July 28th, 2026
What? Van Gogh painted T-Rex skulls? Really?
Just kidding. Read on.
The Van Gogh exhibit has been traveling around the country for years, and I have always wanted to see it. I had an appointment back at Fallraven in the late morning, with their tailor to adjust a pair of pants, and the place hosting the exhibit was relatively close by. I checked for tickets, and it seemed wide open, so after I was done with the tailor, I cruised on over planning to just buy a ticket when I got there. There were some people standing by the entrance when I got there, staring at their phones. As I approached the doors, one person said the doors were locked. Hmmm. They already had tickets, and were looking a bit unhappy. I knocked on doors a few times, but no answer. Someone checked on the website again, and discovered that the exhibit was closed today – no shows at all. That was not indicated earlier in the day. Bummer. I’m glad I did not purchase a ticket in advance.
I have learned the past three years to just go with the flow instead of getting ticked off. No harm done, so I just looked for something else to do. I have not been to the Denver Museum of Science and Nature in about, oh, forty or so years, and I recalled they had a great dinosaur exhibit. And there was a more than slight probability that the museum has improved since then.
I do not recall what parking was like in the 1980’s, but it certainly needs to be improved now. Along with signage. I wound up on a narrow road going past the museum, and dead-ending in a very small parking lot in City Park. But, it was empty, parking was free, and it did not seem too far from the museum. Too bad I left my hiking poles back at the hotel – it was a bit of adventure finding the entrance. I had to cross a large grassy meadow to reach what was a blank wall of the building. No entrance.
I asked a very bored looking grandfather keeping an eye on his grandkids where the entrance was. He just said – you’ve got a ways to go, and pointed at the path. Great. I kept on walking and wound up eventually in what I thought was the front of the building, with the big, grand staircase. Nope. Not the entrance.
There was a construction entrance on the left hand side of the stairs – a kind worker said I needed to walk to the North side of the building. $#!#$!!!
But, I found a real entrance on the other side of the stairs. I was thinking that I might have to call Uber to get back to the car later on.
Upon entering, and paying my senior entrance fee (one of the few good things about being old), I discovered that a lot has changed – there was a huge, modern addition added on to the original building. And they now charge extra for most of the more interesting exhibits. But there was still a lot to see, so I stumped off, doing my best to avoid being crushed by the mobs of school children, being herded around by anxious teachers and parents.
One of the museum volunteers recommended I start on the third floor, and hit the ‘Changing Landscape’ exhibit..which was free. Did I look like a cheap old person? Must be. But the exhibit was marvelous, focusing on climate change impact on four famous locations – Easter Island, Mesa Verde, the Pyramids/Sphinx and Venice. Each had sort of a 3D, immersive display – not quite like the volcano experience at the Perlon museum in Reykjavik, but still pretty cool. Here’s a few snapshots and videos.
Most of the other exhibits were standard natural museum fare – lots of dead, stuffed animals. The gem/rock exhibit was closed, but they did have a Prehistoric Journey exhibit open – dinosaurs! It was very well done, taking you through the history of life from the beginning, through the evolution of mammals through the Cenozoic Period (last 61 million years…post dinosaurs). And they had some interesting assembled skeletons. Very nice.
I had enough by then, I did not want to push my luck any further dodging mobs of children, so I exited the museum, and started the long trek back to the car. A very large thunderhead was passing over, which made me more than a little nervous walking across the large, open meadow….there were flashes of lightning overhead. But, I made it back to the car without getting burned to a cinder by a bolt of lighting.
All told, including my morning treadmill exercise, I walked about 5 miles today. I had been hoping to do one or two hikes this week. This counts as the first. And I still have a couple of days left if I really want to see that Van Gogh thing.
Peace
The Traveling Widower 