A Super Getaway

By Tom Poland

 

Outer Space, Science, Nature, & More 

Forget Florida and its sprawling, hot, expensive theme parks. In one non-Florida place you can experience Jurassic Park, Swiss Family Robinson tree houses, Kennedy Space Center, a zoo, a science laboratory, and a whole lot more. You can watch a tornado form, see a lunar lander and a space capsule, let butterflies land on your hand, and see bears that don’t need to hibernate down here in the South.

Ready for adventure? Tired of the same old, over-priced theme parks? Need an overnight adventure that doesn’t send you packing to Florida? Got kids full of boundless energy? Here’s a great place to let them burn off energy while learning a lot. All you need do is drive to Durham, North Carolina to the Museum of Life + Science. ”

Columbia isn’t hurting for this kind of adventure. We have Riverbanks Zoo, EdVenture, The State Museum, parks, and museums, and a national park. It’s just that they stand alone. Imagine if somehow they all existed on the same tract of land. Durham’s Museum of Life + Science does.

My family and I visited this museum that urges people to “Know Wonder,” and this bit of word play upholds its mission. The museum is “a place of lifelong learning where people, from young child to senior citizen, embrace science as a way of knowing about themselves, their community, and their world.” We were just such a group … two kids, two teens, parents, and a senior who had a lot fun discovering life and science.

 

T Rex’s cousin

 

Driving into Durham we passed the legendary baseball stadium where the Durham Bulls play. We saw, as well, evidence of the region’s history as a tobacco center. Many of the old brick tobacco warehouses have been converted to retail use, restaurants for example. Then in the midst of the city, woods greeted us.

As we made our way to the museum’s parking lots, we passed a Mercury-Redstone rocket set against a blue sky, ready for launch. Memories of trips to Kennedy Space Center surfaced. It was the Mercury-Redstone rocket that sent America’s manned flights into space in the early 1960s. On May 5, 1961 a Mercury-Redstone rocket made history, propelling Alan Shepherd into space, the first American to do so.

All the exhibits kept us moving. Based on my grandson Connor’s VivoActive smart watch, we walked 7.19 miles. We started out at Hideaway Woods. This compelling forest and its tree houses and innovative use of trees draws people to it like bees to flowers. Shelters made of limbs and vines, walkways made of trees sliced tomato style, and a rocky stream fgive the area a mountainous feeling. Then we hit the Dinosaur Trail, a setting much like Jurassic Park. The kids dug for fossilized shark teeth, climbed on massive dinosaurs, and later checked out wildlife exhibits where black bear, lemurs, and red wolves live.

My favorite exhibit was Aerospace. Seeing a lunar lander, actual spacesuits worn, a Mercury capsule, and a moon rock brought back the excitement of the space race. Lots to see and learn here about the exciting days of the race to the moon.

It was a cold February day, so when we walked into the Magic Wings Butterfly House humid, tropical air replaced cold, dry air. My camera lens fogged up in a second, and I was unable to photograph all the butterflies. Ladies, be forewarned. The humidity makes it the perfect place for bad hair but worth it when you see all the butterflies and tropical flowers. In February it’s like stepping into a warm, summer day.

You’ll find tarantulas at the museum, an Into The Mists exhibit where rainbows come and go, and a Weather Exhibit where you can move your hand through clouds.

My daughters, their children, and my son-in-law and I spent four full hours there but could have easily spent a long day, maybe two, checking out the exhibits we didn’t get to see, the Soundspace exhibit, for instance. In all, the museum covers 84 acres. You’ll find a two-story interactive science center there, one of the largest butterfly houses on the East Coast, more than 60 species of live animals, and more. It’s a great bargain with the highest-priced ticket being just $16.

Last year close to 500,000 people came to the Museum of Life + Science. You can too. It’s open year-round and not that far.

If you go:

Museum! Of Life + Science
433 W. Murray Avenue
Durham, NC 27704
919-220-5429

For more information, visit http://www.lifeandscience.org/

 

 

Visit Tom Poland’s website at www.tompoland.net
Email Tom about most anything. [email protected]

 

Tom Poland is the author of eleven books and more than 1,000 magazine features. A Southern writer, his work has appeared in magazines throughout the South. The University of South Carolina Press has released his and Robert Clark’s book, Reflections Of South Carolina, Vol. II. The History Press of Charleston just released his book, Classic Carolina Road Trips From Columbia. He writes a weekly column for newspapers in Georgia and South Carolina about the South, its people, traditions, lifestyle, and changing culture.

 

 

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