March 01, 2005

Spring, 2005: Back

Oklahoma City, OK



We headed east and north stopping in Oklahoma City to see their memorial to those killed in the bombing of the federal building there. The memorial has two black arches separated by a reflecting pool. The time 9:01 is on one arch and 9:03 is on the other. The explosion took place at 9:02. One arch represents innocence and the other, healing. There are 169 empty chairs representing those killed; large ones for the adults, small ones for the children. Each chair has a name. The chairs are to the right arranged by the floor on which the individual named died.

Tulsa, OK

In Tulsa, we went to the zoo. The Tulsa Zoo is billed as 'America's favorite zoo.' (I don't remember voting.) The zoo has a special feature that enhances one's visit: displays of the culture of the peoples indigenous to the areas similar to a natural history museum. In the tundra building, for example, there are artifacts relating to the Inuits including a dog sled and a walk-in igloo. Other areas receiving this special treatment are desert, forest, lowlands in buildings and an outdoor Masai village near the African veldt.

St. Louis, MO



In St. Louis we were very pleased with what we found in terms of the zoo and science museum. The St. Louis Zoo claims to have been voted #1 zoo in the country by both Zagat's and Parenting Magazine. For more than two decades since our first visit here, I have been telling people that some of the animal buildings here are the most interesting and attractive zoo buildings that we have seen.

In the intervening years the zoo had undergone an extensive rebuilding. In the entrance building is a nature museum which demonstrates the classification of animals using live animals, mounts, and casts.

The historic bird, primate, and herpetology houses are still there. Built in the 1920s in the Spanish style with elaborate decor and open atriums filled with tropical plants, they house ultra-modern displays. The Bird House is the best with alcoves and columns creating the cages. Instead of bars or mesh, the birds and people are kept apart by unobtrusive vertical wires. The primates and reptiles are behind glass.


Penguin and Puffin House. It's chilly, Willy!


The new sections, River's Edge and Penguin & Puffin Cove are top-notch in displaying animals in naturalistic enclosures although we found the second to be quite cold. I guess that the penguins are comfortable.



The 1904 Flight Cage (Built for the 1904 World's Fair, it is one of the largest in the world.) was redone for its centennial and now includes a cypress swamp.
One of the best features of this impressive zoo is the cost. It's free. There are fees for some attractions, but most is open at no charge. Taking a cue from modern sports, there is extensive advertising. McDonnell Douglas, Anheuser-Busch, The May Company and others have their names prominently displayed on halls, theatres, plantings, or displays.



St. Louis Science Center

In the same park as the zoo is the St. Louis Science Center There are more than 750 hands-on exhibits in 11 galleries. There are displays suitable for adults as well as children. All areas of science are well represented.

This could be the best science museum of its kind in the U.S. Best of all; it, too, is free. There is a modest charge for the IMAX and Space Station/Planetarium.


One particularly interesting feature: The bridge connecting the two parts of the museum crosses above Interstate 64/40 has an exhibit discussing the banking of the highway as it curves passing below the bridge. Detectors are used to show speed of individual cars on the interstate.



Sarah on the 'Space Station'


Allen examines the space toilet. In space, no one can hear you fart.

Chicago, IL


The "Room of Famous Dead Guys" at the International Museum of Surgical Science.




'Body Worlds' temporary exhibit at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. It is an awesome exhibit of human anatomy using actual human bodies that have been 'plasticized.' (Photos were not allowed in this exhibit. The photo below was of a display outside of the exhibit.) Plastination is a process in which human tissue is infused with a polymer which preserves the tissue without altering its appearance.

There are 200 items in the exhibit including some entire cadavers. In some displays, selected organ systems are shown; in others, the muscles have been flapped out to show internal structures. Some cadavers are displayed in apparent stop-motion as a ballet dancer, a soccer player, and a runner.

The exhibit includes men, women, children, and fetuses. One was the muscular system and internal organs of a woman who died while eight months pregnant. One can see the fetus in the uterus.

The display that impressed us the most was the 'family group.' It was staged as a man and woman walking with a child straddling the man's neck. Everything from the bodies was removed leaving only the latex-molded arteries in bright red. The arteries looked like a red cloud.


Sections cut through a plasticized human body.


posted by Allen and Sarah at 1:06 PM