Favorite Museum?

[TraceyM]

Do you have a favorite museum?

My daughter loves museums and will slowly go through reading about everything. My back does not agree with that slow approach although I have been to some great museums.

Having grown up in Canada, one of my favorites is the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto. It has amazing displays and killer corn beef sandwhiches in its restaurant, and my favorite part is the dinosaur rooms.

Locally I love one in Portland Oregon called the Peculiarium. It's totally oddball and quirky and just a small space and I seem to recall the snack you can buy was something like chocolate covered ants or something like that. I do know chocolate and bugs were involved. It also has a nice big bigfoot to pose with.

I have been to the Louvre. But I was never going to get through the whole thing even whilst living in Paris for a year.

What are your favorites? Why?

[tanyiadeskins]

I love museums, too!

The neatest one I have been to is the Salvador Dali museum. What a playful and creative eye he had. I love when you see his paintings that are one thing close up and then you see it from afar and its something completely different. Too cool. They also have a wishing tree out back with thousands of pieces of paper hanging all over from everyone's wishes. It was just a cool moment to see.

My second fave was the one in NY City with all the dinos. I forget what it is called but I love any museum with dinosaurs. How crazy!

[bienejen]

One of my favorites is the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. It has a U-505 submarine from WWII you can tour among the many exhibits. And there are so many hand-on opportunities. My kids have gone there for school field trips several times and even as 8th graders they could have spent lots more time exploring. There are still exhibits we haven't gotten to. Maybe this year we'll make another trip down there!

[MamaBee]

I have a love/hate museum feelings... lol! As a homeschooler, I feel it's law that you must research all museums in the area you are vacationing... and I love finding out quirky museums - like the one dedicated to mustard (wisconsin): LOL!



But I get bored easily - hello, ADHD... so I spend my time taking photo of cool things and the verbiage to read later... or not. When I was working on a project in England - I got so bored looking at all the castles... that my coworkers and I would fly through them just to get to the gift shop... sigh... I now wish I had spent more time enjoying them.

Here is one on cereal in Michigan... apparently I like food related one... haha



And one dedicated to all things Bobblehead! (Wisconsin)



There are many others, but they are scrapbooked in vacation albums and not in the gallery.

[HavaDrPepper]

I actually haven't been to many museums. Went to a few when I attended a couple of my Dad's Navy reunions in the 90's. Of those, the Smithsonian Air & Space was my favorite. We toured it in the free hours we had outside of the reunion activities and the reason we went to it...

But my favorite has to be the one that is right here in my town. I was a part of the dedication ceremony in 1972 when I was in high school as the band was a part of the ceremony. It has added so much since then and I was amazed when I toured it again in 2019 how much more was in it. We have a festival in town that includes many activities at the museum and in our downtown every summer usually on the weekend closest to July 20th. Why that date? Well the
museum is the Neil Armstrong Air and Space museum and July 20th is the date of his first steps on the moon.

And, in just 8 weeks, the museum is a base for a lot of things going on for the weekend of April 5 through 8. We happen to be in the 100% totality of the solar eclipse on April 8th and the town itself has made many lists of best places to see the eclipse. We are actually the location in Ohio with the longest time of totality as well, almost 4 minutes. I'll be sitting on my front lawn to watch it

[Kimberly27]

I love museums but we tend to do more outdoorsy things. Loved the Louvre in Paris...we didn't get through the whole thing but it was fun.

Loved all the Smithsonian ones in DC esp one that showed the Presidents and first ladies...Abe Lincoln's hat, the inaugural dresses and White House China

We also enjoyed visiting the birth homes of presidents: Mount Vernon, Monticello, LBJ ranch. Cool places.
Anything history I love!

[lizziej]

I love museums! I went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City back in 1987, and even though my friend and I didn't get through it all, it's probably my favorite. There is so much to that museum, and I especially loved the Tiffany windows and all the Monet paintings - he's my favorite artist.

When I lived in San Antonio as a young girl, we often went to the McNay Art Museum both as a field trip and with my family. My mom always gave me money so I could buy the postcards with paintings on them. I probably still have them somewhere. I went a few times as an adult after I moved back there after college.

