When your adult group is planning a trip to Charlotte, you may want to explore the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art. The museum offers a store to shop at and a Cafe if you need a snack. Bechtler Museum of Modern Art contains works from some of the most influential artists of the mid-20th century. The location opened to the public on January 2, 2010, and offers group tours for you to enjoy as part of the experience. There are three tour options available. You can choose from tours such as the Hello Modern tour, the Bechtler Architecture tour, and the Relationships: Artists Closest to the Bechtler Family Tour. All of these tours last one hour and visitors of all ages are welcome to participate in the experience. During the tour, guests will learn about the various artists in the Bechtler collection. You will also get a sense of how the museum operates. Visitors will find a magnificent collection of various works along with interesting exhibitions at the Bechtler Museum. The works of art in the collection focus on the strongest aspects of modernism during the middle of the 20th century. There are select works from several well-known artists in the collection such as Giacometti, Picasso, Calder, and Warhol. The Museum Store is full of interesting merchandise for your group to purchase. You will find items such as posters, jewelry, watches, fine pens, and books pertaining to leading art figures that are in the Bechtler collection. You will find watches that were designed by Warhol and Max Bill in the store.

Whale watching is the ideal group travel attraction: it combines fun and learning to the extent that they are indistinguishable. The Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch operates out of the port of Provincetown at the easternmost end of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. At this location Provincetown is already 40 miles out to sea and only eight miles from Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, an ancestral feeding ground for humpback whales and other large marine mammals as well as a host of other marine wildlife and birds. There is a lot to see and learn on an eco-excursion out to Stellwagen Bank. By the time the group is on the boat they are prepared to make the most of the presentation, which is given by the naturalist for every whale watching trip as the vessel makes its way out to sea. This presentation is much more general in content, pointing out historic sights, such as lighthouses and the sites of abandoned settlements in the Cape Cod National Seashore, which comprises more than three-quarters of Provincetown’s land mass. Provincetown is the only place in America to have three functioning lighthouses within its borders. The naturalist has a microphone at the ready during this part of the trip to draw groups’ attention to wildlife sightings as they appear, such as pelagic birds, which spend almost their entire life at sea and only come ashore to breed and nest. Sea turtles swimming in the current and seals hauled out on the desolate beaches are also valuable sightings. No whale watch is ever the same and groups soon realize they need to scan the shore, sky and sea to see what’s going to happen next. Of course the next big thing is a whale spout visible on the horizon. While the Dolphin crew and naturalists are constantly scanning the sea for the first sign of whales, sometimes it’s the passengers who get to say, “thar’ she blows!”. Whales are air-breathing mammals, like us, and must surface to exhale and inhale. Exhalations from their giant lungs are estimated to have the force of a 100 mph wind and are visible when their hot breath vaporizes in the cooler air at the water surface. They can easily reach a height of twenty or thirty feet. When whales are around the vessel the naturalist typically lets the groups experience their presence without much lecturing other than to name the individuals, identify their calves, and to point out characteristic behaviors such as bubble feeding and lunge feeding. The whale breaches are self-explanatory ~ when a 40-ton whale explodes out of the depths to reveal sometimes over half of their bodies in mid air, the groups are engaged and in tune with the whales. No one knows exactly why whales exhibit this breaching behavior but one guess is they do it out of sheer exuberance, something the kids can certainly relate to, especially on a whale watch.

Fenway Park is the home ballpark of the Boston Redsox. It opened on April 20, 1912. The park offers tours to visitors of all ages. Tours are offered year-round. While on the tour, you will get to see the press box, the green monster and depending on the time of day you may also get to walk by the dugouts or the bullpen. The outfield warning track is another part of the tour. The guided tour is nearly an hour in length. There are a few more options to consider during the visit to Fenway Park. Guests can dine at the Baseball Tavern. The roof deck overlooks Fenway Park and the decorations are Sox-themed. You may also want to sit in the red seat. Once you are inside the park, head out to the right field stands. About two-thirds of the way up, there will be a single red seat among a sea of green ones. Fans may want to get their food from a player. Are enormous hot dogs your favorite game food? If so, you can get the Rem-Dawg from former second baseman and long-time broadcaster Jerry Remy’s place.

