Night at the Museum

Erica in the Hall of Rocks and Minerals at the Natural History Museum

Well I didn't really spend the night at the museum, but I did go to the American Museum of Natural History, where the movie Night at the Museum was filmed, and spend a good part of my day there yesterday. I heard a little boy tell his mom, "Mommy, I want to spend four days here!" Kid, I couldn't have said it better myself. Maybe it is because I could totally geek out while I was there, because I absolutely loved it!!! I spent so much time reading every informational placard around, especially within the Biodiversity Hall, the Cullman Hall of the Universe, the Hall of Planet Earth (geology), the Hall of Human Origins, and the Halls of Minerals, Gems, and Meteorites. I literally spent four hours total in those halls alone then had to rush through everything else in only and hour because the museum was closing.

Going through the different animal halls was nothing that spectacular - a bunch of stuffed animals pretty much. I would rather see them in a zoo, or even better, in real life (well only some of them, others are quite dangerous). The different cultural areas were great as well, but I didn't get to spend as much time in them as I would have liked. Going through the Mexico and Central American Hall I noticed that there were miniature models of the ruins I recently explored this past Christmas in the Yucatan. There were a bunch of people taking photos with the mini replicas, and it made me wonder how many of those people will ever have a chance to see them in real life. I felt very privileged at that moment. My favorite cultural area, though, was the Hall of Asian Peoples. I love all of the colors and art, especially out of India as well as the Buddhist culture - it is all just too beautiful. Walking through there brought back all of my desires to travel through and experience Asia.

Easter Island Head, aka "Dum-Dum"

One area that was moving was the Hall of Biodiversity, which really was about how badly we are screwing the planet and ourselves - cultural extinction, mining, over fishing, deforestation, invasive species, groundwater depletion, on and on. Basically it is there to alert the public to the critical role biodiversity plays in sustaining life as we know it, and to the ecological crisis we are now facing. Sad that I was literally the only person that stopped to read a single line, for everyone else it was just a walkthrough to the Hall of Ocean Life and the giant blue whale. Ignorance is bliss. I can't blame people for wanting to speed through to see the blue whale hanging from the ceiling in a massive hall. The blue whale is largest known creature to ever live on planet Earth, even larger than the dinosaurs. Sadly, the blue whale is now an endangered species and their numbers are dwindling below 2,500, whereas before whaling there were over 275,000 of them spread throughout the world's oceans.

Blue Whale at the American Museum of Natural History

Soon the blue whale may be joining the extinct dinosaurs and only its bones will be on display for future generations. Unfortunately for me I did not have much time to study fossils of the dinosaurs on display since I had only 15 minutes left until closing time and I wanted to make it to take a photo with Dum-dum (you remember, "Dum-dum want some gum-gum"). I did end up making it there right before they started kicking stragglers like me out.

Globe in front of the Trump Tower

Trump Tower

After the museum i went for a little walk around the streets of Manhattan in search of some delicious sushi. There were a few places that I saw but the all looked super fancy so I passed and resolved to go grocery shopping once I got closer to home instead. As I was wandering down the street towards who knows where a swarm of hundreds of motorcycles came charging down the street. At first it was total chaos with the drivers swerving in and out of traffic but eventually there were too many close calls that traffic just came to a halt (I have some video here). After that little show I continued my walk and ended up at the Trump International Tower in front of Columbus Circle. From there I headed down into the subway, where there were these fellas playing some odd musical instrument (video). If anybody knows what this instrument is called please let me know, it sounded beautiful. After a short wait I hopped on the train for the ride home.