Jurassic Park's home

Big Mike

The Museum of the Rockies is a real gem, not to be missed if you are visiting this area. We saw three really good shows, beautifully curated, in a museum of a manageable size.

The first was the Tut show, most of the items being on loan from the Cairo Museum. I made me wonder two things: the first, WHY Bozeman? After that, I wondered what the cost of mounting and insuring such a show might be. The artifacts were very carefully chosen; just enough to give you a real overview, not cluttered with too much extraneous stuff. There were old black and white photos, taken at the time the tomb was opened, mounted on the walls with the genuine articles right there. Very effective. There is also a planetarium auditorium where we saw a star show, showing how the Egyptians used the stars to among other things, guide the construction of the pyramids. Lots of very well-behaved kids there on a day-camp outing. The Patient dozed from time to time.

The second display we saw was the permanent collection of dinosaur bones for which this particular museum is famous. In fact, Jack Horner, the dinasaur curator and field director of the MOR digs, was a big contributor to and consultant on the film Jurassic Park . Because of his work on the film it had it world premier right here in Bozeman. The collection is truly amazing. I took a couple of pictures but they did not come out well, so I direct you to the Museum of the Rockies so you can see for yourselves. Their biggest find was Big Mike whose original skeleton is on display inside. Outside, (see above) is a metal sculpture of him with the plaque, shown below, near his frame.

The final show (before visiting the Museum Shop, of course) was a glorious collection of ceramics by Picasso. These were plates, platters and pitchers from a private collection. Each one was more fanciful than the one before.

It made me want to rush home and toss out everything I have and start over. All Picasso all the time.

Tomorrow we bid Caitlin farewell in the morning as she has to go to Salt Lake for a few days for a Delta training session. So the Patient and I will take the little yellow Beetle and tool off to Big Sky for the day. More pictures, I hope. We leave on Thursday morning. Weather here has be absolutely perfect; low 70's, clear skies, light breezes. I can see why she loves it here. It's just a small college town in an idyllic setting offering much to see and do.

Now it's out to dinner to a local Italian place where the Patient can carb up on something other than the sourdough waffles he is making every morning.

CAVEAT: I am a Mac person using a PC. I have NO idea what this is going to look like.