Why I Love the Natural History Museum of Utah!

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I’m totally embarrassed to admit that it has been YEARS since I’ve been to the Natural History Museum of Utah. In fact, I hadn’t gone since the move to their new building YEARS AGO until last week! Oh My Gosh! It’s amazing!!

I was super lucky to attend a tour and it was fascinating, educational, fun, and breathtaking. I would have spent the entire day there if I didn’t have other commitments. But I already have scheduled a full day with my family next month when we can just enjoy everything that NHMU has to offer. I HIGHLY recommend you do the same if you haven’t been there recently. It’s worth every penny and more!

The Natural History Museum of Utah is set up on the foothills overlooking the Salt Lake Valley. The view itself is worth the drive up the hill.

One of the first things you will notice as you enter the museum is this huge glass wall. It is FULL of little bits and pieces of items from all of the exhibits in the museum. It’s a great way to get an idea of what you might be seeing as you walk around.

We went on the Highlights Tour. I completely recommend taking this tour. Whether you have been to the museum a hundred times or this is your first time. This is a great way to learn a TON about the museum quickly.

Participate in a totally unique experience and learn the stories the exhibits alone can’t tell. An expert guide will weave you through 42,000 square feet of copper to share with you the most exciting objects the Museum has on display. They will reveal all their insider knowledge, so captivating it’s guaranteed to spark new curiosity in anyone! Utah is an amazing place, and this tour will show you why.

Waiting for the tour to start. I loved the listening devices. It meant that I could look around and still hear EVERYTHING that the tour guide said. Brilliant!

Tour Schedule:

  • Fridays – 2pm
  • Saturdays & Sundays – 12pm and 2pm

Tours are $2. Children under 12 are free.

  • Tours run approximately 1 hour.
  • Audio devices are available for guests who are hard of hearing.
  • Group tours available upon request. Click here for more information.
  • Tours are subject to change.

We first started our tour in the Paleo Prep Lab. This was SO COOL!! Seeing how they prep dinosaur fossils was fascinating and a true treat. They even allowed us to touch a few things. So Fun!! Did you know that prepping one dinosaur can take hundreds of thousands of hours and 5-10 YEARS!! They have a number of new dinosaurs in the lab that have never been discovered before. Amazing!

Utah is such a dinosaur rich state. We are so lucky. They have found 17 of one dinosaur here and have been able to study it from baby to adult because of the fossils they have found. It’s incredible the time and effort that is spent. Can you believe that we have this right here in our own backyard?

It has to be a requirement to take a selfie with a dinosaur. Right?

This exhibit is so cool. You can stand right on this glass and look down. They have placed the bones back in the ground as they were when they found them so that we can see what it’s like for the people who excavate dinosaur bones.

I really loved all the dinosaurs. I took a TON of pictures. It’s easiest to just show you how cool everything is.

But dinosaurs aren’t the only cool thing that we have in Utah.

I was pretty impressed with the Great Salt Lake exhibit. Did you know it’s just called Great Salt Lake?!!  The “THE” that we put at the beginning all the time isn’t actually part of the title. I never knew that!

Be sure to step on the floor of Great Salt Lake. It’s fun. It moves.

Learning about the different wildlife at Great Salt Lake and why it’s so important to our way of life here was a treat.

One of my personal favorite exhibits is the Gem and Minerals. Most people don’t know that I actually took courses to become a gemologist years ago. I really LOVE all things gems. I didn’t get close to enough time in this area and can’t wait to go back and spend all the time I want.

It was super hard to get good pictures because of the glare off the glass, but these give you just a little idea of how awesome it is!

For the last few months, The Natural History Museum of Utah has hosted a special Exhibit. The Power of Poison! I’ve been really wanting to see this, and it didn’t disappoint!

The Power of Poison runs from now through April 16, 2017.

I grow this plant (Foxglove) in my yard. It’s BEAUTIFUL! I had no idea that it’s poisonous to animals.

Explore a remote Colombian forest and meet live animals that use poison in their daily struggle to survive and thrive.

Investigate some of history’s most intriguing poisoning cases, many of which remain unsolved to this day.

Find out which tales of illness, enchantment, or death by poison—from Shakespeare to Snow White—contain kernels of truth.

Learn how studying poison’s effects on human cells helps scientists figure out how to protect, repair, and heal us.

Watch a live theatrical performance, Poison Live!, that examines a real-world poisoning case from the 1830s.

This was so much fun! She is super entertaining and fun. And the kids learned a TON!

There is still so much more at The Natural History Museum of Utah that I can’t wait to explore.

If you are interested in learning more, check out their website! They have super fun Summer Camps for kids, Family Late Night, After School and Saturday classes, and TONS MORE!! Their birthday parties sound AWESOME!

giveaway

This giveaway has ended! Congrats to Cassie Purvis you are our winner!!

If you didn’t win, you might want to head on over to Love Bugs and Postcards! They are giving away another set and they have SUPER LOW entries!

Want to visit the  Natural History Museum? Then be sure to enter this giveaway! One winner will win a 4 Passes to the Museum.

To enter, comment below with your favorite thing about the Natural History Museum of Utah. If you haven’t been in a while (or at all) head on over HERE to check out information on all of their awesome exhibitions and then come back and comment with what your most excited about seeing.

Then fill out the rafflecopter below. There are a bunch of other ways to get extra entries, so be sure to do as many as you can, so you have the best chance at winning. Good luck.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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