Places to see, things to do, all within two hours of home! Yesterday, I took a vacation day and had a great time! My daughters and I spent the day visiting museums located within a short distance from our house. Originally, we were going to visit the Polar Caves and Squam Lake Science center in the White Mountains. The radio kept warning about the threat of thunder storms in the Boston area, though, so we changed our plans at the last second so that we instead would visit indoor attractions. While it ended up not raining for the entire day (figures...weathermen are rarely right!), we still had a great time, and I'm glad that we went where we did! Our first stop, after picking up one of Maddie's friends on the way was the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center in Concord, New Hampshire. The Center was made up of two floors of exhibits and a planetarium. We started our visit at the planetarium since its first show of the day, "The Magic Tree House", was designed for younger children. The show was filled with basic information about space and was just right for Ashleigh. The show kept her attention the entire time, and the underlying story helped to keep the information flowing smoothly. Maddie and her friend also seemed to enjoy the show. Afterwards, we walked through the Center's two floors of exhibits. They had a full-size jet fighter on display as well as a replica Gemini space capsule. There were a number of hands-on exhibits including a simulator allowing you to fly the space shuttle, and another that let you try your hand at landing the Apollo 11 lunar lander. Other stations were designed to help explain gravity, mass, and propulsion. Overall, we had a great time, although I think Ashleigh enjoyed the exhibits more than the rest of us. She really liked playing with all of the hands on exhibits. She even tried on a fighter pilot's helmet, which quickly slipped down over her eyes and made for a funny picture. We next drove about an hour to the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum in Warner, New Hampshire. We stopped along the way and ate a leisurely lunch at a country kitchen and then drove on to the museum. I think my Mom and I enjoyed the museum more than the girls did. We opted for the guided tour and the tour guide was extremely knowledgeable. Ashleigh was tired, though, and needed to go out to the car for a rest, while Maddie and her friend found that the tour was too slow moving for their taste. About half way through the tour, I was the only one left with the tour from my family so I too left and ran to catch up with the rest of them. Outside of the museum, they had a tepee set up and a nature trail. The girls had a better time on the grounds than they did inside the museum. After about a half an hour of walking around the grounds, we left for our final destination for the day. Our final stop was at the Hood Art Museum in Hanover. The museum is attached to Dartmouth College and is free to get in...you can't beat that! This was Ashleigh's first visit to an art museum and it was funny to see her reaction. It was easy to tell what she liked and didn't like. She didn't seem to be a big fan of modern art. At one point, she said "I do better than that!". After looking at what she was pointing to, I must say that I agreed. Most of her favorites were outdoor scenes similar to the one behind us in the picture. They even had a painting of Mt. Monadnock! One of my favorites was a relief from the Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud. The relief was carved nearly 3,000 years ago! The amount of detail was incredible. Just looking at this piece from a distance doesn't do it justice. When you get up close you can see small details that the artist added that just make you say wow. The toe nails for instance, actually look like toenails! I expected that they would be little square blocks on the end of each toe, but they weren't. They had curvature to them and depth. Where the toe nail attached to the foot, the artist had even chiseled a little deeper to make it look like the nail was actually going under the skin. It was amazing! So lifelike, and yet one of the men is portrayed with wings! Why? what was the artist trying to symbolize with those wings? I'll be the first one to tell you that I am poor at picking up symbolism in art. Even so, I wonder if anyone really can tell us what is going on here. I love history, and I like to look at art. When I can combine the two, it's even better. If anyone can give me a reasonable explanation of why the artist put wings on this guy, please leave me a comment. Inquiring minds would like to know! . In all, I think we all had a great day! We got home around 10:00 at night after grabbing dinner out and dropping Maddie's friend off at her house.
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