And with groups of families talking to one another, school kids jogging around and furiously taking notes, and others just soaking in the atmosphere - it seemed to appeal to all ages.

It's also a place not afraid to push the envelope. The section titled Life Source, featured everything from little chickens hatching, to preserved human fetuses, to explanations of male seeds and female eggs. [Some parents with younger children way wish to bypass this section of the museum]. We even saw a small exhibit discussing AIDS.

Trust me, the days of Hemo the Magnificent are long gone!

One show that was not operating but we saw on our previous visits and highly recommend is Bodyworks - a small theatre presentation with a giant 50 foot long animatronic woman, Tess, who explains the inner workings of the human body. Very well done.

After learning about digestion and good nutrition, we decided to have some lunch on the first floor.

And what says nutrition better than McDonald's and Taco Bell.

They do have another eatery MegaBites - which had some wilted looking salads and some sandwiches. I'm not a fan of fast food, but went with the known entity -- the larger sample size, in scientific terms.

After an artery clogging lunch, we noticed that a section of the third floor was blocked off for a Members Only preview of some new exhibit. When I asked the employee standing guard what it was, he unhooked the gate and said 'Come on in.' That was cool.

It's a traveling exhibit called 'Speed' devoted to motion, movement and things that move fast. http://www.cosi.org/temp/pgs/speed/index.html

With exhibits built out of stainless steel and sitting on large locked wheels, the whole area had a mechanical, junkyard wars feel, but at the same time, very immediate. In one popular area, cars could be made out of Lego bricks, which could then be raced, a la soap box derby, and their finishing times recorded.

We enjoyed the simple area that illustrated the concept of inertia. Metal towers and simple plastic tubes can be fitted together to create a custom roller coaster track.

 

 

 

 

When a steel marble is dropped in the top, participants can test how the marble moves along the tube. Simple, but cute. Reminiscent of a 'Marble-ous Place' called 'Whirly-Dirly Town.'

The 'Speed' exhibit runs only to December 31, 2002.

 

 

Back on floor two, we checked out a bit of Creative World -- a large, open exhibit space, featuring Communications, Structures, and Transportation.

Sitting across from Dianne in a chair identical to the one she is in, this simple, yet effective set up demonstrates how sound can travel without the use of electronic devices.

Even at a whisper, we could hear each other talking back and forth.

Again, simple. But effective.

 

 

 

Hands-on presentations on everything from building materials, the impact of earthquakes, traveling sound waves, and the inside of your television remote control -- we were willing, but found ourselves getting a bit overloaded.

Maybe it was the new oil from the McDonald's French fries kicking in.

Megan still had the urge to climb the rock, so we headed down to the main lobby, waited in the short line, paid the additional $3.50, got her harnessed up, and watched as she got ready to climb.

She was working hard...

...and although she didn't get far, she gets an A+ for effort.

After getting unharnessed and back to solid ground, her final assessment is: "It's not fun."

Anything else? "My hands really hurt."