We had already had enough fun for two dates, but we carried
on anyhow to part two of the day-date spectacular, or as I like calling it,
spectacudate. Microsoft Word does not like my term.
It’s tough to top mini-golf
and pinball, but we had both wanted to see the Sportsology (another Microsoft
Word favorite) and Mythical Creatures exhibits at the Science Museum of
Minnesota for quite some time, and we agreed to go.
The first part of the date, I should mention, was a
surprise. I always like to add a certain measure of secrecy when it comes to
the planning because I think it’s fun. After that, the day is open, so we make
decisions together at that point, and away we went to see the mysteries of our
planet, past and present.
Sportsology: Located on the lower floor of the museum, this
exhibit featured several options for proving athleticism. I was first up. My
goal was to beat both a Tyrannosaurus Rex and a ten-year-old girl in a foot
race. I’m not going to go on and on about who got a better start or why the
floor was more uneven on my side, I’ll just say that everybody tried their
hardest, and dinosaurs are extinct, not me.
My favorite part was a three-cage process, through which we
were given the opportunity to practice some sort of sports move, implement that
move, and then watch it in slow motion after being recorded by a high-speed
camera. I chose to pitch a baseball; Heather chose to serve a volleyball. In
slow motion, both of us looked as if we could have been on professional teams.
I discovered rather quickly that I could slide the progress bar back and forth
on the touch-screen where the replays were shown and make Heather do a little dance, to which I added my own
music. I had fun with that for a while, and then we meandered on.
This may well be out of order, but either before or after
the Sportsology exhibit, we wandered through the Mythical Creatures which was
pretty cool. It’s a science museum, so there’s going to be some level of
practicality in the explanations of these fairy-tale beings, and I liked that.
My favorite was the story of the cyclops, whose skulls were once discovered on
Malta and Sicily. It’s believed that the skulls of dwarf elephants were seen as
oddly-shaped human heads, and the hole in the middle where the trunk goes in,
sort of does resemble a human eye socket. The elephant’s eye sockets are so far
to the side, they may have appeared to be ear canals, or holes, or whatever. I
don’t know science terms good. Anyhow, it was all pretty cool.
On we went to the Omnitheater, to see a show about sharks.
Like nearly everything at the museum, this presentation seemed to be designed
with children in mind. As long as you’re ok with being a kid for the day, you
won’t be upset with the cheesy nature of the underwater film. No animals were
eaten alive, and nobody died; two things you expect when you watch a
documentary on the Great White Shark. Should that have been capitalized? Either
way, it’s always a cool experience to be encapsulated by a giant TV screen, and
we had a good time. The gentleman in the row in front of us loved his time
there, too, as he snored lightly for the full 40 minutes.
And the day was done, almost. To make a date complete, there
should be some component of food involved (twice!). Both of us agreed to try The Blue Door Pub, a restaurant I had driven
by nearly every day for a year on my way to the laminating factory, but hadn't been inside. I’ve never seen it slow, and that night would be no
exception. We were told there would be a 45-50 minute wait, which we were
willing to accept because we had been enticed by the fragrant aromas wafting
out through the doors. Not even 20 minutes late a pair of seats at the bar
opened up, and we bellied up and ordered a couple Juicy Lucy’s. They call them
Blucy’s, but it didn’t matter, they were spectacular. It was the proper way to
round out the date, and it is an experience I would like to have again.
I would like to think that years from now I am still capable
of taking Heather out on dates like this. I believe it’s critical to keep
things fun, and try new things. There is so much at our disposal in our big
cities, and I’m sure there are many more equally hidden and exciting venues
like Can-Can Wonderland that can be explored, and many old favorited that can
continue to be revisited.
Next up: Heather and Vince plan a road-trip to Milwaukee.
And now some more pictures:
This guy was actually real at some point. He may have been mistaken for Big Foot.
