"REAL PIRATE TREASURE!!"

Mama had a little work to do on Saturday. So the fellas checked out Real Pirates at the Science Museum of Minnesota. What follows is a review by my 7 year-old son.

I went to the Science Museum with my papa on Saturday. When we were there, they had phone thingies. You just pressed the number that you found on the wall and put it up to your ear. And it would tell what the things were about.

We saw a pirate ship that looked like a real one. You could actually go inside it. We got to see some pirate money — “pieces of eight”. We saw gold doubloons (Mama: Gold Da-whats?). Gold Doubloons. They’re pirate money. The pirates didn’t actually kill people. They actually tried not to harm them.

The coolest thing I saw was a cannon. We got to see cannon balls too. One cannon was like 600 and something pounds! There were people dressed up like pirates who showed us how to use it. (Mama: Did you shoot a cannon off in the Science Museum?) No. They told us the best place to shoot it was at the sails. You could ask them any question.

We saw mini-movies. We got to see the shoe of a real pirate (Mama: was it stinky?) No!  It looked all ripped up. (Mama: Was Johnny Depp there?) (Silence.) We got to see a model boat too! It was actually of a real pirate ship—it was really cool. Everything was really cool.

Now for my part: This exhibit is not cheap. The husband thought it was pretty cool too and that it might be worth full-priced admission for pirate-crazy kids. Our boy wasn’t particularly interested in pirates before the exhibit, but he has a newfound appreciation. We have a museum membership so it was only $12/person. I recommend checking out a membership if you plan to see the exhibit.  Advance reservations are strongly recommended.

Get your sea legs ready.

Real Pirates
Now through Sept. 3, 2012

Science Museum of Minnesota
120 W. Kellogg Boulevard
St. Paul, MN 55102
651-221-9444