Yammering Muse: A Good Start

I got to ride the Stag on the carousel and I caught the golden ring for the first time in the 26 years I have been going to Balboa Park.

We rode the San Deigo Zoo Train and I told my Mama to look cute so she closed her eyes. She's still adorable. Grace got a pink Conductors hat that she gloated about to the rest of us.

A very festive temperature of 75* made for perfect wading in the fountain weather.

After over a decade this exhibit returned. We missed it the last time even thought I really wanted to go, and then it ended up being at a castle I was at in England, but didn't get to go. So finally!

Sadly, there was no photography allowed, but I could write essays on this exhibit. Very thought provoking. It made me more angry than emotional, and it took us a good 20 minutes of discussion on the steps of the museum before we could go on to other exhibits.

If you are squeamish, or very sensitive, I say skip it. If you happen to be both, but your desire to fight the man is stronger, definitely check it out.

There's also an exhibit on Beer. On the 16th there is an Ancient Ales tasting, and I'm seriously trying to find someone to go with me, because this was a super cool exhibit on the history/origin of beer. They had this really cool wall installation (that I moronically forgot to take a picture of) with the word for "beer" in other regions of the world, and from ancient cultures, and a few of the words lifted from the wall with fun facts about the history of beer. They even included the Star Wars word for beer. It was really, really cool.

A Pacific Northwest Native Beaver Bowl.

Photographed for obvious reasons.

A Southwest Native Squash Blossom Necklace.

Both my grandmother and great-grandmother adore Southwestern Turquoise, and I have a huge soft spot for it.

Oh this was my absolute favourite exhibit! I've been fascinated with Ancient Egypt since childhood (one year for Christmas all I asked for was red nail polish and books on Ancient Egypt, Rome, and The Vikings. Somethings you just love for life.), and have never been this close to actual Egyptian Artifacts. I was in high heaven! I even got to give my family the Ancient Alien theories that correlated to each part of the exhibit. I'm sad I didn't take more photos.

And yes, that last photo is a real actual mummy.

I saved this portion for last because I actually could not contain my excitement. There were quite a few Egyptian sarcophagi, but only two mummies. However, there were also four or five Peruvian mummies (three of which were children and infants), which in conjunction with the Egyptian ones explained how mummification works.

It's one thing to see a 3000 year old body wrapped in linen, but it is an entirely different thing to see the still somewhat human looking remains of an exposed mummy.

I can see how some people might be turned off by that, but for me it kind of reminded me of why I've always loved History. These were real human beings. They breathed, and laughed, and cried, and felt every emotion I've ever experienced.

It was honestly very humbling.

I cannot recommend it enough.

There is also a Children's Museum area currently dedicated to Egypt. It features portions on learning how to be an Archaeologist, and on how Egyptians lived. There are costumes, and a play Market. We spent more time in there than we should have. I should also probably explain that I am currently suffering from a cold/sinus/imminent death virus and have been since Sunday night. On Wednesday my dad gave me some sinus pills with an active ingredient in a certain narcotic. These are totally legal on the shelf pills, but man was I feeling good! So while I was trying to do my best Giorgio Tsoukalos impersonation, I really just look seriously high.