Light Tube

It seems like all of the outdoor holiday light displays have an arched tunnel of colored lights. Maybe one of them is a wormhole to escape this administration. The one at the Science Center is a bit dull, straight and unchanging. The one at the Botanical Garden is much more interesting, curved with changing colors. We'll get there soon.

        

The Hospital At The End Of The Universe

Hope the Douglas Adams reference isn't too obscure. This was taken from the Science Center grounds and looks science fiction-y. The bright sign in the background is by far STL's biggest hospital, whose name reflects the merger of two adjacent institutions. I've been repaired there a few times. It is the hub of the mighty Washington University Medical Center and goes on for blocks and blocks.

There is a bit of university snobbery here. We have two old major schools, Washington University and St. Louis University, 200 years old in 2018. Wash U, as everyone calls it, is usually ranked in the nation's top 10. SLU, where I went, is in the upper middle ranks and has one of the weirdest mascots in American higher education.  All of my many doctors are affiliated with Wash U.           

Fireballs

It seems like everybody around here is doing outdoor nighttime Christmas lights displays. We have taken Ellie to Wild Lights at the Zoo, which was so crowded we'll never go back. Garden Glow at the Missouri Botanical Garden is the big one. We may go next weekend. 

However, the St. Louis Science Center got into the act this year. They call it Science Illuminated. There were a couple of demonstrations to amaze the kids. This woman, a chemist, is spraying solutions containing magnesium and, um, I forget what else, into a flame. Great balls of fire.          

Bite Me

Another scene from the St. Louis Science Center. Rexie here is semi-animated. The neck and head move up and down and side to side. The jaws open and close. It doesn't even bother the little kids.

This seems to be the STL T Rex district. The Science Center is connected to the planetarium by a bridge over a big highway. Just outside of that are a couple of life-size fiberglass dinosaurs, including a cousin of the one in the picture. Good thing the largest local emergency room is very close by.   

Madeleine Monday

We have a very good children's science center. Madeleine wanted to visit on Saturday so off we went. The amount of stuff competing for attention can be dizzying. General admission is free but all the stuff they really want to do has an extra charge. One small step for a kid, one giant leap for my credit card.     

Landscape With Dinosaurs

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A bug's eye view of a fiberglass triceratops and tyrannosaurus rex outside the St. Louis Science Center in Forest Park. Just fooling around. At least they existed in the same geologic era so I suppose they could have bumped into one another. (I didn't bother to look up the land range in which each of them lived). I'd prefer to be small enough to hide in the grass if they were passing by.