This week my mom took me to my favorite place in Minnesota.  The Science Museum of Minnesota.  Everything about it is perfect, a beautiful building with scenic views of the Mississippi River, filled with learning (oh, and they have dippin’ dots, I love those!).

The omni show is “Under the Sea” and it’s pretty amazing.  You’ll get to see coral, crazy looking sea life, probably get scared and jump when they eat something, and maybe even feel a little a little sea sick.  I would recommend going, it made me want to renew my SCUBA certification and go diving!  After all, 3/4 of the world is water, might as well go explore it!

The latest exhibit is REAL PIRATES where we learned some pretty awesome things.  Did you know the term ‘Jolly Roger’ stems from ‘Joli Rouge’, which is french for “Pretty Red’?  If there was red on the flag, then the pirates were ruthless and they didn’t care if you surrendered your ship without a fight, they would fight you anyway!

We also heard that the safest part of a ship during battle was to stand between two cannons.  That’s where they got the term “Son of a gun”, that they would have women stand between the cannons– either that or they were conceived on board.  Keep in mind that a pirate told me this, so it may or may not be true.

I also didn’t realize how much pirates were for equality.  They wanted everything to be equal to the point that they would take a piece of jewelry and melt it down and divide it up equally if they had to.  Kudos, Pirates, for being equal in a slave-trade era.  Check out this real pirate treasure!  (Yes, I altered this photo, I had taken it with my phone and the result didn’t convey how cool it really was.)

If you ever think that you’re bored, head on down to the  Science Museum of Minnesota and get to some learning.  You might even get to play a dice game with a pirate, or take an oath to be a pirate forever.  Yes, those parts are geared towards kids but I paid did it anyway.  Oh, and you will lose the pirate game.  You’re playing a pirate game against a pirate, what can you expect!?

Love ya mean it!