Museum of Science

Saturday I decided to go to the Museum of Science. I have not yet been there since I have lived here so I decided to go. Also they are having a Harry Potter Exhibit and I wanted to see it before it was gone. This is another one of those things I did on my own that I normally wouldn't do. So many things have changed in the past year.


The Museum was a lot of fun I spent 4 hours there and felt like there was still a lot more to see. Recently many friends have told me my traveling options are limited without a passport. They say I will have so many more opportunities once I have a passport. But look at all I have seen and I didn't even need a passport.

I saw Mount Everest I even saw the summit.

I went to Egypt and watched people make pyramids

I saw historical Diamonds

Roamed on the prairie with the buffalo

Meet some girls from all over the world

Saw a giant grasshopper

Learned about snapping turtles

Saw a really cool chair made out of antlers.

Saw a Cheetah and Panther that could jump on you at any moment.

Saw an airplane engine

and Touched a real Helicopter Engine

Almost got eaten by a dinosaur

Watched an indoor lightening show

Checked out a space shuttle

Saw a picture called Cans Seurat it is made out of 106,000 aluminum cans the number used in the United States every thirty seconds

Check out the detail

This one is called Gyre which depicts 2.4 million pieces of plastic, equal to the estimated number of pounds of plastic that enter the world's oceans every hour. All of the plastic in this image was collected from the Pacific Ocean.

Check out the detail in zoom take One Yes that is a comb              

Take Two close up of the comb

I visited the Mayans and Incas

Went to Africa on a safari

Then I went to Hogwarts. The Harry Potter Exhibit didn’t allow you to take pictures. But there were a few things outside of the exhibit that I was able to take a picture of. The Grand Hall with the flags for each house.

The Knight from the Chess game. This is the Knight that Ron Weasley rode during the giant chess game.

The rest I can tell you about what I saw. They started us off in a room where we saw the sorting hat and a few people got to be sorted into the different houses. The people who were talking to us talked with an English accent it was fun. Then we walked through some big doors and we saw the train that takes the kids to Hogwarts. The clothing of the teachers and the main students were all displayed with their given wands and a few other accessories. When it came to Harry and Ron they had the dorm room set up with the beds and chests, the map, some of their books and wands. I got to pull up some Mandrake and I survived. Saw all the things that do with quidditch and held a quidditch ball. Saw Buckbeck and went into Harged's Hut. They had Hagred's clothes on a manachin and they were huge. I knew he was big but this really put it into perspective for me. We then went to the ball the one where Harmine went with Victor Krum. We saw some of the things the Weasley boys had in their store and we exited through the hall of pictures and they really do move. :) Then we ended up in a Harry Potter Gift Shop.

 

And of course it wouldn't be complete with out Harry Potter's Firebolt!

New York

I have lived in New England for almost a year now and I had not made it to New York which is only about 4 hours from Boston. Over President's Day weekend I was able to finally go to New York. My friend Graciela who use to live across the street from Sarah and I in Orem now lives in Elizabeth, New Jersey. I decided to take the weekend and go see her. She works on Saturday's so I drove down on Friday night. I got in kind a late but that didn't stop us. We had such a good time chatting with each other I think it had been almost 3 years since I had seen her. Saturday I went into New York to experience the city while Graciela worked.

 Yes you heard that right I went in all by myself, I know I am such a big girl now. LOL Since I started this "try a new thing that I normally wouldn't do on my own" I have decided to keep up with doing the things that I wouldn't normally do because I would miss out on some grand opportunities. And I am becoming more brave with the big city life. Graciela took good care of me. She packed me a lunch and called or texted frequently throughout the day to make sure I was getting around ok. I rode the train in to Penn Station then I walked up to Time Square and wondered around there for a while.

I went into the M&M store. They really do have a wall of just M&M's. They have just about every color you could imagine. Not just one wall but many walls and on different floors. They are called the Chocolate Wall.

 There was also a lot of cool things at the M&M Store. It took 8 days to make each jacket to sew on all of the pieces.

 

 

While in Time Square I also saw this man all decked out in furs. I was to slow with the camera to get a great shot of him but this one will have to do. This is for Joanna who served her mission in New York and she told me about some of the weird, yet funny things and people she would see. This is as funny as it got for me on this trip. I am sure as it warms up more weird and funny things come out.

I then walked up to the Manhattan Temple and saw it. Graciela and I had planned to go to the Temple on Monday because it was open for a half a day for the holiday but my schedule didn't end up allow me to stay that long on Monday I had to leave first thing in the morning.

 Then I walked through Central Park. It is an amazing park there were people everywhere. It was a nice little stroll through the park. I saw Hans Christian Anderson, who wrote children stories such as Thumbalina, The Little Match Girl, The Little Mermaid, The Emperor's New Clothes, The Ugly Duckling and many other stories.

I also saw Alice and Wonderland, the Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat, Mad Hatter and they even let me join their tea party for a brief moment.

I ended up just walking around the city for about 3 1/2 hours and I decided to head over to the church on 87th street and 5th Ave West. There was a Spanish Single Adult Conference going on over there. On my walk over to the church I ran into this dear old couple from another country. The park was covered in snow and many of the sidewalks were very slick. This cute old man and lady were trying to walk up a hill very slowly and holding on to a small flimsy wire fence that wasn't going to support them if they fell. The wife was way a head of her husband. I happen to wear my boot this day so I walked up to his side and slipped my arm in his and asked if I could assist him. We then walked right on up the hill and he was most gracious as he thanks me for my help. They had such a fun accent. Here are a few things I saw in Central Park that were picture worthy.

I need to return to New York again soon. Once it warms up more I would like to go back and go to the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty and a some of the other touristy things you do in New York. Maybe I will return to Time Square and see if I can find the man who has a dog with a cat on his back with a mouse on its back and I can't remember what else. But Joanna was telling me that this was one of the funny things she saw there once. I can then take a picture for her since she says it is real but she has no picture to prove it. :)

 The Famous George Washington Bridge! 

This is the top part of the bridge. On my way the other direction I went under the bridge.