Adventure Science Center - Nashville

While I do not have the resources required to back a major longitudinal study into children’s entertainment, I am equipped with a pretty good imagination.  In my imagination, I would commit a significant amount of money as well as the energy of the world’d finest finest scientists and statisticians. In a carefully crafted study, I would have them look into entertainment aimed at kids. Surfacing after years in a lab, my dream team of people in white lab coats would stand front and center in an auditorium, eager to present their findings to the world. Supported by volumes of research and a nice looking pie chart, they would share the following.

Matilda ready to take a look at something that wasn’t created by marketers.

After careful analysis, there appears to be three distinct types of kids’ entertainment.  The first type can best be described as god awful and doesn’t really need to be mentioned.  As a parent, you know it when you see it. Thankfully, this subsection accounts for a very small sliver of the pie chart. The second type begins somewhere around Ryan’s World unboxing videos and ends at anything the Disney Corporation has produced in the last twenty years.  While it’s not total garbage, it’s the spiritual equivalent of sugar. Completely devoid of imagination and creativity, all the offerings in this category amount to little more than extended commercials for some crummy product. The sole purpose of this material is to turn our dear ones into little consumers. Unfortunately, it also occupies the lion’s share of the pie chart and commands a lot of attention.

Disney Plus has nothing as good as this.

Thankfully, there is a third type of offerings. Far superior to the competition, this style of entertainment requires a little more effort to find.  Far from commercial, this group accomplishes what the rest of the field isn’t even courageous enough to attempt.  The good people responsible for the creations in this category treat children intelligently and feed their natural curiosity about the world. After a recent visit, I am glad to report that The Adventure Science Center falls solidly in this third group.  It’s an interactive museum just outside downtown Nashville that stands in stark contrast to the majority of offerings engineered to capture kids’ attention.   As I saw firsthand, It’s a place fills kids with wonder instead of treating them like empty headed rag dolls.

It was either a milk snake or a corn snake. Matilda would remember.

The Adventure Science Center accomplishes their noble mission by allowing kids to explore scientific phenomenon through play.  The museum is divided into several major exhibit areas that each break into dozens of smaller activities. From the Body Quest area where kids can explore human anatomy, to the Sound Box where kids get to make music, there is going to be something fun and engaging for even the most app enabled soul.  Make sure that your youngsters are dressed to play because in the Wonders of the Universe area there is an opportunity to strap in and experience the challenge of movement in a near weightlessness environment. In addition to that, there will be plenty of climbing thanks to a seventy-five foot structure known as the Adventure Tower. Full of ladders, slides, ramps, and spiral staircases, it was precisely the kinds of energy burner we were looking for.

The Body Quest shooting gallery.

Matilda cutting a track in the Sound Box.

The Adventure Science Center has been teaching kids about the natural world for close to seventy-five years and they do it right. Clearly, donors, sponsors, and employees care deeply about the place and its potential impact on kids.  The 44,000 square foot facility resides in Negley Park and is a must do for any family passing through town. If you plan on visiting, leave plenty of time in the schedule to explore. While I estimated we would only be an hour, we ended up being there more than three.  That was without visiting the gardens or the planetarium. While they do have a Subway, patrons are free to pack their own lunches and enjoy the view of the Nashville skyline from the lunchroom.

A rare photo from the trip where Jacque is actually looking at the camera.

This entry was based on a visit to Adventure Science Center on December 26, 2019.

Interested in other experiences that will keep kids away from their phones for the day? When in Utah, check out Dreamland Safari’s Ultimate Kanab Tour. If you happen to find yourself in Las Vegas, take a ride out to The Valley of Fire State Park. In Los Angeles, take a look at The Bob Baker Marionette Theater.

 Adventure Science Center

800 Fort Negley Blvd.

Nashville, TN 37203

615 862-5160

Madame Tussauds Hollywood

Just a few winters past, the pathway to fame was paved with years of hard work and dedication to a dream.  While fame was elusive, those who managed to achieve it did so by acquiring a skill that set them apart from the crowd. It used to be that famous people could actually do something worth commanding attention. However, as we close out the beginning of the twenty-first century, the American Empire awakes to a morning where fame no longer has the scarcity it once did.   Alarming as it may be, the traditional mechanisms that served as a vetting process to claim one of those coveted spots on Hollywood Squares have broken down. Technology has transformed fame into a commodity as readily available as a pack of Tic Tacs.  Anyone with the ability to speak into a cell phone can command the eyes of millions. It would appear that as the polar ice caps melt, so to do the restrictions required to earn the title of celebrity.  

On demand attention creates a problem.  If notoriety is as cheap and readily available as it has come to be, how will the people of these United States make a distinction between those who are merely well known and those who are real, honest to god celebrities?  If the ability to be recognized by strangers on the street becomes available to everybody, how will our super stars set themselves apart? As our great civilization stumbles into the immediate future, it is entirely possible that the one last status symbols will be frozen in wax at Madame Tussauds.

Madame Tussauds is an institution that has been immortalizing the revered since the time of Marie Antionette.  The Hollywood location sits in the heart of Tinseltown, right next to Sid Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Inside are actors and directors from the golden area of film along with a scattering of pop stars.  Built for the people, the museum provides plebs with an opportunity from a thrill and a picture with the stars. As one of the last temples of celebrity in the modern world, Madame Tussauds is filled with replicas of entertainers who achieved the title in the old fashioned sense. 

