4th Hour Botanical Gardens

I first want to say the the gardens are FREAKIN' AWESOME!!!!! That was such a fun trip. I would love to visit that place in the spring when everything is blooming! That would be so cool.

Despite this I was very put off by the museum. It was mostly a shopping experience. I did not like that. Plus presentation is everything. And it being winter does not help the museum's cause.

Also, I did not like the "quest" that Mr. Bricker put us on. I thought that took away from the museum. I want to enjoy nature, especially nature I do not get to be around. Having the photo hunt really was a drag and I did not like it.

This made for a bad experience. The dead outdoor gardens mixed with the tourist inspired gift shop feel, with the sprinkling of the photo hunt made this experience awful.

I like that museum, I really do, so this must have been a bad experience for me to have a bad time. So that is what I will focus on. How good becomes bad.

When a good thing gets tarnished with something like work, or commercialism, it becomes tacky and lame. It is no longer fun to do, nor interesting to study. The botanical gardens are meant to inspire and educate us about the natural world. It wants us to recycle and preserve the world so we can have these beautiful animals and plants. Having a photo hunt to do, takes away from this point.

The brain now has a task to accomplish, the brain is now thinking, competition and photos rather than nature and beauty. The museum lost its mysticism when Mr. Bricker put us on the hunt. I do not know what he was thinking.

What I know is, I was able to enjoy the museum a lot more once I did not care about any of the pictures. I wanted to experience plants and wild life that I may never see in my life again. So naturally, I did.

The brain cannot do two things at once well. It needs years and years of practice to do that. So the brain cannot do a photo hunt and enjoy nature at the same time. Now, if the brain is taking pictures to enjoy nature, that is a different story. So the brain has trouble doing two things at once. This makes for a conflict of interests.

I ask the class. What color was the baobab tree, and what makes it special? Then I ask, what was the scientific name of the three plants they took pictures of before the baobab tree? I bet the students that concentrated on pictures rather than the tree can tell the scientific names, but not the color.

Adding in the photo hunt ruins the educational value of the museum.

I love that museum, and recommend it to anyone. But please, take pictures because you want to see nature, not $15.

That is all. Great trip!

Ian