Little Trip

The weather here in Rexburg has been so beautiful the last few days (around or above 60 degrees) that it seemed wrong not to get out of the house and do something. I've been having a little bit of cabin fever with the cold weather and being at home all day, so the warm weather was just an invitation to get out and about!  

In Rexburg about the only thing to do is go to the movies, Walmart (yes, that's been a date for us before), the parks or out to eat. We've taken quite a few walks around Rexburg's parks and didn't want to be couped up or spending money on movies or food, so we decided to see what things there were in different areas close to home but not necessarily in Rexburg/Idaho Falls.

Originally this morning Dustin wanted to go to the Bannock and Virginia City ghost towns which I've never been to but sounded like fun. Until I found out they were in Montana!  I reminded him that the baby is really close to due and I didn't want to be in Montana if I went into labor. Also I didn't feel like a really long car drive because my feet

 have been swelling so bad.  We thought maybe we could check out the zoos - there's one in Idaho Falls and one in Pocatello, but both were closed until April. Then Dustin remembered that there is a Museum of Natural History in Pocatello on the ISU campus. It looked like fun  and Pocatello is only about 80 miles from Rexburg, so we decided to pack up a little bag of snacks and head down there to see it. 

We were also going to go to a flea market at the farigrounds and try to hit the Chrome in the Dome show, but ended up only going to the museum because by the time we got out of there it was getting late. The museum was really cool, though!

There were exhibits on the dinosaurs found in Idaho and which time periods they were from, the volcanic activity in Idaho, the Indians who lived here, and the fish hatcheries from the last 100 years.

The front sign of the museum - it shows the prehistoric bison that is in the next picture.

This was pretty cool - there were prehistoric bison that lived in Idaho and were SO big. The horns that you see on this one are actually only the bone core of the animal's horns. Animals like cows and bison have bone cores to their horns and then a material made out of the same stuff as our fingernails form the horns. These bison are known for having the largest horns of any cloven toed animal that ever lived. They would have extended at least a foot in length and 2 inches in diameter from what you see here. THe ridges on their back had to be that huge so that they could lift their massive head and horns! I wouldn't have wanted to piss one of these things off!

Dustin being attacked by a sabertooth cat. He's really scared as you can tell.

This is a wall painting to show the size of the mammoth that was found in Tolo Lake. It was HUGE! This is me being amazed at the hugeness.

Dustin with the Tolo Lake mammoth.

The leg bones of some freakin' big dinosaur. I think the sign said that it grew up to forty feet long and weighed over 30 tons. Dustin is six feet tall and you can see that he would only have come up to the dinosaur's knee joint.

I liked that in the exhibit about prehistoric animals they showed what their posterity looks like today. The skull on the far left is from the Dire wolf, a prehistoric wolf that lived in Idaho. Directly next to it is a skull from a grey wolf that inhabits Idaho today. The white skull is from a mountain lion, and it's sitting next to the huge skull of a prehistoric lion on the far right. 

There were also showcases on the Indian tribes that lived in Idaho and what made up their way of life.

These are some pants and a chest decoration from one of the tribes. The picture quality isn't very good, though!

This is a headdress and necklace - I wish I could have gotten better pictures but the glass made it difficult.

A cradlecoard that Native American children would have been carried in untul they were a year old. The exhibit had the most amazing bead and leather work items.

Probably our favorite thing in the museum besides the fossils was the Discovery Room! It's made for a hands-on approach for kids and adults. There were a lot of things to do and play with and we spent a lot of time in there!

Another picture of the Discovery room where we were able to pick up the different kind of rocks that are from around Idaho. In the corner you can see half of a huge clam or oyster shell.

The fossil area of the Discovery room. That animal you see hanging on the wall is known for having the largest eyes of any fish/reptile because it evolved after being pushed into deeper and darker waters. 

In the discovery room they had a table with all these triangles that you could fit together in different ways. Dustin was really into it and kept stealing my pieces for his side. Punk.

These I didn't really understand - both are spiders but they have ten legs! You can see how huge these things are next to Dustin's hand at the top of the picture. I'm just really glad they were all in plastic and very dead. 

This is a House Spider - if I ever found one of these in my house, I'm have a heart attack.

Bugs! The one on the left I can't remember it's name but it was SO cool! It was metallic green and blue on it's back and silver on it's belly. It really looked like someone had taken a jewel and carved it into the shape of a beetle. The one on the right is a long-horned beetle. 

Anyway, it was a really cool trip and although the museum was small I'd recommed going there if you're ever in  Pocatello, especially if you have kids.