Stay-cation

Greensboro Science Center

A while back, we took a “stay-cation” and we were looking for things to do close to home. One place we found was the Greensboro Science Center in Greensboro, North Carolina, which is about 31 miles from our house. Years ago, when I first moved to North Carolina with my children, we lived in Greensboro. My youngest son volunteered at the Science Center in the snake department. I remember one story he told me; when he came into the Center one day to volunteer, they told him about something that had happened the night before, one of the snakes had gotten out of his enclosure and went into another and ate that snake! What made this interesting is that the snake that got out was named, “Peanut Butter” and the snake he ate was named, “Jelly”! That’s the kind of story you can’t make up!

At that time, which was about 15 years ago, the Science Center was getting kind of run-down although it was still a fun place to visit. Well, I had heard that they completely renovated the place and I was curious to see what it looked like now. So we headed to Greensboro. The cost to get in was $14.50, which I thought was very reasonable. They have exhibits inside and a Zoo outside.

Inside exhibits;

  • Prehistoric Passages
  • Komodo Dragon
  • Extreme Weather Gallery
  • Healthquest
  • Aquarium
  • Herpetarium
  • Omnisphere theater
  • and more!

Aquarium

The Aquarium was my favorite area, mainly because of the Penguins! We were just in time to see them be hand-fed. They were so funny! They were very particular about the food they wanted to eat. Some of them would eat certain fish and reject other fish. Just like we might do! Each Penguin was wearing a band that had their names on it. I could have watched them all day!

I think this one wanted to go home with me!

Some other exhibits within the Aquarium were; Otters, Jellyfish, Octopus, Shark Reef, and Stingrays. There was a large tank in the center of the room with different creatures, including stingrays. People were allowed to stand around the edge and touch a stingray as it swam by.

Stingray
You could touch the stingray

We saw other inside exhibits which were all pretty cool! Here is a prehistoric-looking Tortoise, I think he might be a snapping turtle.

He looks prehistoric

We headed out to the Zoo but it was getting quite hot outside so we didn’t spend much time there, I did enjoy seeing the different primates that they have. Here is some additional information; Greensboro Science Center I can’t wait to go back to see more! I think we will start with the Zoo next time!


I’d love to hear about your “stay-cation”, have you ever had one? What did you do? Where did you go? Please leave me a comment and remember to share this post on your social media pages!

21 thoughts on “Stay-cation”

  1. Staycations are great! I think it’s nice to get out and go to the places near home that people actual come to visit. I’ve lived in a handful of places where I had never been to some of the biggest tourist attractions and would only go if people were coming to visit. Now that I’m in California I make it a point to check out everything.

  2. We try to do a staycation at least once a year. You can easily forget about the great resources you have in your own backyard. I will say this makes me want to travel and visit this aquarium though!

  3. Your snake story is so funny! Definitely wouldn’t forget that one. And that tortoise is amazing! I would love to visit to see it in person.

      1. I love going to the touch pools. They have one at the MOA which is about two hours away from us. The rays definitely don’t feel like you imagine they would!

  4. I used to love to do “stay-cations” with my boys when they were little, and the most popular site was always the Caldwell Zoo in Tyler, Texas. My older son and I have a tradition of going over Spring Break every year. I always love the smaller zoos because you can often see everything and still have a little energy left.

    1. Thanks! I guess we have to stay close to home for a while..unfortunately, the Science Center isn’t open right now…

  5. Just seeing the entrance into the aquarium has me sold. lol I love watching the penguins as well. They just recently opened a huge aquarium here in Phoenix Az supposedly Disney helped with. IDK if that is true but it sounds cool enough I should go visit. lol

    1. I really like aquariums! The Georgia aquarium is supposed to be good too! Let me know if you go to the one in Phoenix!

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