The Houstonian Fall: Death by Natural Causes

We got a late start…I mean it is vacation after all…so, we ended up skipping breakfast and having brunch instead. We intended to go to some place that my wife had seen on several travel sites, but there was a line out the door and around the corner. So, we opted for a place called Harry’s.

Ironically enough, it was owned by a man from Larissa, Greece. There was Greek written on the door and all over the restaurant. The menu even had items specific to Greece. The food was delicious, the atmosphere was nice, and we even got to meet the man himself! When our waitress found out my wife was Greek, she found the owner, and he came to our table for a chat. We also met his daughter, who was working as a line cook, and his granddaughter and grandson, who were hanging out for the day, since it was a holiday. My wife was over the moon to meet a fellow Greek and talk about her homeland.

Fat and happy, we made our way to the Houston Museum of Natural Science. We chose two of their special exhibitions, King Tut’s Tomb and Death By Natural Causes. Troy has been enamored with Egypt ever since he saw the Prince of Egypt and The Mummy, so we thought he might enjoy learning about the discovery of King Tut. I tried to teach him about different things that we were seeing and tie it back to the movies, but it turns out we could have saved our money, as far as he was concerned. He had little to no interest, and he spent his time running around and asking when we were leaving instead. Oh well, my wife and I enjoyed it.

You started by descending into the “tomb” and were greeted with a similar sight to what Howard Carter, the Egyptologist who discovered the tomb, first saw…burial tables, a chariot, preserved food, statues, and more. There were displays of the artifacts found, replicas of the three coffins (Yes, you heard that correctly. King Tut had three coffins stacked one inside the other like Matryoshka dolls.), replica of the burial headdress, and even a replica of the mummy. Not only did King Tut have three coffins, but he was also entombed inside a large rectangular sarcophagus, which was then enclosed inside four gilded shrines. The whole assembly was so large that the last pieces had to be assembled inside the tomb itself!

At this point, my wife had a migraine, so she sat on a bench while Troy and I explored the permanent Hall of Ancient Egypt exhibit. Surprisingly, Troy really loved this exhibit. I think it was mostly because they had several actual mummies on display, which he thought was cool. He also liked the replica gold burial chamber and painted motifs. I think it helped that I was willing to keep moving at a faster pace instead of reading every single sign.

Our last stop for the day was the Death By Natural Causes special exhibition, which Troy was initially drawn to because it was dark and spooky looking…and because it had a skull and snake on the sign. It was a really well-done exhibit showing different ways that people have died through the centuries because of a lack of knowledge and understanding of their environment. From deadly animals and plants to chemicals and elements that people used to achieve colors in art and clothing, we learned that anything can kill if not respected or understood. It was also fascinating to learn how many people have died from ordinary household items. The moral of the story, it doesn’t matter what it is, humans will find a way to get themselves killed by it.

Besides death by natural and ordinary things, the underlying theme of the exhibit was how humans have learned and adapted because of these deaths. We’ve had advances in medical science, safety regulations, and antidotes and cures all come from these early deaths. All in all, this was surprisingly my favorite exhibit. And they had enough interactive things to keep Troy engaged and interested too. Despite feeling like death herself, I even think my wife thoroughly enjoyed it.

We rounded out our time at the museum by going into the Motion and Matter exhibit, which featured an alchemist’s laboratory, a giant periodic table dance floor, pulleys and levers, a sprinter’s running machine, and even a giant interactive brain. Troy and I spent a great deal of time in the alchemist’s laboratory, learning how combining different elements and materials will lead to new discoveries. They had a really cool interactive multiplayer game where you could combine things together and then use different processes on them, like dissolution or electricity or fire, to promote chemical reactions. Those reactions would then result in new materials that could be used in further experiments. The goal was to discover 55 elements on the periodic table and pave the way for modern chemistry.

There were three interactive game consoles linked together, so that when one player discovered something, it became available to everyone. As Troy and I performed our experiments, random people would come and go from the third machine. We enjoyed meeting new people, teaching them about the game, and cheering on their new discoveries. And in the end, we beat the game and achieved the rank of Chemist!

My wife thoroughly enjoyed the giant brain exhibit. It was an interactive machine, literally inside a giant brain, where you could explore the anatomical makeup of the brain and how neurons worked to transmit impulses throughout the body. There was also a machine that explored DNA and how it’s used in our bodies to reflect certain traits. She was really excited to show Troy what she did for a living through the machine.

We stayed until the museum closed. Then, we left and grabbed some chicken fingers for dinner.