The San Diego Natural History Museum

The San Diego Natural History Museum has anand older children may as well.
impressive range in its collection. As of this writing,If you think back to October 2003 and the gigantic fire
there's the fossil section, a section on the big fire inwe had here in San Diego, you'll find the section on
San Diego in 2003, rocks and minerals and a variety ofthat fire quite interesting. Brings back a lot of memories,
educational programs.even though my home was not threatened at that
We watched a movie in their movie theater. Thetime.
current one is on Vikings, but of course the selectionIn the basement level there is currently an exhibit called
changes regularly, so don't count on this being current"Dinosaurs: Reel and Robotic". The kids loved this part.
information for long. The theater is large andNo pictures are allowed, so I can't share anything like
comfortable - almost stadium seating with how thethat with you. It's a great exhibit, though. The basement
seats are tiered, but the chairs are not so high backedexhibit changes at least once or twice a year. Last
as in other movie theaters. The entire family enjoyedyear it was robotic bugs. However, the times I have
the movie.been there it has always been something really
The second floor is where the fossils are, and thisinteresting for the kids.
was the area we spent the most time on. There's aThe outside of the building is quite interesting. They've
cave for the kids to play in, and it was hard to get mymade changes to the building through the years, so
daughter to leave that area.one side is very old fashioned with lots of accents
The kids will also enjoy joining magnetic parts to makewhile the other side is quite modern. The building is just
various animals. Depending on age, it can be a bit trickyhuge, but quite a bit of it is not open to the public.
for them to figure out which part goes where, butThe museum is free for San Diego city and county
since there are only about 5 or 6 parts per animal, it'sresidents and active duty military the first Tuesday of
not too tough.each month. ID is required. If there are exhibits that
My kids weren't all that impressed by the microscopicrequire separate admission, those will still require
fossils that could be examined. A quick look, then theyadmission.
were bored. I found those quite interesting, however,