Today was the Ghost Town Wild West Museum and the (all-time favorite) Pioneer Museum.
This was much neater than I expected, with an entire western town recreated indoors, complete with wooden plank sidewalks that swallow your coins if you drop them! There were many games that required quarters, and I ran out long before the kids were done asking for them. The mannequins were a little creepy and the electric piano was so loud that Theo spent the rest of the time with his fingers in his ears, but otherwise, awesome place!
More gold panning, and our absolute favorite was the black stagecoach! We all took turns pretending to be the passenger or the driver.
Next, we went to the Pioneer Museum. I think I’ll take the kids there every summer, it is so awesome (and free!).
The clipboards are for a picture-driven scavenger hunt that the kids can do.
I wanted to avoid the Waldo Canyon Fire exhibit this year because it made them cry last year, and have nightmares, all those broken, blackened, and melted toys and bicycles and dishes. It was very powerful and intense and I wished I had been warned, it might not be appropriate for young kids.
This year, they asked specifically to see it, so I took a deep breath and went in … and they did ok!
The best part of the whole museum, though, was a new child play area. It had a teepee, a pretend steam train and ticket booth, a covered wagon, a general store, and all sorts of period toys and dolls to play with. The kids ran screaming in excitement from toy to toy for an hour and a half before I finally had to drag them away.
