Local Review: Texas Memorial Museum

We went to the Texas Memorial Museum for a while this Sunday afternoon. It wasn't quite naptime and for once I had worn comfortable shoes to church, so we strollered around for a bit.

It is a small museum on the University of Texas campus. When you walk in, there is a huge pterosaur hanging from the ceiling. It is pretty impressive for the little ones!

This is an easy museum to wander through when you don't have a full day or even necessarily a half-day to devote to an activity. First, it is free. This is really nice when you've got the kiddos and you know their attention span is not going to justify the purchase price of museum tickets. Second, it's mostly eye-candy in the form of fossils, beetles, crystals, etc. There isn't a lot of information to read so you are free to just look.

On the down side, not every area was easily stroller accessible. Some areas were split level and the wheelchair lift didn't seem like a fit for the stroller. Also, the lack of information about the displays can be a little irritating if you really want to know about an item. If you want more information, there is an audio tour you can access via your cell phone, but of course the kids aren't going to listen to that. Actually, it was too echo-y for me to hear it either. Finally, it had a bit of a broken-down feel in a couple of spots. The kids didn't mind at all, but I find even a few spots of disrepair to be disheartening.

So, I would say this is a great choice if you've got an hour or so downtown and just want to see some cool fossils. But it's not a primary destination.

As you see, Sammy was finally lulled to sleep!