before today i’d never gone to the museum of the earth here in ithaca. i knew it was the building with cool, modern architecture next near the hospital, but that was about it. i’m a big fan of visiting museums (especially art ones) so i figured it would be good to sign up for this trip and see something new. admittedly, i was never really all that excited by dinosaur as a child, so some of the magic of visiting exhibits with interesting fossil remains is lost in translation on me. (although i did find a great dino-hat at one point.) one thing i do greatly enjoy about natural history museums like the one i visited today is how small they make you feel. as we walked from the beginning of the universe to the start of the quaternary era (we’re in that now i’m pretty sure), i had to wonder how many years each step i took would represent. towards the end of our tour we got to see a virtually intact mastodon skeleton, which was very cool; it’s one thing to see pictures of them or read a description of how large they were, but it’s altogether another to see it towering over you. i can’t imagine living a couple million years ago and trying to hunt something that big to survive.

i liked this event. it was informative on a subject i forget to appreciate and i had a nice time. 10/10 would recommend.