The Basilica of St Josaphat - Milwaukee, WI

The Basilica of St Josaphat - Milwaukee, WI

This beautiful Franciscan Basilica of St. Josaphat in South Milwaukee gives FREE tours every Sunday after the 10AM mass, but you are free to roam around and take photos when services are not in session. The tour is worth attending to learn about the rich history of the building of the Basilica and the incredible dedication and contributions of the Catholic and Polish members of the local community who helped physically and financially build the church over the years. The architecture and art is awe-inspiring and the pipe organ sounds incredible (would love to hear Bach's 'Toccata and Fugue' in D Minor in that Basilica on that organ). 

There is a smaller chapel in the basement of the Basilica that contains a variety of holy relics that is also worth viewing.

https://thebasilica.org

National Mustard Museum - Middleton, WI

National Mustard Museum - Middleton, WI

The National Mustard Museum is an absolute gastronomic treasure. It boasts of over 6090 varieties of mustard from across the United States and 70 countries around globe. Learn the history of mustard and taste as may flavors as you like upstairs in the tasting room! There is a short movie (shown in the luxurious MustardPiece Theatre, a large gallery of curiosities and more. The staff are very friendly and provide excellent recommendations for your mustard needs.

When you travel to Middleton, WI this a must see. Entrance is free, but you'll end up buying some spicy souvenirs on the way out.  ;-)

 

https://mustardmuseum.com

Cosmosphere - Hutchinson, KS

Cosmosphere - Space Museum in Hutchinson, Kansas

If you're a Space Geek and ever anywhere near Hutchinson, Kansas you have to make time to visit the Cosmosphere - International SciEd and Space Museum. The Cosmosphere is an amazing space history museum in the heart of America. It started in 1962 as a planetarium and then quickly grew as it became part of the Hutchinson Community College. The museum contains an impressive variety of space history artifacts from relics from the lab of Dr Robert Goddard ('father' of the modern rocketry), to the auspicious German V-2 rockets that were captured at the end of WWII and used in engineering research in the first years of the US space program, to actual space-flown equipment such as a Soviet 'Vostok' capsule and the US Command Module "Odyssey" from Apollo 13.  The museum contains hundreds of fascinating items detailing all aspects of the manned space programs in the United States and the former Soviet Union). You can (and should) spend hours combing through the collections and taking in each item.

Apollo Program Lunar Module

V-2 Rocket model

Soviet Cosmonaut Spacesuit

Bell X-1 Rocket "Glamorous Glennis" replica

Sputnik replica 

'Vostok 1' replica (spacecraft flown by first person to travel to space - Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin )

Apollo era spacesuits 

This museum is great for all ages and be sure to check out the Dr Robert Goddard's lab show where a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic docent conducts experiments highlighting Dr Goddard's critical contributions to modern rocketry (which sadly few people outside of the Space geek community know of or appreciate).

http://cosmo.org

Strataca - Underground Salt Mine

Strataca - Underground Salt Mine - Hutchinson, Kansas

We left AZ right as the 2018 Monsoon season began to hit and we headed East. We drove through New Mexico (which we have travelled to before), a small portion of Texas, Arkansas, and then into Kansas! After two days on the road with kids and cats new we needed a break and so we headed to Hutchinson, Kansas for a respite from the journey. First up was Strataca - Underground Salt Mine Museum and still active salt mine.  There are currently only 15 active salt mines in the U.S. but if you ever have the chance to come and visit this one, please do. After a short history video and safety briefing you grab a hard hat and enter a mine shaft elevator and descend 650 feet down into the mines where it is always 72*. There is a guide in each car of the elevator for the 90 second ride and shares info about the decent. Once safely down you are free to roam the exhibits which cover how the salt deposits were formed by the Permian Sea approximatly 299 million years ago up through examples of equipment used in the mine today. The salt in this mine is not for consumption but for industrial uses such as salting the roads in Chicago during the winter. Whether you are a geology fan, spelunker, or part-time Morlock hunter there is something fun to learn about in the salt mine.  

The area for the tours was mined in the 1940's and 50's and get to see what the miners left behind (it was cheaper to leave many things in place than move them to the new active areas of the mine). There is an electric mine cart excursion where the guide points out geologic and man-made items of interest. You can see instances of recent geologic activity such as buckling of the floor and roof in some chambers. You can see chambers that the miners used for break rooms and where they dropped their banana peels and Hershey Chocolate bar wrappers - all well preserved in the unique conditions of the mine. They have a special ride deep into the mine and we even were given the chance to mine for salt ourselves (actually you are able to sort through existing salt mine tailings for 'pretty' samples. I have cleaned and proteced our salt rocks so that I can proudly display them on the kitchen table.

