The Pacific Science Center

After our visit to the Space Needle, Brian N, Ryan and I had a quick lunch and then waltzed over to the Pacific Science Center. This place was an absolute blast! The Pacific Science Center excels in hands-on activities. We very much enjoyed a number of the exhibits.

Dinosaurs: A Journey Through Time
This exhibit was less hands-on than most of the others, but still full of interesting tidbits and factoids. They also managed to find a way to work The Far Side cartoons into the exhibit.

T-Rex and Shadows

Science on a Sphere
Around the Science on a Sphere display were a number of astrological displays. I got to check to see what my pregnancy weight would be on the various planets. I was a little concerned until Ryan stepped on the scale and I saw his “Earth Weight” was running high as well. I also got to fact check an Isaac Asimov story I read recently. Venus is indeed hotter than Mercury. Finally, I found amusement by the display were you could touch a real meteor rock. Ryan and I have meteorite inlays in our wedding rings… so we get to touch meteor rocks every day. : )

Vicky’s Left Hand (Sporting a Meteorite Wedding Ring) Touching a Meteroite

Animal Exhibits
They had a wonderful reptile section including a mesmorizing leopard gecko. I think our group favorite was the Naked Mole Rat Colony. They were well lit and busy little critters. In their community, road rage and pedestrian range doesn’t appear to exist. It was completely socially acceptable to trample over your colleagues carrying a carrot. No one seemed to mind one bit. I could have watched those things all day.

Leopard Gecko

The Naked Mole Rat Display (Photo by Ryan Somma)

Naked Mole Rats (Photo by Ryan Somma)

Kids Works and Science Playground
Here, we had a good time playing with motors and mirrors. We particularly enjoyed posing for the “Shadow Wall”, a photo-sensitive wall that would record your shadow after a regular flash. Unfortunately, those pictures didn’t come out that well. Many women struggle to lose their bellies after pregnancy. At the Pacific Science Center, I found a means to lose mine instantly before the baby is even born! : )

Instant Stomach Flattener!

Body Works
Body Works was super fun. We took turns maxing out the calorie counter bicycles, testing our reaction time, guessing smells, getting seriously humbled by the muscle endurance tests and checking our center of gravity.

Testing Center of Gravity

Insect Village
The insect village was pretty neat and we arrived just in time to hold a hissing cockroach. I also found a nice little spot to put my feet up.

Resting on a Caterpillar (Photo by Brian N)

Tropical Butterfly House
The finale of our visit to Tropical Butterfly House. At 4000 square feet and with 500 butterflies imported weekly, it really blew away the Butterfly Pavilion I saw at the Smithsonian in 2008.

Pink and Butterfly on Leaf

Yellow Butterfly

We started our day being disappointed in the Science Fiction Museum. We ended our day with opposite sentiments about the Pacific Science Center. : )

More pictures of our visit to the Pacific Science Center can be found on my Flickr site.