Spring Break- Tuesday the Seventh

Tuesday was free admissions to both Mint Museums, the Museum of Craft and Design from 10-2, and the Museum of Art from 5-9.

So our first stop that morning was the Mint Museum of Craft and Design. We saw some interesting things, including an exhibit of Israeli pottery, but our hands down favorite was the Bruce Metcalf exhibit.

After that, it was lunchtime, and after lunch we set out in the car for the Charlotte Museum of History. I wasn't expecting a lot, so I was surprised at how big it is.



We saw quite a bit of nifty stuff, including an exhibit on mining. I think this whale tooth scrimshaw was my favorite. It has George III on front and a ship on the back.



Oh, and we found Queen Charlotte again. She was marking the ladies room. King George guarded the mens. :D



We took the guided tour of the Hezekiah Alexander Homesite. The house was built in 1774. It was your standard tour of a historical home. I love those, though!

I didn't get a shot of the house itself, but I did get a picture of a sampler dated 1799.



Our next stop was the Charlotte Nature Museum. It's owned/run/whatever by the same people as Discovery Place, so we were expecting something really good. We were very disappointed. It just wasn't much. A few animals and such. There was a small butterfly house, but we only saw 3 butterflies. Perhaps it was just the wrong time of year for them. We did get to see some cocoons that were obviously about to hatch, shaking quite a bit. That was sort of nifty. And the kids got to pretend to be praying mantises.



We got done with the Nature Museum so quickly that we still had quite a bit of time to kill before picking up DH to go to the Art Museum. We decided to try to find the Trolley museum. The address in our GPS turned out to be outdated, and we found where the trolley museum used to be. All was not lost, though, since right there was Tea Rex Teahouse.



It was a chilly day, so we went in. I had a cup of Earl Grey, and the kids had hot chocolate. Rather than being a proper tearoom, this place is more like Starbucks, but geared to tea rather than coffee. It was okay, but I thought it was rather overpriced. DS liked the Mexican cocoa he had though, so we bought a canister of the mix to take home.

Then we consulted the GPS again and found a Walmart. We made a run for chewing gum, soda, and a notebook and crayons so DD could journal our trip. She really enjoys doing that, and had left her journal at home.

By then it was time to pick up DH, and we grabbed him and headed for the Mint Museum of Art. I was surprised that they actually allow photography of some exhibits, although some are off limits. Here's DD pretending to be a happy statue.



There was a great exhibit from the New Orleans art museum that we really enjoyed, and an exhibit of Andy Warhol's western art. I really loved his paintings of Annie Oakley and Buffalo Bill.

We made a stop by the museum shop to make a few purchases. A hat for DS, a flip book of Degas's little dancer for DD, a Queen Charlotte ornament for me. Then we headed out to find dinner.

We found the Brixx pizza I'd wanted to go to on Sunday night. It turned out to be right next to the Seventh Street Station the kids and I had seen yesterday, but on the other side of the building.

I was thrilled to discover that they had soy cheese available for the pizzas. I ordered a veggie one with the soy cheese. I didn't think I'd eat the whole thing, but I gave DH one piece to try and inhaled the rest. It was seriously GOOD. DH enjoyed his food so well he ordered a pizza to go to have for lunch the next day.

Then back to the hotel and to bed.