Fernbank Museum of Natural History

Yesterday we went to Fernbank with some friends.  As usual, the highlight of the trip is the children's section.  The museum has a few great microscopes.  You place an item under the cylindrical tube with the bright light and (voila!) it appears on the big television.  Last time we went to this museum we did not know about these microscopes, so we were stuck looking at the bugs & nature objects stuck in plastic.  This time, the girls planned ahead and brought a bag of their toys.  Here Catherine is looking at the cutie marks on My Little Pony:

Here she is looking at the details of a Barbie dress:

The kids also liked the canoe:

The Marco Polo exhibit (including a yert):

We had a great time at Fernbank .. these are just a few pictures!

National Infantry Museum

While we were in Columbus, we went to the National Infantry Museum, which is near the entrance to Fort Benning.  It was quite impressive.  The exhibits were immersive and gave a real sense of the different roles soldiers fill.

It is hard to photograph a lot of the scenes, some of which were very realistic:

One entire floor of the museum is devoted to the various types of training which soldiers undergo at Fort Benning, including the Rangers and the Sniper School.

 Catherine was particularly impressed that the soldiers had to learn how to give each other IV's:

 Learning about types of ground shown in topographic maps:

One of the girls' favorite exhibits was the trench warfare room, which was built to make you feel like you were really in a trench:

Some mannequins climbing out of the trench:

 The children's area was very small, but the girls enjoyed dressing up:

 Catherine trying to act like she's a soldier, standing at attention:

 Catherine putting on a holster:

 Sabrina saluting:

This is the official flag burning area, with a fire pit and bleachers:

 We also toured a re-created World War II army company.  The girls were quite enamored with the "old fashioned lap tops," no screen, no plug ...

 Sabrina using a rotary dial phone with a cord attached to it:

 Two of the buildings in the company town.  We also saw a church, mess hall, and barracks.

 Some old tanks:

 The actual building once used by General Patton, which was moved to this area:

 The supply room:

 I love this gun carousel:

 Back in the museum, Catherine checked out the bayonet display:

 Touring more of the immersive exhibits, the girls showed off some dance moves:

In the modern warfare section, they showed some of the equipment used for night vision:

 And some modern army vehicles:

The museum was great and I wish we had more time to spend there.  The IMAX movies are historically based, but we did not have a chance to watch one.  I wish we could have.  When we were there, there was a movie based on the Lewis & Clark expedition and one on the building of the Continental Railroad.  This is a great museum.

Oxbow Meadows

Recently we went to Oxbow Meadows, a nature center in Columbus, GA.  It was quite interesting and we had a great time.  They had laminated some snake skins, which the girls loved:

You could really see the scales and the eyes in the snake skin.  We were shocked at how long some of the snake skins were.

 The reptile show of course included several snakes:

 And turtles:

 As well as an enormous tortoise shell:

We went outside to meet the two huge tortoises they have.  We watched them feed them turnip greens:

 I always thought of tortoises as slow moving, but they "rushed" to eat those turnip greens and ate them very quickly:

 The girls were thrilled that the tanks which were high on the wall had stands for the children:

 Checking out more of the animals:

I did not get a good picture, but they also had a bee hive and some honey comb you could hold.  It was a fun place to visit for the morning.

Chattanooga Zoo

Yesterday we toured the Chattanooga Zoo.  It is a small, but well done, zoo.  They had several kinds of monkeys, including chimpanzees:

The cages were small, so you could almost always see the animals well.  There were a lot more educational, descriptive signs than the bigger zoos I have visited.

 Each of the sections had fun architectural elements to differentiate it.

 I love turtles:

And snakes (in cages):

Sabrina loved this lizard because it stood right next to the window and stared at her.  When I let them take pictures with my iPhone, Sabrina ran right back to this lizard to photograph it:

 The Desert building had lots of lizards, including a gigantic Komodo Dragon.

I can't remember what animal this was:

 Some desert foxes (with enormous ears):

Probably our favorite animal was the sloth.  He hung upside down the whole time and moves along the branches in slow motion:

 This green snake balanced itself on a branch:

 Poison dart frogs:

 A wallabe in the Administrative Building, which is used for the educational classes.

 The landscaping and sculptures were beautiful:

 The girls loved the little kids' section, where they had a simulated field station:

 There were several large cats, all of which were sleeping while we were there:

 The two coyotes were very active and noisy, but seemed completely emaciated:

The entrance to the Himalayan section:  The girls recognized the Japanese architecture and the Tibetan prayer flags.

 Sitting on a replica from the Chinese Terra Cotta Warriors:

 A red panda:

There was a fairly extensive Marco Polo exhibit, which is a bit odd for a zoo.  But, it was a great refresher for the Far East and the Silk Road.

 The camels were neat.  We wanted to take camel rides, but they do not offer them on Mondays.

 My Dad petting a goat:

 Sabrina petting and brushing a goat.  She loved the petting zoo!

 A Shetland cow.

 A peacock, which hopped from the sidewalk to the fence in one jump.

 One of the more unusual plants:

 The carousel was fun and had some unique animals.  They were so tickled by the frog and panda:

I made them choose animals which moved for the second carousel ride, so they chose a dolphin and a giraffe:

The Chattanooga Zoo was well kept and pretty, but small.  It took us about two hours to tour the entire zoo, then we re-visited the animals the girls liked the best.  It was part of a day trip to Chattanooga for us.