No way I can afford a road trip like last year. I probably can't afford to take a trip like what we did, but being laid off a day a week, and the kids on Spring Break, I decided we could at least go to Lawrence and hit the Natural History Museum at KU.
Then, as an afterthought, I added the Kansas History Museum in Topeka, since you're already half way there. One meal in between the two, burgers, and everything: gas, food, admission (the Natural History Museum is a 'suggested donation' and I donated a bit less than they suggest) was about $40.
And we saw the bear Mo hugged so spontaneously when we were there on a school field trip a few years back. One of my favorite pictures of her, because I just happened to have my camera ready when she did it and it was so completely natural.
And it played into Em's little rebellion against her Mom. K-State runs strong in that side of the family, with the exception of one branch of the family that is Roman Catholic instead of Protestant and goes to KU instead of K-State. Em fell in love with the KU campus, which I have to say as an unaffiliated observer with no ties to either school, is the prettier campus.
Em also rebells against me, for instance complaining constantly that I take too much time looking at stuff, take too many pictures and wasn't eager enough to get to the bugs.
It's such a curse to have me as a father. At least that's her side of the story.
Hence her sneer when I say 'smile' in front of the duck-billed dinosaur.
Not that Em monopolizes making faces. But Mo seemed to just enjoy checking out all the weird stuff in the joint.
And of course we did get to the bugs eventually.
Including some bugs that you can actually watch hunting other bugs. Except the supply of feeder bugs and the range of escape options was so limited, the predators seemed pretty fat and happy, and the 'feeder' bugs seemed harassed and dinged up.
And then there's viruses. Which according to Monty Python are 'what we doctors call very, very small.' Except that this model of HIV is big as a beach ball.
And then there's my buddy who hangs over the entry. You miss him walking in, generally, and see him only when you get to that part of the second floor. He wouldn't miss you, though. Go swimming in the ocean that once covered Kansas, and after the shark eats you, this guy eats the shark. He's like a T-Rex who swims.
More Monty Python references came up when we got to three Ex Parrots.
Bleeding demised. Shuffled off this mortal coil and gone on to meet their maker. Hello, Polly! I've got a nice cuttlefish for you!
Mo had fun looking through the magnified flies where you get to see the differences between species and genders...
And they had bees in the hive. Last time I was there, no dice on the bees. With all the trouble bees have had lately, it's good to see a live colony. When I took up beekeeping (briefly) a few years ago, you only had to be half veterinarian to keep them alive. Two types of mites and two types of foul brood (bacterial infections of colonies) had already rendered wild honeybees extinct. Now that strange Israeli virus has made domesticated bees all but extinct in a lot of the United States.
And speaking of extinction. Field equipment on display included a 35mm film camera and a cassette tape recorder. Which have both, more or less, gone the way of the Linotype.
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