A couple of weeks ago H and I drove out to Trenton after her Tuesday therapies to check out the New Jersey State Museum, which is FREE. I have a Groupon for the planetarium, but we got there around 2pm and all the shows were done for the day. Another trip, we will be back!

The paleontologist from Field Station: Dinosaurs was from the museum, and so were the fossils that were out for kids to touch and learn about. So it seemed like a definite spot to add to our summer adventure list.

And, it’s awesome. This was such a great museum. Look at that dinosaur skeleton battle! These people know how to make a dinosaur skeleton display for kids. They’ve just added the Discovery Den, and the dinosaur and fossil area has been redone. It’s a gorgeous space. A small museum, but we still spent a couple of hours here just hanging out. Other than the occasional family wandering through, on a Tuesday afternoon we had the place to ourselves.

A prehistoric crocodile species from NJ!

And a baby mastodon skull from one of our neighboring towns.

An elk-moose! This was actually a thing 10,000 years ago.

All the mammals from these parts.

She’s a police officer/postal worker, apparently.

And I loved this. The scientists’ work space is behind a glass viewing window right inside the fossil/kids area. So you can see what they’re working on for the museum, and they have signs up letting you know about their latest project. I thought that was the coolest, the chance to see up close what these fossil experts do all day.

Fluorescent rocks, always a hit.

And then the rest of the museum had great old pieces of historic New Jersey furniture, this fabulous old quilt, and all kinds of things H was dying to touch (but tried her hardest not to).

I loved the story of this quilt. And they had a kids’ table set up with shape cutouts so you could design your own quilt. I mean, come on. This museum has Reeve Ladies written all over it.

I bought this awesome little guy in the gift shop. He is the Moon, it says so on his foot.

It was a beautiful day for adventures, we were even able to park at a meter right out front.