Alaska Museum Review from an Anchorage Chiropractor
The Alaska museum located in downtown Anchorage is a staple of family life in my house and is a "must visit" attraction for both visitors to and residents of Alaska. The museum offers many fantastic exhibits, many of which rotate throughout the year to show new perspectives, new artists, and allows for frequent visitors to experience new content. Check out this article from an Anchorage AK chiropractor.
Alaska Museum in Anchorage AK
Family membership to the museum is affordable and includes guest passes with each visit, behind the scenes tours, discounts in the excellent museum store and restaurant, as well as passes to the planetarium shows. If you are local to Anchorage and plan to visit more than a couple of times a year, the membership is definitely the way to go. Parking can be an issue if you would like to avoid paying the parking garage fee. Street parking is available in the neighborhoods around the museum, but space is not guaranteed. There are large lockers to leave your coats and bags in after you enter, and at times there is a person playing the piano in the front entryway. We had an especially fun trip where the pianist could play quite a few Disney songs and my daughter had a blast requesting her favorite ones.
Discovery Zone for Children
The museum is a perfect choice for families with children of any age. The museum offers a "discovery zone" like experience on the first floor that features lots of moving parts and chances for hands-on learning. An extensive marble maze with gravity-defying loop de loops and marbles flying off drums and ramps? Check. A wax volcano with a pressure button that can be pumped like 90's Air Jordan's to make the lava flow? Check. Giant bubble wands and a bubble curtain maker? Check. A forced-air floating ball? Check. And the list continues. Sometimes in the main lobby, they have bean bags set up and play kids movies or shows. The main lobby is huge with lots of seating areas as well as tables that are perfect for snack time. The kid's area also has plants and animals with staff nearby to talk about them, Legos for building, a time-lapse video station to make some fun movies with toys, a large ship for climbing with slides and porthole windows, and a play area with tons of toys and a decent selection of books as well.
The Planetarium
The planetarium is new and extremely comfortable with good viewing angles. My family saw one planetarium show on northern lights and another more classic show about stars and constellations.
Art & History
The rest of the museum is set up with a mixture of art, history, and experience exhibits. On the second floor, there are two Alaskan areas. One has clothing, tools, weapons, and everyday objects representative of Alaskan native cultures from across the state. These are set up in large glass cases that can be viewed from both sides and are separated by the Alaskan native culture. The second Alaskan area has Alaska exploration artifacts and is more focused on the history of Alaska from a western society standpoint. The third floor has a large exhibit area that features timed, rotating exhibits. My family has experienced quite a few exhibits here including a pop-culture exhibit that had popular books, comics, movies, and music displayed in imaginative ways. An exhibit centered on the lost expeditions looking for a waterway from the Atlantic to the pacific. And an exhibit focused on foods and spices throughout the world. The 4th floor also offers a rotating exhibit space, but it is much smaller than the third floor and is contained within a single large room.
Gift Shop
After a visit to the museum stop by the museum store on your way out, they have plenty of fun gifts as well as artwork, and my daughter loves looking through the store at various toys, plushies, and books. Have you visited the Museum here in Anchorage?