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Ditch your kids and prance on over to the Science Museum tonight for Social Science, a libatious evening of adults-only scientific fun. The second in the museum’s after-hours 21+ series, tonight’s solstice-themed soiree will have plenty of charmingly educational activities, not to mention multiple cash bars scattered throughout the building.

Start out the night by crafting your own flower wreath with the American Swedish Institute peeps, who will guide you on how to make a stunning (and sweet-smelling) crown for the evening. Once you’re adorned, hop on board for a guided tour of the museum’s collection vault, where scientific secrets a-plenty have been squirreled away.

Grab a martini and venture out into the “Big Back Yard” where an artsy mini-golf course is at your disposal, or test your brain power with science trivia with the crew from Trivia Mafia, see Science Theater Live presentations, play science-y pictionary, get down to hi-fi/lo-fi DJs and oh-s0-much more.

Tasty small bites will be on hand from local treat-makers, or  if you want something more substantial, the museum’s in-house restaurant, Chomp, will be open for business as well.

Tickets will be sold at the doors on June 22 or can be purchased in advance by calling (651) 221-9444 or (800) 221-9444. Tickets range from $12 (Social Science only) up to $27 (Social Science, King Tut, and Omnitheater film).

For more info and to purchase tickets visit www.smm.org.

High-tech nerds and futuristic dreamers are encouraged to make their way to the Science Museum this Thursday night to learn a thing or two from kinetic sculpture artist, David Bowen. Bowen will show you how to make a machine
that responds to light and sound sensors and will introduce you to the Pico Cricket, and education-friendly micro-controller.

A pro at crafting interactive works that react to their environment, Bowen’s work has been exhibited nationally and internationally including Artbots: the robot talent show at the Eyebeam Atelier in New York, NY and a group exhibition at Pasadena Museum of California Art curated by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. David will fill you in on his work with a brief presentation then lead a hands-on workshop. Micro-controllers will be available for use, not to take home.

Making After Hours is a series of art, technology, and engineering workshops for adults (18+) that takes place once a month from February through August. The workshops include an introduction led by a guest artist, materials and technology you can use in your project, and a great atmosphere for “making” after work.
Thursday, April 7th / 6:30-8pm / $18 ($15 for Science Museum members)

Workshop designed for beginners. Reserve a seat now by calling (651) 221-4511. Last minute admission at the door is $18—exact change only.

Science Museum of Minnesota Level 2 (Lab 7)
120 W Kellogg Blvd
Saint Paul, MN

Click HERE for the SMM site

Yes, we’ve all marveled over the ancient Egyptian mummy in the Science Museum of Minnesota’s permanent collection. As kids, we were delightfully freaked out by him; as adults, totally fascinated. And just in time for Halloween, St. Paul’s resident Mummy will go under the scanner so we can learn even more about him

In 1925, the Science Museum received the mummy as a gift via private collectors Mr. and Mrs. Simon P. Crosby. The couple had brought him back from Egypt where mummies were often sold, strangely enough, as souvenirs. Mr. Crosby was quoted as saying, “every reputable museum needs a mummy.”

This week, the mummy is set to undergo a full body scan at the Children’s Hospital which hopefully will produce a 3-D rendering of the mummy’s inner workings, revealing new clues about his life, age and cause of death.

The 18th Dynasty mummy’s initial scan happened in 1983 originally showed that all internal organs except the heart had been removed during the mummification process, a practice that was commonplace. Rumor and research has it that the museum’s mummy was actually a priest due to the shaved head, calloused feet (priests often walked barefoot) and smooth hands that showed no signs of intense manual labor. Considering technology has grown by leaps and bounds since 1983, odds are the new examination will turn up many more interesting tidbits.

The Science Museum archaeology and exhibit development staff plan on creating “interpretative tools” based on the scan’s findings that will be made available in the coming months, leading up to the February 18th opening of the Tutankhamun: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs exhibition.

The mummy goes in for his scan on October 29th, but you can visit him at the museum any other day during museum hours. Stop by this Halloween season and pay homage to one of horror’s favorite subjects and learn a thing or two while you’re at it! For more info visit www.smm.org.

With its historic landmarks, top-notch restaurants, and equally decadent hotels, it’s a well-known fact that St. Paul offers plenty of opportunities for a fancy date night. But during the summer months especially, it provides the perfect setting for a charmingly off-the-cuff, casual date night.

EarthScapes Mini-Golf at the Science Museum

The perfect way to start? Mini golf at the Science Museum, of course! And it being the Science Museum, you know you’re going to learn something the fun way. The nine-hole EarthScapes Mini-Golf course, housed outdoors on the museum’s Big Back Yard terrace, is inspired by how landscapes erode, and how rivers transport sediment.

