Exploring Syracuse

Destination Syracuse, NY

Last weekend, we went down to the US for a little shopping trip. Some items that my husband wanted for the RV were on sale at Camping World. So we brought the RV with us and decided to make a little vacation out of it. Besides, when you go shopping it is wise to go down for a few days when you live in Canada. That way you can bring back more with you!

The trip started with a bang. LITERALLY! We ended up having a flat tire on the RV while being on the highway on our way to Syracuse. After an hour or so, we were back on the road. In the midst of our shopping, as well as finding a place to replace the tire, we wanted to visit the MOST museum as well. We were even able to squeeze a visit to the Salt Museum.

MOST

The Museum of Science and Technology (MOST) in Syracuse is interesting. You will find lots of things to do there. The Science Playhouse itself is an absolute must for your kids. Based on the idea of a maze, this giant playhouse will provide obstacles, tubes, bridges, slide and other fun things to do. 

The Life Science section will introduce and teach your kids about the human body. Go through a real heart and hear it pumping. Walk too close to the nose and get a sneeze out of it (note: careful with little ones – our three years old got scared by the big bad sneezing nose. She didn’t want to come close to it after it scared her…). See a brain in action, participate in a virtual one-on-one basketball game and more. We enjoyed exploring this section at first but with the big scare my daughter had, it wasn’t has much fun anymore…

In the Discovery Cave, you can dig for fossils, watch some tropical fish, and learn more about Earth Science. My daughter enjoyed watching the fishies while her big brothers had a great time at the Science Playhouse.

There was also a section about flight and space and an area where we explored various things like magnets, how your voice creates different waves and other interesting exhibits.

There was also an exhibition that used to be there  (unfortunately the majority of it was gone when we visited). Only the leftovers of the exposition was there. The missing exhibit was The Toothpick City and it was a representation of the whole world with prestigious buildings. Everything was made of toothpicks. The one part left– the Eiffel Tower–was amazing! Apparently, the exhibit is going to the Phelps Arts Center in Phelps, NY from July to Dec 2011.

One of the activities that my kids really enjoyed was the Planet Scale. On this scale you can discover how much you would weight on the various planets in our Solar System.

Exploring a science museum is always fun when you get in for free. Yes you read it right – we were able to go in for free thank to our membership to the Science and Tech corporation in town.

Salt Museum

While we were at Camping World, I discovered that we were close to the Salt Museum. So we drove there to explore the industry that created the city of Syracuse and supplied the entire USA with salt! We were able to discover how they were about to turn the salt water into one of the most precious commodities. The actual kettles, barrels and other equipment gave us a good idea on how the work was performed. It is a small museum and the visit is totally free. But I would take the time to print the self-guided tour before going. The whole tour can be done in about 15 minutes.

Afterward, take a minute or two to walk around the Onondaga Lake. You will find different paths to stretch your legs. While coming out of the Salt Museum we also saw something interesting that is available for rent. It is called a conference bike and can sit up to seven people.  One of these days, our family will have to try this for sure! It can be rented at McKie Rental Shop which is located next to the Griffin Visitor Center.

Going Back Home

Finally after a few days at Syracuse, shopping and visiting, we decided to go back home for various reasons… We had started the trip with a BANG and we finished it with another one. How? Well, at the border to come back to Canada, my husband decided to change lanes. We heard a bang but no flat tire this time. We decided to continue our way. Hubby had initially thought that we could go visit the Toronto Zoo one day so we went toward this destination. But as we stopped at Kingston, we realized what had produced the 2nd bang of our trip. Somehow a connection holding one of the sway control bars had broken. We needed to find a way to fix this. We went to Home Depot and found a temporary fix. We drove to Canadian Tire with no success. On the other side of the road there was an RV store. Hubby went there in the pouring rain and didn’t find what he wanted. They sent us to another store behind them. Still nothing. Not far away there was a Lowes. So hubby went there and found some strong chains but the little attachment we needed wasn’t there. One of the guys at Lowes suggested that we drive to the RV store in Gananoque which was about 30 minutes going east from Kingston (and away from Toronto). A decision needed to be done… What to do at this time in the afternoon? We decided to go to the RV store and then go back home. We drove 30 minutes and arrived safely to this huge RV store near Gananoque. Somehow, they had the kit we needed. It took about 30 minutes to change both sides but we were more secure that way. Hubby decided that he would prefer having another kit in the RV so he went back inside and asked for another one. Believe it or not, the owner told him he was surprised they had one in stock. Apparently it has been years since he had sold one of these kits. Even the price tag on it told him that it was in stock for a long time. We are just thankful that it was there when we needed it… Needless to say, we made it back  home. We are rested and would love to go back on the road this summer. Even the RV is back at its spot at Logos Land.

We had some adventure and we learned quite a bit – about the RV, about the salt industry and about science…