The San Antonio Museum of Art is another wonderful museum. I remember going there as an adult with my parents. We loved seeing the 5,000-year-old Egyptian things. It blew my mind that I was looking at things that old.

In the DFW area, I love the Kimbell Art Museum. My SIL is a member so she keeps us informed of special exhibits. It was there that I saw several of my favorite Monet paintings, including Water Lilies, and On the Terrace by Renoir, also one of my favorites -- Impressionism is my favorite art period. I also saw some of Van Gogh's famous paintings, including his self-portrait. I couldn't believe I got to see these in person!

Two of the best museums that we've seen for dinosaurs are the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History on the campus of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, and the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas. We had gone to the Perot to see a special dinosaur exhibit, but it wasn't nearly as wonderful as their permanent exhibit.

The Louvre is on my bucket list.

[TraceyM]

Originally Posted by lizziej

...I especially loved the Tiffany windows and all the Monet paintings - he's my favorite artist.
I want to know the person who does not love Monet!

When I lived in San Antonio as a young girl, we often went to the McNay Art Museum both as a field trip and with my family. My mom always gave me money so I could buy the postcards with paintings on them. I probably still have them somewhere. I went a few times as an adult after I moved back there after college.

The San Antonio Museum of Art is another wonderful museum. I remember going there as an adult with my parents. We loved seeing the 5,000-year-old Egyptian things. It blew my mind that I was looking at things that old.
I took my daughter to see the King Tut exhibit when it came through town - Egyptian stuff is so cool


In the DFW area, I love the Kimbell Art Museum. My SIL is a member so she keeps us informed of special exhibits. It was there that I saw several of my favorite Monet paintings, including Water Lilies, and On the Terrace by Renoir, also one of my favorites -- Impressionism is my favorite art period. I also saw some of Van Gogh's famous paintings, including his self-portrait. I couldn't believe I got to see these in person!
There is definitely a reason I have done kits about famous artists!


Two of the best museums that we've seen for dinosaurs are the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History on the campus of the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, and the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas. We had gone to the Perot to see a special dinosaur exhibit, but it wasn't nearly as wonderful as their permanent exhibit.
LOVE ME SOME DINOS!


The Louvre is on my bucket list.

[COLOR="DarkRed"That is one you need more than a day to tour![/COLOR]

[TraceyM]

Originally Posted by HavaDrPepper

I actually haven't been to many museums. Went to a few when I attended a couple of my Dad's Navy reunions in the 90's. Of those, the Smithsonian Air & Space was my favorite. We toured it in the free hours we had outside of the reunion activities and the reason we went to it...

We have a local Air & Space Museum and it houses the Spruce Goose. I was surprised how cool the museum actually was to go around.

[TraceyM]

Originally Posted by bienejen

One of my favorites is the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. It has a U-505 submarine from WWII you can tour among the many exhibits. And there are so many hand-on opportunities. My kids have gone there for school field trips several times and even as 8th graders they could have spent lots more time exploring. There are still exhibits we haven't gotten to. Maybe this year we'll make another trip down there!

We have a science type museum locally that does the submarine tours. I really must do that one day!!

[TraceyM]

Originally Posted by tanyiadeskins

I love museums, too!

The neatest one I have been to is the Salvador Dali museum. What a playful and creative eye he had. I love when you see his paintings that are one thing close up and then you see it from afar and its something completely different. Too cool. They also have a wishing tree out back with thousands of pieces of paper hanging all over from everyone's wishes. It was just a cool moment to see.
That sounds like such a cool museum.

My second fave was the one in NY City with all the dinos. I forget what it is called but I love any museum with dinosaurs. How crazy!

You can never go wrong with dinosaurs!

[lovely1m]

we hit up lots of little museums on trips. I am not one to read everything in a museum though. I walk around and look at things and read if something catches my eye. When my friend and I went to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame she was like that's the quickest anyone I have ever taken there got through it! lol I read about the musicians that interested me.

I loved taking my son to the Children's Museum and the Science Museum in St Paul, MN when he was little. They are awesome museums that he would spend ages playing in.

