Tennessee State Museum

With Monkey visiting my mom, the house is a little empty, so it seemed like a good chance to do some exploring of new places and spaces with the youngers.

We headed to the Tennessee State Museum in downtown Nash. I had heard great things from friends, but with two skeptics on my hands, I wasn’t sure how things would pan out.

It was a hit with all of us.

The museum is housed in a formal state government-looking building, so there’s little idea of what to expect. This was Buster’s opinion of the outing before we began:

I had to muster enough enthusiasm for all three of us:

On a side note, Buster did say this shirt made me very “huggable.”

The view from the balcony overlooking the first floor of the museum looked very promising.

Forever ruined by Darcy and Dan’s wedding Conestoga Wagon:

both children were immediately asking, “Can we get in that?”

You can’t.

But, you can plan out what you would take in your Conestoga Wagon for your trek across the country.

Furniture?

Nope.

Seeds?

Yes.

Mattress?

Nope.

Ice Sculpture?

Nope.

Cow?

Walking along behind.

We also saw this awesome Native American canoe:

Since it can hold 15-20 adults, seems perfect for the annual trip we do with Buddie’s family.

The children were not amused by this suggestion.

(80% of the things I do are for my own amusement anyway.)

Lots to learn about Nashville:

And these two spent 40 minutes playing checkers while I was able to leisurely explore the exhibits around them to my heart’s content.

Rather than use the blocks, they spent a fair amount of time re-enacting the “singing on the steps” scene from The Sound of Music.

We’re artsy that way.

There was a fantastic photography exhibit by Benjamin Walls.

They were attempting to mirror each other across the frame, but it devolved into punching and laughing:

There were the Smithsonian-esque wax-faced exhibits:

A splendid quilt display and activity area:

An old fire engine pumper:

And in an unexplained “Why the heck?!” the museum also sports an Egyptian Mummy and a mummified cat.

Cats may have been considered holy back then, but mummified they look like a large piece of…something.

The children insisted I show them reclining on the 360 degree chair (their description):

And, finally, we were laughing about these royal-looking thrones that look so luscious and comfortable. They are, in fact, made of incredibly hard plastic.

After the museum, we headed over to Pied Piper Creamery to try some local ice cream. They were making fresh waffle cones as we walked in the door, so the children had warm waffle cones with their delicious ice cream.

It was a lovely day, only missing the Monkey to make it complete.