Another fascinating part of the tour is how the mine is actively being used as a secure safe longterm storage facility - it is highly secure, a constant 72* and very low humidity which makes it an ideal location for storing important documents, digital storage media, and film. The 'Morlock' hunting reference is because Hollywood studios are storing copies of historic films and the museum includes props and posters from many older and recent movies.

Of course ... you exit through the Gift Shop before heading back to the mine shaft elevator and return the surface. The mine museum also hosts events through the year including a 5K and a bicycle race. We're hoping to return for the 5K in February.

http://www.kansastravel.org/hutchinson/kansasundergroundsaltmuseum.htm

http://underkansas.org

AZ Field Trip MOM has moved!

AZ Field Trip MOM has moved ... to Wisconsin!

It has been busy crazy in my little world lately!  Just this past July my family and I moved to Wisconsin. Why? Mostly for my husbands job. I must admit though we have wanted to move for quite a while. New adventures, new GS activities and the previously mythical 'seasons'! - We will actually experience seasons like 'fall', 'winter', and 'spring.' Now I hear that the winter here is said to be brutal, but, with the help of deliveries, AppleTV, NETFLIX, and my trusty treadmill I think we can get thru this.

While traveling to Wisconsin we stopped along the way to take a few pictures and see some new sites. Stay tuned for new posts of our adventures in the Midwest and a new blog name for these adventure - Wisconsin Field Trip Mom.

#GeekFieldTrips New Mexico Museum of Space Flight and the White Sands Missile Range Museum

New Mexico Museum of Space Flight and the White Sands Missile Range Museum

Alamogordo is the home to the New Mexico Museum of Space History which also is the home of the International Space Hall of Fame and the gravesite of 'Hamm' - the first chimpanzee in space. The Museum of Space Flight is dedicated to educate about New Mexico's role in the space age and contains many interesting artifacts and displays related to space flight. Alamogordo is also near the White Sands Missile Range which also played an important role in scientific and military rocketry research and development and has an fascinating museum on the base. 

New Mexico played a vital role in the development of rocket science long before there was an official US Space Program and the creation of NASA.  Dr. Robert Goddard, a pioneering engineer and inventor of the first liquid-fueled rockets, moved to New Mexico in the 1930s to continue his research and the wide-open and flat expanses of the state provided an excellent location for testing new rockets. During the Space Race, NASA conducted a lot of research and testing of rocket engines and hardware and still maintains R&D facilities in the area.

The Museum has several exhibits outside that immediately draw your attention including a full scale Little Joe rocket (used by NASA to test the escape rockets for the Apollo Command Module), a F-1 Engine (these are the largest rocket engine ever created and used to propel the Saturn V rockets from the launch pad and into Earth orbit). There is also the wreckage of an infamous V2 rocket which highlights the darker side of rocketry, but yet also played an important role in the research of rocketry, propulsion, and guidance which Werner Von Braun and others built upon as they developed the Saturn V rocket that took 24 men to the Moon between 1968 and 1972. 

Once inside the museum you head to the 4th floor which contains exhibits of Sputnik (considered the starting salvo of the US / USSR Space Race), models of Soviet and American space capsules, and various space exploration related equipment. The walls are also lined with the photos and short bios of the men and women who have been indicted into the International Space Hall of Fame (astronauts, scientists, visionaries who contributed to the birth and growth of spaceflight). There is even an area you can try on a fake space suit and pose for your out of this world selfies. The museum is a tribute to the vital role New Mexico played in the development of the US Space Program. 

White Sands Missile Range Museum

New Mexico is also home to the White Sands Missile Range which is an active US Army base which mission is to assist in the research, development, and testing of rockets, missiles, and other types of military and special equipment. The museum is open 10 to 4 but is on the base and so you will need to park outside the gates and check in at the visitor center or with the base security officers to then walk over to the museum. The museum consists of static displays of various missiles and rockets from each branch of the US military and two buildings with historically significant artifacts including a full scale mockup of a V2 rocket (many V2s were tested at WSMR by Dr. Werner Von Braun and other giants of the space program).  One of the most interesting displays was a Redstone rocket which is a replica of the rocket Alan Shepard flew to become the first American in space on May 5th, 1961. What was fascinating about it is the rocket is so small and primitive compared to the enormous Saturn V rocket that carried Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins to the Moon a mere 8 years and 2 months later.  

http://www.nmspacemuseum.org

http://www.wsmr-history.org