The MIT Museum also known as Massachusetts Institute of Technology is located in the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Visitors will find interactive exhibitions, public programs, and experiments that deal with science and technology. The museum also contains galleries in the areas of holography and photography. The MIT Museum features exhibitions that will stimulate an understanding, and appreciation of scientific, artistic and technological innovations that are in the modern world. Exhibitions include: 5000 Moving Parts, The Jeweled Net: Views of Contemporary Holography, Kismet Robots and Beyond: Exploring Artificial Intelligence at MIT, Gestural engineering: The Sculpture of Arthur Ganson, Visionary engineer, Harold Edgerton, Ship Models: The Evolution of Ship Design, and Mechanical Engineering MIT. The Robots and Beyond: Exploring Artificial Intelligence exhibit shares results of decades of artificial intelligence innovation at MIT. The first research in this area began in 1959. Today, the Computer Science and (AI) lab is the largest laboratory on the MIT campus. Visitors will get a behind-the-scenes look at the inventive concepts and processes that lead to the lab’s contributions in areas including medicine, underwater exploration, and entertainment.

The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is located in Boston, Massachusetts. Visitors can experience a variety of fun activities. You can enjoy period settings, exhibits, three theaters, and 25 multimedia exhibits. There is also the Museum store and the JFK café located in the facility. You may also want to enter the recreated world of the Kennedy presidency and get a “first-hand” experience of John F. Kennedy’s life, legacy, and leadership. Featured exhibits include: Campaign Trail, The Briefing Room, The Space Race, Attorney General’s Office, The Oval Office, First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, and The Kennedy Family. The Campaign Trail exhibit invites visitors to relive one of history’s most exciting presidential campaigns. Listen to Senator John F. Kennedy accept his party’s nomination. The museum recreates the sights and sounds of the 1960 Democratic National Convention and the main streets of America that were traveled by candidates John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon as they delivered hundreds of speeches in front of thousands of people of every age.

Exploring America > U.S. Cities > Boston Tours

Boston Duck Tours are a fun and unique way to visit several famous sites. The fun begins once you are on board your “Duck,” a W.W.II style amphibious landing vehicle. First, you will be greeted by your ConDUCKtor, who’ll be narrating your tour. Then you will go on a journey like you’ve never been before. The group will cruise by all the places that make Boston the birthplace of freedom and also a city of firsts. Places include: the golden-domed State House, Bunker Hill, TD Bankworth Garden, Boston Common and Copley Square, the Big Dig, Government Center, Newbury Street, Quincy Market, the Prudential Tower, and more. The ConDUCKtor will give facts and interesting insights about the city. The final part is the “Splashdown” as the ConDUCKtor splashes your duck into the Charles River where you will have a breathtaking view of the Boston and Cambridge skylines. You will not get this view from anywhere else.

Exploring America > U.S. Cities > Boston Tours

The Museum of Science and Omni Theater has a location in Boston, Massachusetts. Visitors will find exhibits, IMAX Films, Planetarium Shows, 4-D Films, a Simulator Experience, Live Presentations, and Drop-in Activities. The museum also contains a store. Exhibits featured include the following: A Bird’s World, Beyond the X-Ray, Bradford Washburn: The Man Behind the Lens, Butterfly Garden, Cahners Computer Place, Catching the Wind, Conserve Home, Cosmic Light, and Dinosaurs: Modeling Mesozoic just to name a few. Beyond the X-ray explores some of the many non-invasive ways doctors look into the human body. Visitors will walk among the free-flying residents in a warm conservatory that is filled with exotic plants in the Butterfly Garden. The museum offers live presentations daily. Presentations for all ages include: Nanotechnology, Afternoon Report, Incredible Energy, Lightning, and a Live Animal Presentation. The Nanotechnology presentation focuses on how Nanotechnology is transforming medicine, computing, energy, biological imaging, consumer products, and environmental stewardship. The Incredible Energy presentation uses projectiles, explosions, and brain-racking pendulums to illustrate energy’s many forms.