[Robin Carlton]

My kids are not huge fans of museums... I have three, you'd think one of them would like them... but no. They aren't into them at all.

*I* love museums though! Totally agree that the ROM is absolutely world-class!

Growing up in California I also have really fond memories of...

Balboa Park in San Diego. There are 18 museums / home / botanical gardens and the zoo located there and it was always an amazing experience.

The LaBrea Tar Pits in Los Angeles is so cool and the Los Angeles Natural History museum is absolutely awesome too.

I definitely have a thing for natural history... dinosaurs, mummies, pompei, etc. are definitely my jam when it comes to museums! Air and space and trains... not so much.

OH! Adriaan and I have also been to the penis museum in Iceland too I mean... if you're walking past a penis museum, you gotta stop, right?

[PictureMom]

American Museum of Natural History
The MET
New York Public Library
Ruben Museum of Art

[stephc777]

I have been to a lot. We've taken our kids many times to OMSI in Portland. I've been to the art museum, military history museum and children's museum here in our area.

I went with my daughter to Washington DC in 2014 on a guided school trip, and we went to way too many there. It was literally like "we're dropping you off - go see two museums across the street from each other in two hours". How do you do that? I walked quickly through the Natural History Museum there and the National Art Museum. I would love to go back again and really do a deep dive. We also went to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and the one with all the President's (and wives) outfits. That was cool. We went to Monticello, the Gettysburg Museum, the National Museum of the Marine Corps, the Newseum.

When we went to see our son in 2022 in Chicago, we went to the Art Institute Museum - wow - could have spent much longer there, but my family ran out of steam. We also went to the Natural HIstory Museum there and it was awesome. Can't believe we saw mummies, dinosaur skeletons, etc. So cool! We would like to go back to Chicago and see what else it has to offer museum-wise.

Tracey, your new kit is on my wishlist =)

[Scrap-therapy]

I used to love the Louvres and the Musee d'Orsay but never visit the whole thing too, there's too much to see!
I discover a museum in San Sebastian (Basque country) about sciences and love it: Eureka! Zientzia Museoa, you can do so many things there's.
Here's we have lot of Casttle, so not really museum but great things to see too.

[TraceyM]

Originally Posted by Robin Carlton

My kids are not huge fans of museums... I have three, you'd think one of them would like them... but no. They aren't into them at all.

*I* love museums though! Totally agree that the ROM is absolutely world-class!

Growing up in California I also have really fond memories of...

Balboa Park in San Diego. There are 18 museums / home / botanical gardens and the zoo located there and it was always an amazing experience.

The LaBrea Tar Pits in Los Angeles is so cool and the Los Angeles Natural History museum is absolutely awesome too.

I definitely have a thing for natural history... dinosaurs, mummies, pompei, etc. are definitely my jam when it comes to museums! Air and space and trains... not so much.

OH! Adriaan and I have also been to the penis museum in Iceland too I mean... if you're walking past a penis museum, you gotta stop, right?

There's a penis museum???? Actually sounds like you and I like the same kinds of stuff at museums.

[TraceyM]

Originally Posted by Scrap-therapy

I used to love the Louvres and the Musee d'Orsay but never visit the whole thing too, there's too much to see!
I discover a museum in San Sebastian (Basque country) about sciences and love it: Eureka! Zientzia Museoa, you can do so many things there's.
Here's we have lot of Casttle, so not really museum but great things to see too.

I was lucky enough to live in Paris for a year back when I was 30. I adored weekends out exploring the castles! I do seem to recall that I liked Musee d'Orsay better than the Louvre at the time.

[TraceyM]

Originally Posted by stephc777

I have been to a lot. We've taken our kids many times to OMSI in Portland. I've been to the art museum, military history museum and children's museum here in our area.

I went with my daughter to Washington DC in 2014 on a guided school trip, and we went to way too many there. It was literally like "we're dropping you off - go see two museums across the street from each other in two hours". How do you do that? I walked quickly through the Natural History Museum there and the National Art Museum. I would love to go back again and really do a deep dive. We also went to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and the one with all the President's (and wives) outfits. That was cool. We went to Monticello, the Gettysburg Museum, the National Museum of the Marine Corps, the Newseum.