Edible gardens

An added treat is the “edible garden” that surrounds the course, including raspberry bushes, and apricot and sour cherry trees. It’s like mini golfing in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, only with healthier snacks. ($4.50 plus $11 admission or only $5 after 5 p.m. for mini-golf only. 120 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, 651-221-9444, www.smm.org)

Mini golfing

After indulging in the gorgeous outdoors (it is summer, after all), be sure to take a swing around the museum’s current exhibition, “The Dead Sea Scrolls,” a high-profile touring show of the oldest existing documents to feature the written word. If you have some childlike curiosity left in you, try your hand at some of the nifty science-teaching tools and find out just how weird your fingernail looks magnified. (“The Dead Sea Scrolls” is $28 including museum admission, or $34 with Omnitheater admission.)

Science Is Fun!

Given more time, the museum’s Omnitheater is a local treasure not to be dismissed. It’s wraparound screen puts you in the driver’s seat of nature, with varying science and nature-based documentaries that can be just as – if not more – thrilling as a summer blockbuster. ($17 for Omnitheater and museum admission or $8 for Omnitheater only.)

Punch's Highland location

Next stop: dinner. Punch Neapolitan Pizza’s original location in Highland Park is an ideal candidate, thanks to a menu packed with delicious and affordable options, and an intimate patio in one of St. Paul’s most charming neighborhoods. (704 Cleveland Ave. S., St. Paul, 651-696-1066, www.punchpizza.com)

We started things out with the Roasted Baby Peppers ($5.95), a new menu item that features juicy, miniature red, yellow and orange peppers drizzled in balsamic vinegar, then roasted on fragrant rosemary flatbread. It was made all the more delicious when paired with a glass of Santa di Terrossa 2008 Pinot Grigio – a refreshing Italian white wine with just enough bite to meet up to the entrees to come.

A meal isn’t complete without a salad, in my opinion, and a restaurant is only as good as its salad. It’s an oft-ignored course, but not so at an Italian eatery such as Punch. The new Rocket salad ($6.95) met up to the challenge, with chopped tomatoes and fresh mozzerella on a bed of arugala. The fresh take on the caprese salad is a new hot summer day classic.

Punch's Margherita Extra

With pizza being Punch’s specialty, we had to try at least a couple of their Neapolitan-style offerings, all served with flame-kissed flaky crusts, San Marzano tomatoes, and fresh mozzerella. For a little variety, we picked a couple of styles on opposite flavor spectrums: the Margherita Extra ($12.45) and the Siciliana ($11.95). The Margherita Extra is just that – the traditional margherita-style Neapolitan pizza with extra flavor. Layered with basil, Mt. Versuvio tomato and mozzarella di bufala – a specialty cheese made from the milk of water buffalo, ideal for Neapolitan pizza for its ease in melting in wood-burning ovens and its rich flavor, it’s no surprise to find out that the Margherita Pizza is Punch’s most popular. But the Siciliana was in close running, covering our meat craving with cripsy, salty prosciutto, and perfectly offset with juicy artichoke, picholine olive and basil. All in all, the check ended up barely cracking $40 – not bad for a two-person meal with a drink each.

Cottage View Drive-In

Capping the night off in true date night form, we jumped in the car and took a jaunt to out the Cottage View Drive-In, located about 30 minutes southeast of St. Paul in Cottage Grove. I hadn’t been to the historic drive-in movie theater since childhood, and the place drips with nostalgia. You won’t find any high-tech HD sound or video, but you will be able to open up the moon roof, prop your feet up, and snack on popcorn and soda in the comfort of your own car, with your windshield serving as a viewfinder. It’s as intimate as it gets for a hot date at the movies, but it’s also a great excuse to grab some friends (or your kids, if you’re the family type) and load some folding chairs into the van for a magical night under the stars. ($8, cash only, 9338 E. Point Douglas Rd. S., Cottage Grove, 651-458-5965, www.manntheatresmn.com)

Avid bikers, joggers, and dog walkers have been enjoying St. Paul’s paved path along the north side of the Mississippi River for a while now. But last month, a stretch of that path officially became the first signed section of the Mississippi River Trail, known as the “MRT” for short.

Cyclists celebrating the first signed section of the Mississippi River Trail, a stretch of paved path in St. Paul!

The MRT, which follows the river from its headwaters in Itasca to the Gulf of Mexico, provides about 3,000 miles of on-road bicycle trails and pedestrian pathways. I personally think it’s an honor for St. Paul’s 17-mile (or so) stretch of trail to be the first official part of the MRT!

