When I mentioned to a friend that we were planning a trip to the Mariners Museum in Newport News, she told me that the little kids might find it a bit boring, or over their heads. But because I'm curious and because admission is only $1 during the summer months (!), we went anyway, and I'm so glad we did! Either we are boring or the Mariners Museum has changed, because it has been one of our favorite outings of the summer so far.
The exhibits in the museum cover all things having to do with sailing, navigating, naval wars throughout history, boat building, even the intersection of the space program and the sea. There is enough information given in each exhibit to satisfy the nerdiest adults but also tons of kid-friendly parts of each exhibit as well. There were ships to go in and climb on, barrels of seafaring goods to poke around in, wheels to turn, ropes to knot, and all sorts of hands on fun.
Anouk's favorites from the trip were: the computer games that simulated a sea battle and allowed her to trace trading routes around the globe, the exhibit on Polynesian voyagers (more on that in another post), the model of the ironclad USS Monitor and all of the information on that wreck and the artifacts that were brought up from it. Gus loved: the rooms of model ships (from the Titanic to ancient Egyptian barges), pressing the buttons in the WWII submarine, the spinning globe in the navigators library, and climbing in the wooden play boats in the small park outside.
We ALL enjoyed the exhibit on the America's Cup race, and all of the technological innovations that go into making these sailing yachts lighter, faster, and more aerodynamic. There were a ton of things to touch and play with, and seeing the catamaran that won the race hanging from the ceiling (it's so big!) was really cool.
We spent two hours plus at the museum and still didn't see everything. So we'll have to take advantage of the dollar deal and go back before Labor Day!
