story and photos by Kayte Deioma
As I mentioned in the intro to Rainy Day Cleveland, my 14-year-old nephew opted out of a return visit to the Cleveland Natural History Museum, having visited several times on school field trips. Rebecca, on the other hand, had been on one school visit in first grade and couldn’t wait to go back and show her little sister around.
Personally, I suffer easily from museum fatigue, so when planning our visit to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, I asked: what does this Natural History Museum have that I wouldn’t have already seen at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, Washington DC or London? That way I can make sure I see those exhibits while my brain is still able to absorb them.
The number one “must see” item on my list for the CMNH was the controversial “Lucy” replica. The original skeletal remains were discovered in Ethiopia in 1974 by a team including the museum’s anthropology curator at that time, Donald Johansen. This earliest and most complete skeleton of a human ancestor, described by National Geographic Magazine as “the most widely known and thoroughly studied fossil find of the 20 th century,” was studied in Cleveland for six years before being returned to Ethiopia where it has been in storage since 1980. Cleveland Museum of Natural History has one of two reconstructions that is assembled in the upright position. Even my five and seven-year-old nieces had heard of the 3.2 million-year-old “Lucy”, the closest relative so far to the evolutionary “missing link.”
Also high on my list was “Happy,” the giant skeleton of a Haplocanthosaurus delphsi, the only assembled example of this 70-foot-long dinosaur in the world. My sister makes jewelry, so the gem exhibit was tops for her. The girls were happy to look at everything, but Becca had a hidden agenda that we didn’t find out about until we were heading out to lunch.
We started our visit with a quick walk through a tunnel into the Reinberger Hall of Astronomy, where planet models were at the right level for little hands to explore. Becca declared a preference for Jupiter as her favorite planet, but, like so many others, I am seduced by the rings of Saturn.
We backtracked out into the lobby to observe the motion of the Foucault Pendulum and took a quick photo of a two-headed lion before heading into the Sears Hall of Human Ecology.
Glass enclosed display cases filled with stuffed wildlife are topped by life-size natural habitats populated with two-legged and four-legged creatures looming over our heads. The girls were too busy at first coming face to face with an American Alligator at almost eye level to look up and notice the whole other world above.
In the Kirtland Hall of Prehistoric Life we found that our 150 million-year-
old friend “Happy,” the specimen by which all other Haplocanthosauruses delphsis are measured, was keeping company with his 160-million-year-old meat-eating cousin Allosaurus. Nearby stood, Smilodon, a saber-toothed “tiger” from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles (my favorite bone collection), a Mammoth and the Johnstown Mastodon from Ohio.
I was dragged over to where hundreds of millions of years’ worth of fossils were within perfect reach of little hands before I had a chance to track down Lucy. Then we headed into the Wade Gallery of Gems and Jewels, where my sister and her daughters discussed the wonderful things she could create with all those pretty stones. The striking collection of egg-shaped stones confounded Sarah, who was convinced they were real eggs from some exotic birds.
In the Reinberger Hall of Earth and Planetary Exploration, Sarah entertained herself by running her fingers over the texture of the Molten Earth wall and trying to climb the ledge to touch the giant textured globe while Becca tried her hand at making a rock on one of the interactive computer displays. Then we visited the Earthquake Zone, where Sarah had so much fun being shaken that she wanted to do it again and again. We convinced her that it was time for lunch.
Becca however had other ideas. “We didn’t see the dome. I want to see the dome.” Which dome? We had seen a dome of stars in the Hall of Astronomy. “No, the movie in the dome about the stars.” I was pretty sure we had passed the entrance to the Planetarium, but it had been closed. “That’s the best part!” Becca insisted. “I want to show Sarah the stars.” We asked at the front desk and determined that there would be a presentation in the Planetarium in 45 minutes, so we bought our tickets and headed for lunch.”
Friends had recommended that we pass on Steggie’s Café in the Museum of Natural History in favor of the highly-rated cafe in the Museum of Art across the park. We just happened to be visiting on a Monday and the Art Museum was closed, so we decided to try out the café next door at the Botanical Garden instead. The kids were quite content with their grilled cheese and chips form the children’s menu. My Cobb salad was fresh and tasty and Ellie enjoyed her bowl of chili, so we were all happy with our choice.
We rushed back just in time to sneak into the dark Planetarium before the doors closed and settled in for our trip around the stars, constellations and planets. I’ve seen enough Planetarium shows that I usually skip the Planetarium unless there’s an opportunity for real sky viewing, but I was plenty entertained just watching the girls enthralled faces as they looked up at the star show.
After the Planetarium show, we headed downstairs to the Smead Discovery Center for some touchy-feely fun. In addition to lots of furs, skins, bones and fossils to touch, there were dozens of toy dinosaurs, puzzles, and books and live lizards and butterflies to admire. Becca settled in for a while to examine a stack of slides with seeds, bugs and other tiny things under a microscope. Sarah flitted like a butterfly herself from activity to activity, always tempted away by the next possibility.
We lured them away from the Discovery Center with 
the promise of live animals to visit in the outdoor Wildlife Center & Woods Garden. On our way out to the Wildlife Center through the Hall of Prehistoric Life, we finally came across Lucy and other representatives of human evolution. Lucy looked to be about as tall as Sarah. The bits of her that look like bone are resin casts from the original skeletal remains, filled in with plaster to complete the remaining skeleton. The original bones have never been displayed publicly.
Once outside, climbing on the “Old Grizzly” bear sculpture by William M. McVey held as much appeal as finding the live animals. 
The bald eagle, bob cats and deer were all worth a few moments of observation, but it was the river otters playing “bumper butt” in their pond that won the day.
