writeknight

Got a chance to see the Mutter Museum this past weekend. As I’m into Ben Franklin, it was kinda neat that they were having a special exhibit on Franklin’s medical and health pursuits. There are exhibits of various freakish disorders, such as a horn growing out of somebody’s head, conjoined (Siamese) twins, etc. There is a large collection of skulls from around the world, and even two authentic shrunken heads. All in all probably the strangest museum I’ve ever seen, and pretty fitting to see near Halloween. It took about 2 hours to go through.

It’s all about bugs. And it’s the largest insect museum in the USA. http://www.insectarium.com

Just went there this weekend. It’s a giant hangar with full-size aircraft, rockets, and other spacecraft. Where to begin? Some highlights include the SR-71 Blackbird, which happens to be my favorite. That’s the funky black spyplane that can fly at Mach 3.3 or so, quite a bit faster than a speeding bullet. There’s also the Space Shuttle Enterprise (yes, the whole thing is inside), and even one of the supersonic Concorde jets. There are a lot of World War II aircraft there from America, Germany, and Japan. Included is the Enola Gay, the B-29 bomber which dropped the first atomic bomb.

I was both surprised and impressed by just how many of the aircraft on display are listed as the only one of their kind still in existence.