The Adventures of Three Old Poops

Thought for the day:  One aspect of serendipity to bear in mind is that you have to be looking for something in order to find something else.  [Lawrence Block]

Thanks to our anniversary trip to Dahlonega in May, Smarticus and I have a new-found interest in rocks and minerals. (Believe me, no one is more surprised by this unexpected development than I.) Anyway, because of this new interest, we went to a rock, mineral, and gemstone show a few weeks ago.

[Psssst! Guess where it was held? At a museum. Woo- HOO!]

See, as many of you already know, I'm an unabashed sucker for museums. Even though Tellus Museum is only about an hour's drive away, we'd never been there before, so by sheer serendipity, we were once again exposed to another new adventure.

Most of the rock show was set up outside, but the admission price included entrance to the museum, as well. The show was fun, with lots and lots of gorgeous rocks, jewelry, and fossils, etc, to gawk at, and I even bought grab bags of goodies from a couple of the vendors. (Okay, so I'm a sucker for grab bags, too.)

But enough of that. I want to tell you about the museum. Especially blogging pal Sherry... she and her family will be relocating to Georgia pretty soon, and I just KNOW her Bubba would love this museum...

Its transportation section contains a nifty collection of motorbikes, cars, airplanes, and even space age displays. There's plenty of variety to capture interest, but not an overabundance of any one thing. This 1886 Benz Motorwagen is the world's first automobile.

The museum's rock and mineral collection is large and eye-catching.   The little boy in this picture (a future geologist?) stood transfixed in front of these fluorescent minerals for quite a while, watching them transition from being illuminated by artificial light to startling glow-in-the-dark luminescence when the light was turned off. His dad finally had to pull him away.

In addition to all the geodes, gems, and whatnot on display, there's also a place in the museum to pan for gems and hunt for fossils. Smarticus wasn't interested in digging in the dirt for itty bitty fossils, but we did pan some teensy weensy gems.

Another section of the museum is called My Big Back Yard, and it's specifically designed for children to explore and learn. It looked like fun, but we're a little outside the demographics for it, so we didn't spend any time there. Now, the last section... the last section is my favorite. Dinosaur fossils!

Check out this bad-ass! The dunkleosteus, meaning terrible fish, had bony armor over most of its body, grew up to twenty feet long, and instead of teeth, had sharpened edges in its super powerful jaws. Needless to say, he was at the top of the oceanic food chain. This particular specimen, however, must have been a loner: he had no body. Nope. He's just a scary-looking head attached to a wooden cut-out.

I've always loved pterodactyls; don't you? Of course, none of them have ever chased me and tried to nibble on my flesh, either.

Of COURSE I touched it. What kid could resist? Boys, especially, love to be grossed out at the idea of touching an old pile of fossilized dinosaur poop.

I don't remember what this guy is, but he's kinda cute, isn't he? For some reason, he reminds me of a dog that should've been part of Mad magazine's Spy vs. Spy cartoon.

Naturally, Tellus has its very own fearsome-looking T. rex.

I tried to lure Smarticus into posing in front of this big-mouthed fossil with his mouth opened wide, but darn it, my favorite old poop wouldn't bite. However,  I had no problem with acting the fool. Actually, come to think of it, the role comes rather naturally.




So there ya have it. We went to look at a bunch of rocks, and discovered a whole new museum to explore. A terrific museum, with a diverse smorgasbord of exhibits from rocks... to old cars and satellites... to kid's stuff... to dinosaur poop. What more could ya ask for?

{The following weekend, we had another kind of adventure. After going to a car show, we stopped at a new-to-us place in Lawrenceville to have pizza. Best pizza we've ever eaten in the state of Georgia! For all you locals reading this, the restaurant is called Romeo's. Fantastic! Everything in this New York-style pizza place is handmade in-store, except for the cannolis, which they special-order from a bakery in New York City. Mama mia! They have-a some good food!}

                                      Until next time, take care of yourselves. And each other.

     [Don't be a procratinataur... embrace an adventure today! It's life's whipped cream.]