It is June in Houston, Texas which means two things: it is officially hurricane season and it is (unofficially) as hot as the surface of the actual sun. We are spending a lot of our playtime outdoors these days, but museums are also starting to open back up at limited capacities. I love having air-conditioned options as we move into the dog days of summer.
The Houston Museum of Natural Science has re-opened at a limited capacity (find all their distancing and safety guidelines here). Right now, they are requiring masks for everyone over 10 and are at 25% capacity.
Bebe and I love so many sections of the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and one of their hidden gems has really blown me away: the Weiss Energy Hall. As someone has retained a minimal amount of high school science, I wasn’t expecting to love it, but here we are.
Your attention is immediately captured when you enter the exhibit by the huge rig platform set up right at the entrance! It is SO cool, and gives a real idea of what a oil rig floor looks like for those who have never seen one in person.
There are two rides (I am waiting for Bebe to be a little older since they are a bit long, and I believe closed right now to allow for social distancing), but I can’t wait to ride to try them out with him. One is the Geovator, which “takes visitors on a reimagined fantastic voyage plunging down through the Museum floors into the earth, then back in time to the Cretaceous Period for an attack by hungry pteranodons and a meteor strike.” The other is called the Eagle Ford 3000 (because Texas), a “wild ride out to prime Texas shale oil and gas drilling country and down into the borehole of an oil well, made real with curved projection techniques and mechanical motion effects.” Very cool ideas to really bring energy concepts to life!
Even as a young toddler, there were so many things Bebe could interact with and experience, and the open spaces let him run all around. Bebe also loved when the moon and stars came out over the “Energy City” model of Houston tucked in the back corner of the exhibit. Older kids would really be able to take advantage of this exhibit – there are so many facets to it.
AND if there was any doubt that you should spend time here, please behold the bathrooms. This is a spotless (dare I say chic) public restroom in a museum. Excellent work, HMNS!
