April 21, 2012

Today was Olivia's first trip to a museum ( I hope she enjoyed herself, because this will be the first of many).  After spending a morning playing with Dad, we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and go to the Museum of the North. The museum is located on the campus of the University of Alaska - Fairbanks, which has one of the best views in town to glance south and see the Denali mountain range.  Denali is McKinley for you southerners. 

The museum was having a military appreciation day, which allowed us a free pass to visit the museum.  In addition to all of the usual exhibits, they were providing tours of the work areas, allowing you to see the conservation efforts first hand.  We had decided to put Olivia in her stroller for this trip, particularly since I had finally figured out how to fold it up and place it in the back of the car. Since she was in a stroller, we were unable to go 'behind the scenes', but that was okay because we had never seen the exhibits! 

The museum is is comprised of exhibits highlighting Alaskan history, as well as the abundance of unique animal life that can be found in the state.  They also offer many child friendly exhibits, such as crafts and touchable items.  I enjoyed running my hands over mammoth ivory tusks, or giant boulders of copper ore.  At first Jessica was shocked, that I would attempt to touch a museum artifact, but I was able to point out several 'Touch Me' signs around the museum (although not on the large polished rock that she had chided me for feeling). 

Olivia enjoyed the lights and several ceiling mounted spinning mobiles, while Jessica and I enjoyed the Native Alaskan carvings, tools, and furs.  There was a large collection of items from the era of Russian-Alaska, and many items having to do with gold mining.   In such a short time as Alaskans, Jessica and I have both learned a good deal about the state and the history of the area, many times we were able to talk or discuss an exhibit, before even reading the signs.  We both recognized a wood cut print from the village of Nulato, from the time of Robert Kennicott's exploration (Jessica has enjoyed learning about his work since her days as a child at the 'Grove' in Illinois).

We finished off our museum tour with a stop at the gift store, naturally. Although we didn't find anything to bring home (this time)  we did entertain Olivia with some of the stuffed animals on the shelf, or more likely, Olivia entertained us.