natural history museum of utah

I have always loved natural history museums.  as a geology major at the university of utah i went to the old natural history museum for a homework assignment.  I found myself reading every sign and placard in the museum.  my favorite section was always the rocks, minerals, and gems.  the old museum on president's circle was nice, but drab compared to the museum's collections.  I was excited when i heard the university was building a new museum above research park.  The site of the building is breathtaking.  The architecture of the building complements the view nicely.  

The building was designed by Ennead architects, a firm i have never heard of.  It reminds me a lot of  dominus winery and the de young museums both designed by herzog and de meuron because the facades are meant to blend into the landscape.  They also used copper on the exterior similar to the de young museum.  

 I couldn't get a good picture of the facade, but you can find one via google.

 amazing view of the salt lake valley

 baby stephen slept in the stroller most of the time!  it was wonderful.

 this  may or may not be evidence of evolution....

 i loved that the museum storage had glass walls so we could view the amazing items not on display.

 glass floors in the dinosaur exhibit.

so cheesy.

oakland museum of california

Stephen and I have lived in the bay area over two years and we are still checking places off of our list to visit.  Recently, we went to the Oakland Museum of California.  We went in the middle of the day on a week day and it felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.

 The museum entrance. The museum was renovated in 2010.  I didnt get a great shot of the exterior.  I loved how the museum incorporated indoor, outdoor, and gallery space.  It is definitely worth googling. The architect who re-designed the museum, Mark Cavagnero, is said to have preserved the feel and concept of the original architect, Kevin Roche.  It really is a beautiful building.

 Loved this Viola Frey statue.  You can find another one of her statues, ethnic man, at the UMFA

 Going to a museum with a baby can be challenging.  He lasted about 15 minutes then we decided to lay out a blanket and let him crawl around outside while we took turns looking at the exhibits.

 These toys were on display as part of the weCustomize exhibit.  The museum allowed visitors to create these toys by re-constructing pieces from other toys.

 Loved this map that showed the diversity of the museum visitors.

 Hung Liu's exhibit was by far my favorite at the museum.  They didn't allow photography in the gallery, unfortunately, but you can find much of her work online.  Liu is a chinese-american artist whose works are personal, political, and very emotional.  My favorite part of the exhibit is a series of paintings she did after her mother's death.  She painted 51 small paintings within 49 days of her mother's passing.  I cannot even try to describe the emotion i felt when i looked at the series.

Museum rules were pretty humorous

Hand-Cranked drum set in the weCreate exhibit.  

Overall, we had a great time at the museum.  The museum had a great mix of history, fine art, and interaction.  It made me appreciate all the talent and amazing things we have in the state!

Visitors!

We love having visitors! Ever since we came back from Singapore we have been busy with visitors. My sister Emily had a class trip planned to the u.s. so I flew back with her and spent time with her and some of her classmates. Since my brother doesn't get many opportunities to see my sister he drove out here with Heidi. It was nice to spend some time with them as well. We went to the Golden Gate Bridge, golden gate park, he California academy of science, shopping, and out to eat.

A few days after they left Stephens parents came to visit. It is always nice to have them in town. We went to eat at some of our favorite places, muir woods, muir beach, and to the girl with the pearl earring exhibit at the de young museum. It was a good time.