A Museum that is open?? St. Louis rocks!

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You know, it's amazing when you are in a city that not only has its attractions open to everyone, but also doesn't charge for it! Wow! But first things first. Started out with a breakfast at the one and only Bob Evans (sorry Mr. Meade, I forgot to take a photo for you). Nothing like an omelette to start out your day!

Frank had to work, so Paul, Matt, Thom and I went to the Science Museum in Forrest Park. For those of you who do not know, Forrest Park is the second-largest metropolitan park in the United State, behind only New York's Central Park. There are quite a few museums, trails, riverways to boat on, things to see and do there. We spent a large chunk of the afternoon in the Science Museum. They had a lot of information on the race to be the first private contractors to fly into space, you'll see the photos listed. There was a lot of weird science stuff, like optical illusions and how things work...it reminded me a lot of the Exploratorium in San Francisco.

They had the Living Body display - you know the one with real human bodies with cross section views to see the internal organs and muscle tissue, etc. None of us felt like checking this out, but we did go to the Planetarium. Unlike Dallas, this one was open. Before the show started, they had the live launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis on the overhead dome with a live feed of NASA Mission Control as they prepared for the launch and then the actual launch. That was pretty cool, and before you knew it Atlantis was moving at over 17,000 miles per hour and 70 miles over the earth.

After the launch, there was a presentation on the overhead dome about the planets in our solar system. Pretty cool stuff. They issue everyone a mat and you lay on your back and look up at the dome. They had it lit up just like looking into the night sky without city lights screwing everything up. Did you know Pluto is no longer considered a planet, but a dwarf planet? And that there are three other dwarf planets? And that Jupiter has over 27 moons? See how much smarter I am?

After the planetarium, we checked out some houses for sale, then picked up Frank and went to an Italian dinner. Good food, I had a chicken dish with green beans. Then we headed home and called it a night. And that is what I am going to do right now! See you tomorrow.

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Photos

The Planetarium
From the outside

Replica of the first commercial ship in space
It had to make it up 63 miles into our atmosphere. No bathrooms on board.

Replica of the check for winning
This is what YOU could have won if YOU had produced the first commercial ship to go 63 miles into the atmosphere.

Info on winning ship
Now you know how to do it yourself

Check this out!
That is an expensive ride!

Hey look!
This is the way to Uranus! Har har har!

The Space Shuttle Atlantis
We have liftoff! (Bad photo, I know!)

How you watch the Planetarium show
Who knows how many weirdos have laid on these same mats?

Walking across the freeway
The Science Museum is on either side of the freeway, so you walk across it. There are also radar guns there so you can see how fast traffic is going. Seriously!

My Friends
Paul, Thom and Matt.

Comments

[DJRickman]

Forest Park
Just a small correction: The size of Forest Park in Saint Louis, MO is more than 1200 acres. Central Park in New York is only 800 acres.