Harry Potter Dinosaurs and Space Monkeys-Discovery Science Center, Santa Ana, CA, USA

My phone buzzed with a text message in the middle of the day stating "…any plans this Sunday?  BofA free museum weekend this weekend!".  My eyes lit up.  Free.  Museum.  Uh, yes please!  Through the flurry of ensuing texts and a phone call from A.Y. when he took pity on my pathetic text messaging plan, we decided on the Discovery Science Center.  That second Sunday in July, after church, A.Y. drove over to our apartment to pick me up.  Rick declined our grand scientific exploration in light of his recent ocular surgery, lying with sunglasses in our dark living room like some mysterious vampire. 

When we arrived at the parking lot, we goggled at the huge black cube hanging off the side and the rocket pointing straight up the sky.  Then further shocked when we discovered the free parking, normally $4.  Free admission ($15.95/adult) plus free parking.  A savings of practically $36.  Our Asian hearts wiggled in glee.  We passed a large contraption clanking in perpetual motion on our way to the front counter.  Whipping out our Bank of America debit cards, we compared old pictures taken a decade ago and told each other we hadn’t aged a day.  The woman at the front barely glanced at the pictures before handing us our tickets. 

Waist-height kids ran every which way, narrowly missing our legs.  A science presentation started off in the corner and we stayed to watch for about five minutes before all the other displays around distracted us.  We busied ourselves building fortifications for an exhibit of castles sponsored by Lego, then wandered through to the Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit.  There, we poked and prodded everything we could touch and peered closely at everything we weren’t allowed to touch.  I became motivated to work harder, surrounded by the physical manifestation of a single man’s thoughts.  If he only had twenty-four hours in a day and lived a normal lifespan (by our standards), then I had no excuse for whining about how little time I had to accomplish my dreams. 

We climbed to the second floor, the stairs guarded by a fascinating harp with invisible strings.  The second floor contained all the year-round exhibits.  We pinballed through all of them, exclaiming over each one, then distracted by the next.  A large sphere hung in the middle of a corner room, video projected on it so that it changed from moment to moment, from Jupiter to Saturn to the hurricane patterns or the turtle migrations of Earth.  For a long time, we sat on the benches set along the perimeter, watching the globe change color and resting our aching feet.  

A.Y. herded me towards the huge dinosaur land outside, and we braved the hot afternoon sun walking through the innards of a brontosaurus.  We watched children rushing around to various objects set around the area, tapping them with a plastic wand.  Sometimes the object moved, revealing the delicate tracings of a fossil or a hidden crystal.  Sometimes, the object blared out, "This is not part of your quest," startling the poor child into dashing off again.  I wondered if the students at Hogwarts would’ve studied dinosaurs in a similar manner.  Finally, the hot sun took its toll on me and we took shelter inside the big black cube surrounded by the explosive whooshes of water rockets shooting high.  The walls of the cube were perforated, so we could stare out at the busy patterns of the freeway. 

Near closing time, we made our way back inside.  A.Y. laughed as I created a stop motion film involving two astronauts and a space monkey a la 2001: A Space Odyssey.  Ending our adventure through a fake plastic supermarket, we found it a good transition back into the real world. 

Details: 

Bank of America Museums on US
First FULL weekend of each month
Museum hours vary

**This Travel Tale is part of the Summer California Series, where we try to enjoy all the goodies Southern California has to offer before we take off on our trip.