In celebration of their storied achievements, each wax figure requires four months worth of work from a team of twenty artisans. The process begins with a series of careful measurements of the star and then progresses through casting. From there, it’s off to hair, makeup, and costuming.  Finally, the celebrity’s doppelgänger is ready to go out on display and be worshiped by legions of adoring fans. The fact that so much goes into the production of one of these figures makes it seem unlikely that in the short term, the same resources involved would be devoted to celebrating an Instagram model or some twenty-year old dude who produces prank videos on YouTube.

However, do not think for an instant that the huns will forever be held at bay.  Posted just outside the entrance stands Kylie Jenner, a young lady who earned her ticket to fame by being a supporting member of a basic cable ensemble.  She’s gathered enough likes to get the star treatment at Madame Tussauds, but is technically not inside yet. She stands vigilant near the entrance, ready to jam a Jimmy Chu in the door and open the place up for the inevitable wave of YouTubers and Instagrammers who will follow. She waits patiently for her moment when she can crack the gate for her mob and displace the collection of Hollywood icons interred inside.

This post is based on a visit to Madame Tussauds Hollywood on June 26, 2019.

Madame Tussauds Hollywood

6933 Hollywood Blvd.

Hollywood, CA 90028

323 798-1670

Interested in the cult of celebrity? Don’t miss a visit to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

The California State Railroad Museum

The California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento has something to appeal to all of its visitors.  Any train enthusiast will be dazzled by the collection. Opened in 1981, they have amassed nineteen steam locomotives that are kept in immaculate condition.  With polished brass and stained wood, they look as sharp as the day they were first wheel out of the factory. For kids, it offers lots of hands-on opportunities and plenty of walk through exhibits as well as a collection of model trains upstairs.  For really little kids, there is a room full of Thomas the Tank Engine wooden trains they are allowed to play with. Any surly teenagers who have been dragged along on a family outing should be able to appreciate that the collection is indoors and climate controlled allowing for a comfortable place to wander despite the worst that Sacramento weather can deal out.  As striking as the collection is however, it really is a place that gets beyond just the celebration of machinery. The museum’s displays are well thought out and weave in a very human story among its exhibits. It’s a place that will leave anyone who loves trains satisfied, but it uses the trains to tell the stories of people that could have been lost in time.

The first exhibit in the hall tells the story of the First Intercontinental Railway and culminates with the driving of the golden spike at Promontory Point, Utah.  While the obvious choice would have been to focus on Leland Stanford, the museum carefully includes the story of the Chinese who made his vision a reality. Depending on who is telling the story, Leland Stanford was either a captain of industry and a robber baron.  In his lifetime, he built a vertically integrated empire that involved the railroads, banking, insurance, as well as an international steamship operation. He would eventually command enough political capital to serve as the governor of California for two years. On paper, he is the type of person a free market capitalists would celebrate.  While he may be credited with being one of the masterminds behind the First Transcontinental Railroad, the reality is that his efforts would have gone nowhere without exploiting workers. During his time as governor, he spoke out publicly against the influx of Chinese into the United States of America. At the same time, he knowingly imported Chinese laborers and used them to complete the crowning achievement of his empire.  The museum makes sure that their story is not left out.

At the entry of the exhibit, a life sized diorama features the locomotive The Gov Stanford, a Central Pacific locomotive used in the construction of the Intercontinental Railroad. It looks dazzling as it sits poised on the tracks, waiting to pass through a mountain tunnel that appears to still be under construction.  Nearby are three nameless Chinese laborers, hanging off the side of a mountain as they carve through stone in order to make Leland Stanford’s dream of connecting the United States of America a reality. The end of that exhibit features a painting by Thomas Hill called The Last Spike. Completed in 1881, Hill included two Chinese laborers at the center of the painting.  Both men lean on shovels and look at the powerful men congratulating themselves while standing on the backs of others.

Chinese workers are not the only people who the museum celebrates.  In the back of the roundhouse, the museum displays two walk through Pullman Coaches.  Finely appointed, visitors can get a feel for the level of opulence travelers once experienced.  The sleeper car actually rocks to provide the sensation of riding down the rails. In the dining car, tables are set with fine china where passengers dined as the countryside slipped by.  Quite honestly, travel in a Pullman car seems like it would be a wonderful way to cross the country.

However, that level of elegance came at a very human cost.  One person was commissioned to look after the passengers’ needs.  He was required to be constantly available and permanently invisible.  Those in his care would refer to him as George, the same name as his employer, George Pullman.  Much like Leland Stanford, George Pullman built an empire on cheap labor. Seeking a way to market luxury train travel to the middle class, he sought out former slaves to provide travelers with a sense of opulence by railroad providing them with a devoted servant for the duration of the trip. Porters were required to work long days and sacrifice their own identities in order for the middle class to feel some of the creature comforts. The workers relied on tips because the wages paid their employer were low.

The two cars are remarkably well preserved and could easily cause a visitor to get nostalgic for the good old days.  However, the museum makes sure to include African American mannequins integrated into the exhibit in order serve as a reminder of the army of men who worked long hours for low pay on the trains.  

The California Railroad Museum would be a great outing just based on the strength of its collection.  However, the fact that it does not attempt to sweeten the past is really what really makes it a museum instead of just a display of archaic machinery.  

This article is based on a visit to the California State Railroad Museum on March 4, 2019.

California State Railroad Museum

125 I Street

Sacramento, CA 95814

916 445-7387

Interested in seeing trains? When in Southern California, make sure to visit Angel’s Flight and The Great Train Show when it touches down at that Fairplex in Pomona.