Natural History

The sculpture garden with the museum in the background

 Last week we made it to Natural History -one of my favorite museums!  Since we would only be there one week, we split up so that everyone could see what they were most curious about that day.

Mxyl, Klenda and Zorg went off to see the gems and minerals, and Leena, Choclo, Oob and I started with the mammals.

I have to admit, this part of the museum always make me think "dead zoo."

Still, you can see all the animals up close, including ones that would not do well in our climate.  Here we are with a pangolin.  We love pangolins, but have never seen a live one.

Look at the toes!

We also saw Zorg's favorite animal, a tapir. Unfortunately, this one is fully grown.  The babies look like watermelons with legs!

The closest live tapir that we've been able to find is in a zoo in South Carolina, although it's unclear if it's still there. 
If not, they have them in San Diego, 3000 miles from us. At that point it may be easier to visit Central America!

We also spent a lot of time in their Australian exhibit (thinking of Sue and Vicky!)  Leena's favorite place she wants to visit is Australia. 

penguins!

We all met together in Ocean Hall to visit my favorite animal, the giant squid (as well as all the other marine life).  To my surprise, they had an Adelie penguin there (stuffed, alas). 

Choclo and Oob are both penguin crazy - here I've told them, "Look like penguins!"

It was a lovely visit, and I'm glad we made it before the government shutdown which will close all the museums for an indeterminate amount of time.  I'm just glad that this week we are going apple and pumpkin picking at a farm not owned by the government!