Museum of Natural History

Mimi found a parking space on the street not far from the museum. It was an easy walk, but cold. 

There were only a few areas with carpet on the floor. My walking sticks don't have rubber tips and slide on smooth stone floors so I checked them along with my coat and sweater... no need for layers of clothing in the museum.


I was offered a wheelchair, but declined out of pride. 

In one corner of the Museum of Natural History it was still Christmas.

These musk ox along with the following pictures are scenes I remember from visiting as a child.

The next diorama shows how some of our Indians were able to build homes underground. I hadn't realized they did this, but it makes sense...their homes would have been cooler in summer and warmer in winter.

 We walked under a school of fish on our way to see the whale...and a few crustaceans. 

When my boys were growing up on Long Island, we lived 2 blocks from the Great South Bay. They were always bringing home creatures for our salt water aquariums. They never caught a lobster, but we had a horseshoe crab until he shed so many times we figured he'd outgrown our aquariums and we returned him to the bay. His long tail just helps him navigate and flip right side up if necessary.

A Museum of Natural History visit wouldn't be complete without seeing the dinosaurs.

There were other extinct creatures on display. I wouldn't want to meet up with the antlers on the next fellow... or the tusks that follow...

These next guys are out of focus, but a herd of elephants is still impressive...

 And the elephants got us to Africa...

Mimi and I had a nice lunch. I highly recommend this museum's cafeteria, though eating out is always expensive. When it was time to head home, Mimi went off for the car on her own. It seemed like ages were passing so I knew something was wrong. Turned out that a delivery truck had parked right next to the car blocking it. Mimi had to find the driver before she could rescue me. Then it was home for dinner and Rummikub. The following morning I was on my way back to Vermont.