When we went to see our son in 2022 in Chicago, we went to the Art Institute Museum - wow - could have spent much longer there, but my family ran out of steam. We also went to the Natural HIstory Museum there and it was awesome. Can't believe we saw mummies, dinosaur skeletons, etc. So cool! We would like to go back to Chicago and see what else it has to offer museum-wise.

Tracey, your new kit is on my wishlist =)

Thanks for the compliment of adding my kit to your wishlist. OMSI is very cool for kids - Went many times with my daughter and also took her to Portlands Children Museum (which closed permanently curing Covid )

[HeatherB]

I've been to the ROM many times having lived in the Toronto area for many years. I agree it is a great place to visit!

A fun place to have a guided tour is Taliesin West in Scottsdale, AZ. When we went, the tour guides were very cult-like, and spoke in soft tones that revered Frank Lloyd Wright. But very very interesting. His style is amazing.

Here in Alberta, the TELUS World of Science is top-notch with many great hands-on exhibits. Kids love it!

And of course, if you are into dinosaurs (and we are!), there is nothing like the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller. Our Scout troupe went for an overnight visit to the museum and we got to sleep among the exhibits in the main hall. A night to remember.

[stephc777]

Wow - that is so cool, Heather! What a once in a lifetime experience =)

Originally Posted by HeatherB

And of course, if you are into dinosaurs (and we are!), there is nothing like the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller. Our Scout troupe went for an overnight visit to the museum and we got to sleep among the exhibits in the main hall. A night to remember.

[joelsgirl]

I’m the kind of person who wants to read all the things and see every little detail…so of course my husband wants to do a brisk walk through and check it off his list! I HATE going to museums with him!

We’ve been to museums in DC and to Chicago, but my absolute all time favorite is the DDay museum in New Orleans. They have letters from soldiers and tell their stories, and I leaned so much about the war I didn’t know before. It really personalized the war for me.

[nesser1981]

I don't know if I have a favorite, I've enjoyed the DC ones we've done, I'm going for a trip in a couple weeks to DC for work and I'm planning to go to the International Spy Museum.

I also love that show Mysteries at the Museum.

[Spacecadet]

That's a tough question. I live in Virginia, right across the river from DC, so I have the Smithsonian museums right here. The American History Museum is at the top of my list, with the First Lady Dresses exhibit and the Hope Diamond, and then there's the National Portrait Gallery, and a small museum, Hillwood - the home of Marjorie Merriweather Post. Hillwood is a decorative arts museum with mostly Russian and French art objects, including two Faberg eggs.

The Victorian & Albert Museum in London would have to be my favorite overseas museum. It has a wonderful clothing exhibit too.

One of my favorite places to shop are gift shops at the Smithsonian, lots of neat stuff, great books and unique cards.

[liriel]

Love the new museum kit! I'm hoping to get it this coming weekend.

I love museums. I went to college in Boston so The Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) and the Isabella Stuart Gardner museum are top on my list. The science museum is cool because they have a giant Tesla Coil.

The Shed museum in Chicago was a lot of fun and had a really good selection of Egyptian items.

While doing college tours in Rochester, NY this summer we went to the Rochester Museum of Art and it was pretty cool for being fairly small. I was super excited they had a few Monet's for such a small museum. Now I just need a New York kit that isn't about NYC to scrap the trip...lol

The Natural History Museum in NYC and the Smithsonian are on my bucket list of museums to go to.

[Memaw2Wm]

I was born in DC and have lived in Northern VA most of my life. I love the Smithsonian museums. I have fond memories of my mom taking me and my sisters to see "the bones" (Natural History) on Sundays. I've taken my children and grandchildren to the museums on our own and on public school field trips.

I haven't been in ages, but my grandkids loved the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore, Maryland. And the historic ships in the Baltimore Harbor are fun to tour. My youngest grandson and I spent the night on the USS Constellation with his cub scout pack.

[TraceyM]

You all are making me want to go to more and more museums. I do see that we all have loving the dinosaurs bones in common.