Museum Exhibits’ Worth Making the Trip

Given the many cheaptravel options available, including cheap airplane tickets, discount hotel rooms, cheap auto rentals, cheapdeals, discounttravel deals, and cheap vacation packages, youmight want to plan your next trip around seeing some of the countrys mustsee museum exhibits this summer.

Even if you do not make a special trip to see one of theseimpressive exhibitions, you should certainly check them out if you findyourself in any of the cities where they are on display.

The following are fascinating museum exhibits this summerrecommended by Leif Pettersen:

• ForWhom It Stands: The Flag and theAmerican People is on display in Baltimore at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum ofMaryland African American History & Culture through February 28^th,2015. Grace Wisher, a young AfricanAmerican indentured servant in May Pickersgills household, worked on the flagthat became our nations symbol. Theexhibition features over 75 works of art, artifacts, documents, and photographsabout the history and representation of the iconic US flag.

• TheWorlds Largest Dinosaurs exhibit can be found in Dallas at the Perot Museum ofNature & Science through September 1^st. A life size model of a Mamenchisaurus is thecenterpiece of this show, with includes specimens of sauropod vertebrae, agiant femur, skin impressions, and many other fossil finds.

• TheAmerican Road Exhibit can be viewed at Milwaukees Harley-Davidson Museumthrough September 1^st. Theexhibit traces the Golden Age of American road trips, starting in the 1930s whenleisure travel, the open road, and the first cars offered the ability to travelfor a small but growing number of affluent Americans through the early 70sduring the gas crisis.

• TheDesign Zone at Omahas Museum can be viewed through September 14^thand showcases behind the scenes work of how video game developers, musicproducers, roller coaster designers, and others use math and science to performtheir magic. Displays include a DJrecording studio and a video game design studio where visitors can learn theformula needed to create on screen action.

• Build! Toy Brick Art at Phoenixs Heard Museum is ondisplay through September 28^th. This interactive showcase displays works by American Indian as well asnon-American Indian artists who have transformed their artworks into LEGO brickcreations. Visitors are provided handson components for all ages to create their own art.

• Halstonand Warhol: Silver and Suede exhibit at Pittsburghs Andy Warhol Museum can beviewed through August 24^th. This show examines the lives and creative practices of Andy Warhol andHalston, icons who dramatically impacted the development of 20^thcentury art and fashion. On display areHalston dresses, hats, garments, and accessories as well as Warhol paintings,photography, and videos.

• RainforestAdventure in Raleighs North Carolina Museum of National Sciences offers afully interactive maze loaded with the sights and sounds of a tropicalrainforest and runs throughout the summer. Visitors can choose to swing like a spider monkey, ride a butterflyzip-line, check out a beetle that can carry over 850 times its weight, and arodent that weights over 100 pounds.

• ButterfliesLive! At Richmonds Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden through October 12th is anindoor exhibit where visitors can get up close with hundreds of tropicalbutterflies as they feed and fly around them. Also in Richmond is the How to Make a Monster: The Art and Technology of Animatronics at theScience Museum of Virginia running through September which focuses on the worldof monsters and creatures and how they are brought to life from design andstory boarding process to sculpting and molding to what is seen in movies.

• RealPirates exhibition at the San Diego Natural History Museum runs throughSeptember 1^st and is displaying over 200 artifacts includingcannons, swords, coins, gold, and jewelry recovered off the coast of Cape Codefrom the ship Whydah, the first pirate ship discovered in U.S. waters. The Whydah sank in a storm in 1717 with thebounty from over 50 captured ships.

• UltimateDinosaurs exhibit is on display through Labor Day at the Science Museum ofMinnesota in St. Paul. It tells thestory of the breakup of super continent Pangaea and the ways that continentaldrift affected the evolution of dinosaurs during the Mesozoic Era, 250 millionyears ago. Kids love the excitinginteractive experience provided by hands on iPad displays and augmented realitytechnology powered by Xbox Kinects.