gotta pay for the cool stuff.  You need a ticket for the IMAX, the Hayden Planetarium Space show, and all the "traveling exhibits that make you visit even more special.  But  not me, I don't have  to pay the Adults:  $32 not suggested SuperSaver Admissions Price.  I know a high person in a low place, or as I think she might rather be called a low person in a high place.  She is one of the docents at the museum and she gets to hand out vouchers that allow her friends to enjoy the museum for free.  THANK YOU JANE.

So I figured with all the money I was saving I did not have to stop at a pizza place before hitting the museum.  It was fast and good but I had some sticker shock.  $92 for 4 kids and me.  I got 15% off by telling the checkout person that my wife had the membership card (my wife was home working).  She said she needed to see the card.  I said she was in the bathroom.  "Look at all this food, you think I am here with 4 kids by myself"  She took $14 off the tab.  I know,I am a weasel.

One more thing about spending money at the museum.  People, check you coat!  It is a big museum, it is all inside.  It is $2 well spent.

She asked me how many vouchers I wanted and I knew better to say "As many as you can give me".  I asked for 5, so each of my kids could take a friend.  Her gift to me was also a gift to the parents of the kids I took.  We went on December 24, they got to prepare.  The kids had a ball, but I don't want to wright about the trip I just took.

Thanks Big Marvin's Flickr

I had memories of trips I took there when the kids were 2 years old.  I remember the Hall of Gems.  I remember that is was not about the giant diamonds.  The great thing there is the wall to wall carpeting in the back. This giant chunk of azurite and malachite is in the middle of a platform of carpet.  It was a perfect place to let a couple of toddlers run a muck.  The 10 year olds liked it too.  They did not even know (or care) that they were 10 feed from the Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond 31.06 carats Flawless, Natural Color, Fancy Deep Blue (Type IIb). If you have been reading my blog you would know it did not mean much to me ether.


Another fond memory I have is taking my kids to the 4th floor to look at the fossils.  When they were a year old I don't think they appreciated them but I did.  I think it is cool that the T-Rex used to be on all fours when I was a kid.  Scientists now know that it's front limbs were useless and it stood on its real legs.  That did not matter to my kids when they were little.  By the time we got the the 4th floor it was nap time. I would sit through the video on Cladograms five or ten or fifteen times.  For some reason I really liked it when Meryl Streep said "braincase and a backbone".

"braincase and a backbone"


I live in NYC, maybe one day I will meet her.  She will be the first celebrity that I will ask for an autograph.  I would like it to say "Dear Chicken Underwear, Braincase and a backbone, All the best Meryl Streep."