Dinosaur Adventure Land

All right, who ordered the rainstorms? From the moment we left our motel this morning, we were pummeled by a nearly constant downpour. As if the deluge weren't enough on its own, we kept getting passed by eighteen-wheelers, which showered us with spray from their tires, cutting our visibility even more. When we could take no more of this, we sought refuge in Pensacola's Dinosaur Adventure Land, which at first glance appeared to be a typical science discovery museum for kids.

As soon as we stepped inside, we realized that this was no ordinary science museum. It was, in fact, a "Creation Science" center, aimed at disproving the theory of evolution through alleged scientific means. Now, no matter what your stance on evolution versus creation, we are willing to bet that you don't buy that humans and dinosaurs co-existed. This was one of the fundamental arguments of this museum. Citing such sources as the Bible and "Beowulf," they claimed that dinosaurs always existed among men, but were called "dragons" by these ancient peoples. They even speculate that some early human families might have had small dinosaurs as pets. Unlike the creators of the Civil War era dinosaurs we saw in Natural Bridge, Virginia, these people are serious!

In addition to the unscientific "scientific evidence" and the questionable citing of "Beowulf" as a credible source, one thing at Dinosaur Adventure Land that left us momentarily dumbfounded was their argument that the Colorado River could not possibly have formed the Grand Canyon, because the top of the canyon walls is four thousand feet above the riverbed, and rivers don't run uphill. We hope that we don't have to point out to you the flaw in this reasoning. We did enjoy our visit to Dinosaur Adventure Land and considered it a fun refresher course in logical thinking, though we do have concerns about the future of humanity if this kind of "scientific" teaching catches on.

Rain or no rain, eventually we had to get back on the road. We drove west past a Blue Angels jet at a rest area just outside Pensacola and on through Alabama and Mississippi to Louisiana.

By the time we reached New Orleans, the storm had subsided, and we went straight to the Sydney and Walda Besthoff Sculpture Garden in City Park, where we wandered through five acres of lush landscaping and art by such sculptors as Renoir and Magritte. There were modern pieces as well as classical. There was even some giant stuff! It was as though they had known we were coming.

After viewing the sculptures at our leisure, we drove to a community just outside of New Orleans to find a place to stay for the night. Tomorrow we will go back into the city and spend some time exploring the "Big Easy."