When I checked in with the girls a month after our visit to see what made the biggest impression. Sarah remembered the two-headed lion that I had forgotten about. They both agreed that the star movie in the Planetarium was the best. I asked five-year-old Sarah what she remembered about the stars and planets. “I remember the North Star,” she said. “You follow it home.”
For hours, prices and special exhibits at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, visitwww.cmnh.org or call ( 216) 231-4600 or toll free (800) 317-9155.
If you’re a regular reader of RainyDayTraveler.com, you might have noticed that I lean heavily toward science related museums when I am looking to get out of the rain, with or without kids. It is not because I was ever particularly good at science. It is because, like most kids, I prefer a museum where I am not only allowed, but encouraged to touch stuff. I may or may not get the underlying concept being illustrated, but I like to turn the knobs, push the buttons, move the mouse and generally play with stuff to see what it will do. My nieces and nephew are with me on this one. If it has a button to push, it’s good. If something actually happens when you push the button, even better. If we understand what happens when we push the buttons, we’re brilliant.
The Great Lakes Science Center lets you lift a one ton car, drive a blimp, generate electricity, operate a train, be a fashion designer, play music, fly a hang glider over the grand canyon and so much more.
Derick, whose first comment to me when I asked how he liked high school was “I don’t like science. We’re studying atoms.” was fascinated with the tornado exhibit, where he could create a tornado within a clear eight-foot-tall tube. The big black circle that made cloud formations that looked like smoke signals was also high on his list. “The noise volume thingamajig where you could test the decibels of noise
how many decibels your voice was
.” was also interesting.
He spent a lot of time on the various stationary bikes. Two different models measured speed, one generated electricity. The thing that impressed him the most was that the stationary bike used to generate electricity had high-end state-of-the-art Profile Racing cranks. This is a kid who regularly takes his bike apart and puts it back together. He knows his cranks.
Becca, seven, was partial to the outdoor playhouse. “It had the steering wheel of a boat and different colored windows and fountains. And I liked looking out of the telescope and seeing a big boat in the water.” The outdoor balcony looks out on Lake Erie and across to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
“I liked the part where the ball flew up in the air and my hair too
I looked like an iguana,” she recalled of the Bernoulli Blower. “And do you remember the giant wall of bubble? Derick made it almost to the top before it broke. The light on the bubble made rainbow colors.” “I liked making pictures on the wall with our shadows when the flash went off,” she continued. “And I liked when Mom and Derick rode the bikes and Mom won.”
Five-year-old Sarah called it the Body Museum. She was as impressed as Derick with the IMAX Human Body film. Her Aunt Carol is expecting a baby and the footage of the baby being born was terribly fascinating and relevant for her, providing many days worth of questions for her mother and aunts. Outside of the IMAX Theater, Sarah mastered the art of pushing the red buttons that sent a body in and out (and in and out and in and out) of an MRI machine. She also excelled at the concept of momentum on the outdoor solo merry-go-round and enjoyed playing in the Polymer Funhouse.
From their Mom’s perspective, the best thing about the Science Center was seeing the kids interested in and entertained by the exhibits and activities. She had half-expected her son to be a typically disinterested teenager and was amazed that even he was thoroughly engaged by the exhibits.
The NASA John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field specializes in power, propulsion, communications and microgravity science for NASA’s various projects. The Lab has been conduction aero-space technology research since 1941 under various names. From 1958 to 1999 it was known as the Lewis Research Center, honoring the contribution of aeronautics engineer George W. Lewis. It was renamed in 1999 to honor Ohio’s own astronaut legislator John H. Glenn.
The Visitors Center at NASA Glenn is a gem of a space museum tucked away on the far side of the Cleveland Hopkins Airport where most visitors or locals wouldn’t think to look for it. The 6000 square foot museum inside the research compound encompasses six themed gallery spaces including one focusing on the accomplishments of its current namesake, John Glenn. The John Glenn Gallery includes models of space craft from his journeys into space as well as replicas of his silver Mercury space suit and his orange Shuttle launch and 
entry space suit. A multimedia kiosk provides historical and biographical information.
The Space Exploration area contains models and photos of celestial objects with data from NASA’s planetary missions. Two different models of Mars Exploration Rovers are on display, the Sojourner, carried by the Mars Pathfinder and a model of the Spirit/Odyssey rovers that are still working away on Mars long past their expected expiration dates.
In the Aero Adventure Gallery, interactive exhibits allow you to sit in the pilot’s seat of a jet and choose which aircraft you want to fly on the flight simulator. In the Wonders of Flight and Seeking Solutions interactive multimedia displays, you can also explore the different types of aircraft and the new technologies NASA Glenn is developing to make them quieter, more energy efficient and more economical.
Other exhibits include the Combustion Module 2 Crew Trainer, dedicated to the crew of the Columbia STS-107 mission. The training module has been enhanced to allow visitors to perform some of the tasks astronauts perform, with film footage from actual experiments conducted in space. A nearby Space Module is used by the NASA Glenn Amateur Radio Club Station N8VC, whose members broadcast from here. The Microgravity Laboratory simulation shows how experiments are conducted in a weightless environment.
The first Saturday of each month, NASA Glenn Research Center offers tours of different parts of the research facility. Check the website or call for the schedule to see which facility is being toured. NASA Glenn Research Center is located at 21000 Brookpark Road, west of the Cleveland Hopkins International Airport. Due to security issues, only U.S. citizens may visit NASA Glenn at this time. Be prepared to have your car or cab searched when you come onto the Research Center campus. The Visitors Center is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday and holidays 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m. For more information, visit