Day 4: Our final day, and an awesome day. We had heard the raves about the High Desert Museum. So we went. The timing was actually perfect because this was spring break weak. They were doing lots of kid-friendly activities. They are very kid-friendly to begin with, so it was just awesome.
I don’t have many good pictures from the museum. They had a ton of awesome exhibits, but most of the time I was chasing down children who wanted to glance at the history and move on to something else. Also, it was inside with poor lighting. The Nez Pierce display was something so huge, detailed, informative, and culturally rich I could have lingered for a couple hours. The museum is a collection of the history, the geography, and the wildlife of the Bend area and wow, was there a ton of interesting stuff. Bottom line is, next year we’re doing a history study of the area and then going so the kids will be more interested in the displays and understand what they are all about!
They had awesome antique modes of transportation. Different types of wagons, a stage coach, two different covered wagons, a Model T Ford, and an old Fire Service Truck.
I was a bit geeked out to see a Model T in person. I think the homeschooling history nerd is beginning to grow in me.
The detail work on this chuck wagon scene was incredible!
I think part of the reason history is interesting is because of our cultural connections to it. I’ve seen hundreds of books, movies, and plays regarding the pioneer time of our country, but my children haven’t yet because they are still young. They will find these things more interesting as they learn more. For instance, I see this stage coach and I think of the movie Holes, and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Women, and the Wild, Wild, West. Foxx saw the stagecoach and he thinks, wow, it’s dusty.
But enough of the stuff only the adults were interested in. There was plenty of stuff the kids loved. They had both an indoor play place and an outdoor play place.
Kronk says Scooby, who spent most of the time trying to run away from us or strapped into the carrier on my back, found his home and joy with this slide, and easily went down at least 40 or 50 times without stopping.
They petted a few tortoises and snakes. Nope, that’s not my kid. He was cute, though. Scooby didn’t know what to do with the tortoise. I tried to have him pet it, but he refused. Then I tried to take him away from the tortoise, then he freaked out (this was during his normal nap time. Scooby had the downhill advantage on the cranky train).
The museum had an incredible reptile and amphibian section. Two different kinds of chameleons, snakes galore, lizards, gila monster, rattles snakes, geckos, you name it. I found out that geckos have thousands of gripping hairs on their little toes. I have a new-found, deep respect for the awesome gecko. I may have to knit or crochet one.
They had an entire section dedicated to mining. They had a huge life-sized mine replica you could walk through, complete with mining cars filled with real rocks and flickering lanterns. You could pan for gold, then take your gold to an old-west styled town, go to the bank, and cash in your gold (you had to pay for this process and I’d left my wallet in the car. So next time we’ll do that!). They had several walk-in cabins that showed what people’s houses looked like, what kind of every day items they used. They had had similar things in the Nez Pierce and pioneer section as well!
Not only that, they had a huge outdoor section. This included an real-sized ranch that had actors dressed up and acting like it was 1904. You could ask them questions about their ranch, what was going on in the community and country, and see their surroundings. It was very detailed and we missed most of this part because the boys found something wonderful. They had a garden one woman was working on tilling, and she had a whole stack of tools and she let the kids use them to help till the garden. Foxx and Pingu did this happily for twenty minutes until Kronk called me to meet up again. We meant to go back and check out the rest of the ranch but the kids ran out of steam.
There was a whole Birds of Prey section. They had bald eagles, four or five different types of owls, a golden eagle, a redtail hawk, a skunk and a porcupine and a few other things I’ve forgotten.
This redtail hawk was new. He’d been injured and was unable to return to the wild. There was a sign urging against fast movements and sudden noises. He kept a wary eye on the visitors and kept puffing up his feathers threateningly.
And bestly, so wonderfully, and perfectly, they had a river otter. His name was Thomas and he was rather old for an otter, fifteen years. The first time we stopped by he was napping but I came back later and was rewarded with the wonderful nonstop energy of the river otter.
They look so funny running on land. They have these long bodies so when they run their middle humps up. It’s delightful.
Why, yes, this is quite a few otter pictures! In fact, there are more pictures of Thomas than anybody I went on vacation with. That’s because I live with everybody else, but I’ll probably have to wait a year or more to see Thomas again. And he’s pretty awesome.
I also have a hard time getting over how freakin cute their noses are.
River otters will always be my favorite animal. They are so adorable, playful, and they move like poetry in the water. I didn’t even try to get an underwater picture, however. The lighting just makes for blurriness.
I want a couple for pets. The lady said that they were aggressive, but I’m ok with that. I don’t need to cuddle that much. I just want to watch them play.
The kids were worn out, hungry, and it was time to go. We didn’t see everything, and what we did see was rather skimmed in bits, but overall, the kids loved it and we loved it. We’re totally going back! The admission was totally decent too. $6.50 for adults, $4.50 for kids 5 and up, and 4 and under free.
Our trip home was blissedly uneventful as Scooby finally got his nap. We got back home and have been vegging and unpacking in spurts. That’s the most blogging I’ve ever done in a day with a ton of pictures and wow! Thanks for reading. What have you been up to this week?
