Sunday: When I woke up this morning, I had an idea pop into my head and said, “Hey, why don’t we go to the American Museum of Natural History today?” You know, the one that the Night of the Museum movie is based on. Singing the high praises of yet another genius idea by their adventurous leader, the family packed up in their warmest outfits (it was snowing this morning) and headed out. According to my very quick hit on Google Maps, it was on 79th and Park Avenue, so it was really only about 10 blocks away, no big deal. Note: The question about whether to take the wheelchair or just carry Eli for a few blocks came up often. For those that might be here with your kids pondering the same question, the correct answer is ALWAYS “take the wheelchair!” We did each time and were thankful for it. When we got to 79th and Park, there was no sign of a museum, so I asked a doorman and he said, “Uh, that’s on the West side of Central Park!” I turned back to my bundled family hoping they hadn’t overheard the doorman so I could tell them we were “almost there”, but no such luck. I pulled out my phone and this time used Windows Live Search to find where it was and found that indeed it was on the other side of Central Park, but that 79th street (which we were on) went right through Central Park. I said, “Hey, it’s not that far, it’s just on the other side of the park and this street cuts right through.” Lacey said, “How far is it?” I replied, “About half an inch on the screen, come on!”
Note: If you are walking a wheelchair through the snow on 79th street through Central Park, use the sidewalk on the south side of the street. The north side has fire hydrants that are strategically placed directly in the center of the sidewalk, not allowing enough room on either side to pass with a wheelchair. Also, the cars drive about 5 inches away from where you are walking on the sidewalk, so watch for flying slush. 🙂 Actually, grand total, it was 1.7 miles from the Ronald McDonald House to the Museum. In fact, we decided to walk back when it was all over.
Later I told Barbara “You won’t believe what we did today,” since she was just recovering from the fact that I took her precious babies to Coney Island the day before and she said, “What, did you go walking in Central Park at night or something?” I was glad I was on the phone when I said “Well, actually, yes…” instead of being with her in person or I might have gotten socked in the ear. 🙂 Actually, she thought the museum was a fantastic idea, she just thought my chosen mode of transportation needed a bit more consideration.
Note: If you come to New York, you HAVE to come to the American Museum of Natural History. It is absolutely incredible. We started out on the 4th floor (dinosaurs) and it took us hours to make it down to the rest of the floors.
Keep in mind if you go that when you go to buy your tickets, you need to know which exhibits and shows you want to attend and WHAT TIME you want to attend them. If you go back to get your show tickets later, it costs more than if you buy it with the museum pass, so make sure you do some planning ahead.
I made a split decision that we would see the mythical creatures exhibit at 1:30pm since Eli is really into dragons (along with dinosaurs) and that was a lot of fun. We basically closed the museum down and had to skip several exhibits. It would take days to see absolutely everything. Eli spent the ENTIRE TIME saying, “And can you believe THAT comes to life at night after we leave, dad? It won’t come to life until AFTER we leave, right?” 🙂
Click Next to see my final post and the slideshow from our “Day at the Museum”…