Night at the Museum!

~Ryan McHale, Curatorial Research Fellow

Wow, what an exciting weekend! 23 students from Southwestern College, in Chula Vista, spent the past couple days at the Museum on a geology field trip led by Professor Carole Ziegler and her colleague Professor Bulent Bas. It was an awesome experience learning more about the geology of our desert and joining them on their desert excursions!

Arriving Friday evening, the students attended a stargazing lecture by Bradley Pickett, and afterwards, camped out at the Museum. Our Executive Director, David, spent the night at the Museum too, and brought along his husky, Brandy, who periodically checked in on the students to see how they were doing throughout the night.

After a Saturday morning lecture titled, “What?! There’s Water in the Desert!”, I joined the class on a hike to Mountain Palm Springs. For many of the students, it was their first time hiking in the desert and they were surprised to see running water and wildflowers. 

It felt surreal being surrounded by desert on all sides and relaxing in the cool shade of the palms, but this was no mirage. As you can see by the pictures, we couldn't have asked for a better day to explore!

I spent Saturday night at the Museum, and as much as I wanted it to be like the movie Night at the Museum, our exhibits didn’t come alive. We still had very lively night, and even saw a shooting star while out stargazing! Since it was such a clear night, I decided to sleep out under the stars. 

This was my first overnight at the Museum and I had an absolute blast! Every day here is an adventure, and I can't wait to see what else is in store!