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The Harvard Museum of Natural History is located in Boston, Massachusetts. Visitors can view exhibits and attend lectures and other events that are offered. Featured exhibits include: the Earth and planetary Science Gallery, New England Forests Zofnass Family Gallery, The Glass Flowers, Great Mammal Hall, Arthropods: Creatures that Rule, Africa Gallery, Evolution, Fishes Gallery, and The Zoological Galleries. The Glass Flowers exhibit is an internationally acclaimed Ware Collection of several Blaschka glass models of plants. This exhibit is the most famous and treasured at the museum. The display contains over 3,000 of the models. They were created by glass artisans, Leopold Blaschka and his son, Rudolf. The commission began in 1886, continued for 5 decades, and represents more than 800 plant species. The Museum offers several different types of lectures and programs. Some of these include: Family Programs, Lectures and Special events, Adult Classes, and Videos. Some of the adult classes offered include: The Art of Drawing Birds, Sketching Trees, and Where Did All of these Apples Come From?

Exploring America > U.S. Cities > Boston Tours

The Mary Baker Eddy Library is located in Boston, Massachusetts. It was named after Mary Baker Eddy, a teacher, author, religious leader, and business woman. Visitors will find exhibits and other fascinating information. Exhibits include the following: the Mapparium, the Hall of Ideas, Transcending Boundaries, Quest Gallery, Mary Baker: An Extraordinary Life, Peace Flag, and the Press Gallery. The Mapparium is a world-famous three-story stained-glass globe is one of the key attractions featured at the library. Its three-dimensional perspective of the world of 1935 is enhanced by a world of ideas, which is an original presentation that features a rich orchestration of words, music, and LED lights to illustrate how ideas have traversed time and geography and have changed the world. The Hall of Ideas is a neoclassical hall built in 1934. It is an original work of art created by acclaimed glass sculptor Howard Ben Tre which serves as the centerpiece of this grand hall. The cast glass and bronze sculpture acts like a fountain of constantly changing quotations from some of history’s most influential. thinkers. State-of-the-art computer programming is used to project both words and ideas throughout the Hall of ideas. The quotes begin by bubbling up from the center of the basin of water in the fountain, then flow around the rim toward observers, and finally overflow onto the floor and up the walls onto scrims.

Exploring America > U.S. Cities > Boston Tours

 

Franklin Park Zoo is located in Boston, Massachusetts. The location is a welcoming environment for visitors of all ages. While visiting, you can hear the unforgettable roar of a lion, stand inches from a gorilla, and meet many other animals! Exhibit areas include: Tropical Forest, Giraffe Savanna, Kalahari Kingdom, Serengeti Crossing, Tiger Tales, Franklin Farm, Outback Trail, Bird’s World, Aussie Aviary, and Butterfly Landing. The tropical rainforest is an innovative and intimate indoor exhibit that gives guests a chance to stand face-to-face with Franklin Park Zoo’s eight western lowland gorillas at one of five glass viewing stations. Other species featured include: mandrills, ocelots, ring-tailed lemurs, Baird’s, tapirs, a pygmy hippopotamus as well as dozens of free-flight birds. There are other fun attractions at the Franklin Park Zoo including the Rhino Rescue motion simulator and the 10,000 foot playground. The Rhino Rescue motion simulator ride is set in Africa. You will be on a high-speed chase alongside park rangers in their pursuit of poachers. You will encounter elephants, wildebeest and other wildlife while on the adventure to rescue and reunite a baby rhino with his mother.

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