Savage Seas is worth seeing

Posted by Joe Vandal
March 8, 2006

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Front entrance to Museum of IdahoI took my little boy to the Museum of Idaho’s current exhibit, Savage Seas. It was really good, and well worth the $10 admission. We spent a couple hours wandering around in there, which is as much as you will spend at a movie. Kids can always go see a movie and forget the experience 10 minutes later. Seeing huge creature fossils at a museum is an experience that will give them much longer lasting memories with their parents.

The numerous large fossils are fun for kids, and there’s fish tanks with some exotic-looking fish. There is a large projected video playing 3D animation video of what these creatures may have looked like. The second floor has two stations for kids to do crayon rubbings on some metal plates with fossil-like bumps. There are numerous shark jaws and various shell fossils upstairs also.

The museum has added a new section just for kids that is quite amazing. There’s a log cabin, caves that only kids can crawl through, a tree they can climb up and find an eagle’s nest in, computer stations with interactive games, and a tepee.


The best was the dirt box station with animal tracks. The animal footprints are attached to wooden boards. Kids rake the dirt flat, then press in the different feet and see what kind of tracks those animals make.

There’s the usual old Eagle Rock city gallery, the old school house, another tepee, stuffed wild animals, and a section on our nuclear history. They have a mini-theater that shows educational footage of the INL. I have to admit I gained a new respect for the site after watching the video. The nuclear power exhibit is also neat because of several listening stations where you hold a speaker up to your ears and hear different stories.

Finally, poke around the museum store on your way out and you are sure to find some neat souvenirs.

Take your kids to the Museum of Idaho’s Savage Seas exhibit if you want to do something different and create some long-lasting memories. Saturday afternoons are the busiest time, though, so go early or on a weekday.

Here are some large pictures I took while there (will open in new tab/window):

Shark painting at Savage Seas exhibit
Fossil at Savage Seas exhibit
Fossil at Savage Seas exhibit
Fossil at Savage Seas exhibit
Fossil at Savage Seas exhibit
Fossil at Savage Seas exhibit
Fossil at Savage Seas exhibit
Fossil at Savage Seas exhibit
Teepee on Idaho plains painting at Savage Seas exhibit

Education Upgrades, Out and About

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Comments

Comment # 1 by Holly on May 11, 2006 @ 2:01 pm  
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I love this exhibit. I’ve been a couple of times with my children, and it’s fascinating. Not to mention, they love the children’s discovery room.

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