Last Saturday we wanted to find a place close to home to explore. We decided to check out N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, which is only about 1 hour from home in Raleigh, North Carolina(the state’s capital). It was a chilly morning so going to a museum was a good idea. The museum has 4 floors and tons of interesting information, and the best news is that it is FREE(although donations are welcome). The museum is located at; 11 West Jones St., Raleigh, NC. We found parking right on the street and it was also free. Read more to find out what surprised us!

First Floor – Whales

Check out the “finger-like” bones at the end of the whale’s fins!

• Coastal North Carolina
• Nature Art Gallery
• Natural Treasures of North Carolina
• 3D Theater
• Museum Store

We walked through Coastal North Carolina, it’s a long room with whale skeletons overhead. The exhibits show coastal habitats and wildlife. I had no idea there were so many types of seagulls! Three dozen different species of gulls have been reported in North Carolina. A few species can be seen here; Laughing gulls, black-backed gulls, herring gulls, and ring-billed gulls. My husband loves the coast while I’m more of a mountain girl. I do love birds of all kinds! Sea birds are very interesting to me, probably because I come from the midwest.

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We did not go through the Art Gallery and the 3D Theater was closed. After we wandered through the Coastal North Carolina area and marveled at the huge skeletons of blue whales, we went through the Natural Treasure of North Carolina which displays the state’s natural diversity, both plants and animals.

This is the “Everything about Bats” exhibit. Bats are not our favorite! Find out why here “Bat attack”

Second Floor – Mountains to the Sea

• Coastal North Carolina Overlook
• Discovery Room
• Mountains to the Sea
• Natures’ Explorers
• Featured Experiences
• Underground North Carolina

The museum has some great exhibits! There is a large forest area with different types of trees and wildlife. Throughout the exhibits were aquariums with different types of fish and marine life. There was even a large snapping turtle! I encountered one of those in Wisconsin once and almost got my toes snapped off!

Mountains to the Sea is the largest exhibit on this floor, it takes up most of the center of the room. With lots of trees, rocks on one wall, and animals throughout. They even had a mountain waterfall!

We also walked through Underground North Carolina, which showed all the gems found in North Carolina. I found out that the emerald is North Carolina’s state gem, and that North Carolina produces more emeralds than any other place in North America! In fact, the largest emerald crystal ever found was in North Carolina.

Third Floor – Dinosaur Museum

The Main Attraction!

What a great surprise! We had no idea that this museum had an exhibit on dinosaurs! This room has a glass dome with pterosaurs flying overhead. It’s really cool!

• Mountain Cove
• Mountains to the Sea Overlook
• Prehistoric North Carolina
• Snakes of North Carolina
• Terror of the South
• Tropical Connections

This is probably everyone’s favorite floor with the Dinosaur exhibit. I know that I am fascinated with Dinosaurs! I’ve seen ALL the Jurassic Park movies! The Prehistoric North Carolina and Terror of the South exhibits showcase all the dinosaurs that roamed North Carolina at one time. This area of the museum has a glass dome over it where you can see pterosaurs flying overhead. To me, it really is the Main Attraction!

My husband looked at the exhibit about Snakes of North Carolina, they were alive and not my favorite!

Fourth Floor – Zoo

We did not venture to the Fourth Floor, it was lunchtime!

• Arthropod Zoo
• Living Conservatory
• Beyond Curie
• Terror of the South Overlook

The Arthropod zoo has all kinds of creepy crawlies (not for me). The Living Conservatory has live butterflies, a sloth, and more. Beyond Curie is a celebration of women in science. Museum of Natural Sciences

We had our lunch there in the museum at the Daily Planet Cafe, it was surprisingly very, very good! Our next stop was to get some photos of the State Capital Building.

The North Carolina State Capital

This photo is the Capital Mall, with the Museum of Natural Sciences on the right and the Museum of History on the left. The State Capital building is straight ahead. We didn’t go into the State Capital building, so I can only show you some outside photos.

This is a statue of three Presidents that were from North Carolina; James Polk, Andrew Jackson, and Andrew Johnson.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Statue, entitled, “After the firefight”, honors 206,000 men and women of North Carolina that served in the Vietnam War. It was dedicated on May 23, 1987.

I have a renewed interest in museums and state capitals! Let me know if you have seen any cool museums lately. Please leave a comment and share this post on your social media pages.

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