"You Do Know She's Fearless, Don't You?"

While making our weekend plans, Tessie asked to visit a natural history museum. Really; she specified natural history. So, as part of our ongoing efforts to thoroughly explore the Inland Empire, and because it's on the way to the outlet mall in Cabazon -- and because they were holding a free-admission 'Family Fun Day' event -- we visited the San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands, California.

One of the features of the event was a museum docent reading stories to the kids. Tessie used her considerable charms to make the poor guy read "The Ugly Duckling" twice in a row. I tried to get her to pick a different story, but she had walked in during the first reading and wanted to hear it again from the beginning. The docent never had a chance.

The stories were being read in the mammal hall, so Tessie took a quick spin past the taxidermy exhibits, but before long we were off to see real live critters in the museum's Exploration Station.

Breezing past the rosy boa constrictor (snake) at the entrance, Tessie headed for the real action -- the insect table. There, unbidden, she reached out to a mantis and let it crawl onto her hand:

She did this in front of a pair of Cub Scouts, one of whom had been reluctant to touch the big green bug. The Scoutmaster-chaperon, in a moment of pure unadulterated sexism, asked him if he was going to allow himself to be shown up "by a girl!" The young lad, in a triumph of gender equality, replied, "I don't care if she's a girl! I'm not touching it!" Tessie, unfazed, then moved on to the giant cockroach:

At this point, the table docent turned to me and said, "You do know she's fearless, don't you? I mean, some parents are very surprised to see what their kids will do." I assured him that we were well aware of Tessie's daredevil nature. Even so, she declined the opportunity to touch the tarantula:

The museum's collections are not limited to natural history. There are displays of local interest, especially the mining and hydroelectric industries, as well as a fenced-in steam train on static display. The museum's primary claim to fame is the world's fifth-largest avian oological collection. (Go ahead; look it up. I'll wait.)

That's right, bird eggs. Thousands of them. No exact number was available, and I'm not about to count them, but if I had to guess, I'd put it in the 80 to 100,000 neighborhood. (That's a heck of an omelet.)

The egg rooms were also the scene of some craft projects for the youngsters. Tessie first made (with a bit of help from Mommy) a flip-book showing a bird in flight:

then she colored in a drawing of a barn owl:

This is one of her better coloring efforts. She seems to have grasped what the lines are for. Also, note that she wrote her name atop the page: T-E-squiggle-squiggle-I-E spells 'Tessie':