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I was provided with a complementary CityPASS
Imagine being able to gaze on artifacts gathered from the ancient pharaohs, examine mummies and sarcophaguses, and pore over tablets of hieroglyphics. When you finished with this, imagine gasping at beautiful jewelry fit for a princess and ogling at dinosaur skeletons that make you feel like a dwarf. Now imagine being able to do all of this at one place and you’ll have an idea of a few of the treasures found at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. I read this was the tenth most visited museum in the US and after spending an afternoon glimpsing at their treasures I could see why.
We began our tour on the third floor which houses the Ancient Egypt exhibit. The rooms are dimly lit to help preserve the artifacts and flash photography is not allowed, but I was thrilled to see dresses and cosmetics that had survived for four thousand years. (And I can’t even get my dishwasher to last ten!) Three mummies are on display and we stopped to gaze at one whose head was partially unwrapped. “Look,” my son exclaimed, “His hair is still preserved!” Sure enough, we could see half of his beard and hair on his head. It was a fascinating walk through the past.
From the Ancient Egypt exhibit we wandered over to more of the permanent exhibits. There are eleven total and include
The Gems and Minerals hall, a collection of gems from around the world, many of them rare.
The Americas—a collection of artifacts from over 50 different cultures ranging from Incas to Aztecs to Eskimos. My son’s favorite was the pre-Columbian gold.
The Paleontology Hall—a collection of over 450 fossils and replicas that will bring the prehistoric to life.
The Gem Vault—I could spend hours in here admiring the collection and telling him how much I needed some of the jewelry. He disagreed, asking me, “Where would you wear this stuff?”
The Energy Hall, The Chemistry Hall, and The Earth Forum—is a science lovers paradise. These exhibits are designed for the younger set and host a variety of hands on learning exhibits that help youngster “get a feel” for science. My favorite was the huge periodic table with examples included for each element.
The Texas Wildlife and The African Exhibit—showcase diverse stuffed animals for each habitat along with detailed descriptions.
and finally the Malacology Hall—leaving me knowing more about mollusks than I had ever thought possible.
Travel Tip: Purchase a CityPASS and you can receive free parking in their parking garage. Houston Museum of Natural Science is located about ½ mile from the Houston Zoo if you want to plan a family fun day. Visit the Zoo in the morning while it’s cooler and spend the afternoon indoors.
Have you visited the Houston Museum of Natural Science? What is your favorite travel tip?
Wish we lived closer to Houston, but definitely looks like an amazing museum!
this looks like a great museum to plan a trip too!
Yes! This is something I would be completely fascinated by and I’m definitely including it in my itinerary! Very neat.
WOW… loved your pictures and your trip to Houston so far has been amazing… The museum sure looked like a great time to spend indoors and to check out some history; and love that you can use the City Pass again….
My kids have been re-watching Night of the Museum 1 and 2 over the summer, so I know they would flip out if they went here.
Looks super interesting! We want to go to Texas really bad. One of these days!!!
My son would love this! I MUST take him to see the mummies. 🙂
I didn’t realize that this museum was so extensive. We live about 5 hours away and need to plan a getaway to Houston!
I love ancient Egyptian artifacts and I’m so excited that you got to view them up close. It’s so important to expose our children to cultural institutions and make them more well-rounded culturally.
so cool! i love mummies!!
Oh so fun! I have literally never been to Texas, it is on my to-do list! Hopefully one day I will be grabbing my CityPASS and headed to this wonderful museum! I love natural science.. so interesting!
This sounds like a museum I’d love to visit. I try and visit a museum in every town I travel. I’ve always been fascinated with Egypt so would go just to see that exhibit alone. They have lots of neat exhibits!
Wow, this looks like an amazing museum.
Those city passes are definitely the way to go. I haven’t been to Houston yet, but this museum would definitely be on my list of places to visit.
I love going to museums! I haven’t been to Houston, but plan to in the next year so this will be on my to do list.