Category Archives: Museums & More

Old Town San Diego – Visiting Old California

  By placeswithkids | February 28, 2012 - 3:30 pm | , , , , , , ,
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Old Town San Diego

Old Town San Diego

While it’s true that San Diego has tons of kid-friendly activities like SeaWorld, the San Diego Zoo, and nearby LegoLand, our first stop when we arrived in California was Old Town San Diego - a historic area filled with restaurants, shops, and historic sites which just also happened to be in Frommer’s 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up. 

I’ve always been a big fan of these kind of historical areas because they’re an easy way to learn about the past without spending a ton of cash.

Driving the wagon at Old Town San Diego

At Old Town San Diego there was no entrance fee and visits to the historic sites were self-guided, so we were able to peek into the old jail, courthouse, and bank before spending the majority of our time at the Seeley Stables Museum and La Casa de Estudillo, a restored hacienda.

My kids like places like Old Town San Diego because they feel less like a stuffy museum and more like stepping back in time to a different era.

Inside the Seeley Stable Museum

Seventy-four places visited, 426 to go.

 

Walking the Red Carpet at the Academy Awards

  By placeswithkids | February 27, 2012 - 7:28 am | , , , ,
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Hollywood's Real Red Carpet

It may be hard to believe, but each year the Kodak Hollywood and Highland Theater, located within a high-end mall, is transformed into the entrance to the Academy Awards. Lined with columns listing the names of the Best Picture winners,

Best Picture-Slumdog Millionaire

Hollywood magic is performed and the names of shops are artfully hidden while the red carpet is installed over the permanent red carpeted grand staircase leading up into the theater. According to our guide, the red tile lining the risers of the staircase came from the Wizard of Oz’s yellow brick road (which in the movie has two spirals – one yellow and one red).

Tiles in the red carpet

Somehow it seems fitting that the tiles leading to the wonderful land of Oz was used to create this ultimate “red carpet.”

Congrats to all this year’s nominees!

Agate Fossil Beds – A Nebraska Detour

  By placeswithkids | January 24, 2012 - 2:42 pm | , , , , , , ,
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Agate Fossil Beds national Monument

Agate Fossil Beds

There are times, such as our visit to Agate Fossil Beds located near (as in 22 miles away) Harrison, Nebraska, when I question the choices the author of Frommer’s 500 Places to Take Your Kids Before They Grow Up made when deciding to select an item for the “500 List.” And while I would agree that for a serious dinosaur-loving/fossil-loving child Agate Fossil Beds might be an interesting stop, I’m not sure it deserved a spot in the “500 List.” But since we had to somehow get from Rapid City, South Dakota to Rocky Mountain National Park – our last stop on our US Western trip, I decided a small detour to Agate Fossil Beds was merited – plus my kids were distracted by watching a movie on our computer during the long drive there.

Agate Fossil Beds

Fossil display

The fossils on display were those of the Miocene era mammals. Anyone expecting huge T-Rex skeletons will be sorely disappointed.

One interesting exhibit, however, were the fascinating corkscrew burrows (called Daemonelix) that the land beavers of that era built.

Daemonelix at Agate fossil beds

Daemonelix

And although there are hiking paths that lead you to areas where these burrows were found, you can also take “virtual” hikes . .  . which conveniently avoid “real” rattlesnakes.

Virtual hike at agate fossil beds

Virtual Hike

Also part of the Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is a collection of Plains Indians artifacts originally owned by the Cook family – the former owners of Agate Springs Ranch.

Cook collection Agate fossil beds

Cook Collection of Sioux Artifacts

These artifacts were gifts given by the Lakota Sioux to the Cook family when they left their reservation in South Dakota to visit the Cook family.  Outside are reproductions of the tepees the Sioux used when they stayed on the ranch.

Tepees at Agate Fossil Beds

Tepees at Agate Fossil Beds

72 places visited – 428 to go!

Salem Witch Museum: Kid-friendly scares

  By placeswithkids | November 7, 2011 - 12:26 am | , , , ,
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Salem Witch Museum

No-so scary Salem Witch Museum

Happy Halloween!

To celebrate, I’m revisiting a post I did over a year ago about our visit to the Salem Witch Museum in Salem, Massachusetts. Touting itself as “Salem’s Most Visited Museum,” the Salem Witch Museum offers probably the best overview (with only a tiny bit of scary thrills) of the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.

Using dramatic lighting, a voiced-over narration, and life-sized figures, the Salem Witch Museum details the events leading up to the summer of 1692 when a group of bored girls accused their servant (and several others) of witchcraft. By the end of the hysteria, 19 men and women were hanged and 1 man, George Corey, was pressed to death.

The reenactment can be a little scary for younger visitors as the presentation/performance is done in dim light so know your kids and whether they can handle this kind of presentation. After the show, visitors are herded into an exhibit detailing the history of witchcraft and the ancient (and more modern) practice of Wicca.

And just to put a little bit of shiver into your Halloween, check out this statue of Roger Conant, the founder of Salem, located just outside the museum in the traffic circle . . .

Roger Conant statue

Roger Conant statue

. . . with his scary Pilgrim dress and stern face, it’s enough to put the “Boo!” in your Halloween.