UAF Museum of the North

Jake & I got to visit the museum together (and by ourselves!) a couple months ago- I think it was in December. Yes, we go to his workplace for our dates...

I love the fact that he works there... He knows so much about Alaska now- more than I do about some things... He's got favorite pieces of Alaskan art, and can answer many questions. :) My husband is your friendly museum attendant. He's very good at his job.

Anyway, he took me around to see some of the places in the museum I wasn't familiar with since the renovations.

I liked the stairs and the strange bird statues placed around them- there's a couple more of the birds, but you can't see all of them in one photo.

I thought there was a HUGE amount of space wasted around the stairs without some kind of exhibit. The stairs are located kind of in the prow of the museum.

The museum is beautiful, but the renovations and rebuild were a huge source of contention. It took WAY longer than it should have to complete, and ended up costing way more than was originally proposed and it kind of looks a bit like a spaceship. I think it looks cool, but it's very unlike anything else you'll find up here.

One of the places I'd never been is 'The Place You Go To Listen'... An exhibit located in a small room. On one side of the room are panels which show colors representing what's going on physically in & on the earth at that very moment- seismography, weather... Also, the room translates the information it's receiving into sound waves. So you can go in there and 'hear' the music of the earth. It's not particularly pretty, but it is interesting.

While we were there it was mostly red, with touches of orange and purple. And the sounds were mostly low and deep.

All pictures of the outside of the museum were taken from the UAF Museum of the North website.