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The Mississippi River is one of St. Paul’s most obvious places to walk and bike along. I began to wonder though, what else is there to do along the river? So I stopped into the Mississippi River Visitor Center, located just inside the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM). It turns out the rangers there have a bunch of summer activities planned, such as guided walks, bike and canoe trips—all for free. The great thing about adventuring with a ranger is getting to pick their brains for info that you’d never get on a solo walk.

I plan to try one of these ranger adventures soon. Today, though, I popped into the visitor’s center for a ranger talk about the Mississippi, which happens every Tuesday at noon. The free, casual, 20-minute talk overlooks the river from the balcony of SMM’s Elements Café. (Take the elevator or stairs from SMM’s lobby to the 6th floor and meet the ranger outside.)

Today’s talk was somewhat overtaken by overcast skies and strong winds, but Ranger Heather Peterson’s talk was nonetheless worthwhile and interesting. Little did I know that St. Paul has such a storied history of people living along the river (mostly immigrants who couldn’t afford to live on higher land). I’ve always wondered why the awning outside of Cossetta Italian Market & Pizzeria reads, “Just a piece of the levee.” Pointing to a riverbank near the SMM, Peterson explained that Italian immigrants used to live along that area after the turn of the century. They were evicted in the 1950s after a flood.

Other weekly ranger talks focus on topics like the geology of the river and our modern-day connection to the Mississippi, from what we take in (drinking water), to what goes out into the river (sewage), and how we can me more mindful of this connection.

These Tuesday lunchtime sessions make for a quick escape from the office. Grab a sandwich from Elements Café, sit outside on a sunny day, and lunch with a ranger over a river view that can’t be beat.

ROBERT CROWE & FRED KAEMMER CLOSING RECEPTION

Head to the Private Art Gallery (yes, this is really what it’s called, and yes it’s open to the public) for a closing reception featuring pastel and glass works by two talented artists. Lay your peepers on lush landscapes by plein air artist Robert Crowe, whose peaceful, impressionistic works focus on the Red River Valley and lakes area. Fred Kaemmer creates handblown, textural glass sculptures that shimmer and shine with gold and silver. Get a last glance before this show comes down at the closing reception this Friday night!

Closing Reception: Friday, June 12th / 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Private Art Gallery, 25 S. St. Albans Street, St. Paul

URN ART SHOW

The concept of death gives most of us the heebie jeebies, that’s a given. There are, however, a number of artists in Twin Cities that are able to find the beauty in it — at least where cremation urns are concerned. There’s a growing trend in custom urn art, because, well, if you’re going to keep a loved one’s ashes on your mantle, it might as well be in something pretty, right? Join a number of local artists this Saturday for the opening reception of the 2009 juried Urn Art Show and marvel at these beautiful, slightly creepy creations. Don’t miss the 7 p.m. artists talk with 13 year old urn artist Milly Wood, designer of the world’s first know Lego Cremation urn. Milly will discuss how and why she was inspired to create a funeral urn using Legos — a topic we are morbidly curious about! Runs through June 28th with a number of special events. See website for details.

Opening Reception: Saturday, June 13th / 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Ground floor Gallery, Epic Urns, 2402 University Avenue West (near Raymond), St. Paul

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW: TITANIC EXHIBIT

If you missed the first Titanic exhibit that came through St. Paul’s Union Depot many years ago, here’s your chance to make up for it! Peruse the extensive exhibit, which features over 200 artifacts recovered from three miles below the ocean’s surface; personal stories from survivors; an interactive glimpse into life aboard the doomed ship, and the science behind what happened that terrible, infamous night in 1912. Also: don’t miss the Omnitheater’s daily viewings of Titanica, an imax film that takes you on a journey to the bottom of the ocean to witness the famed shipwrecks remains. The Titanic exhibit runs through January 3rd, 2010.

The museum will likely be jam-packed this weekend, so we recommend scoring tickets ahead of time HERE. And keep your eyes on Stpaulstaycation.com for writer Todd Smith’s upcoming review of the exhibit!

Matt Thomas (right) and Joe Mauer (left) are probably talking about Saint Paul in this picture

As much fun as we have doing things together as a family, St. Paul offers us a chance to have some fun when just hanging out with friends , without having to leave the area. For me, I rarely even need to leave Grand Avenue.  It’s a street that I consider the perfect locale for a “Split up Session”.  My guy friends and I can find a game on TV at one of the great bars and restaurants.  Or sometimes we just enjoy a beverage on one of the pub patios while our wives check out the what they call “too cute” shops all along Grand.

Matt Thomas and Family

Since St. Paul is my neighborhood, here’s by “Best of” list for spots around town:

Best burger joint-  The Nook

Best place to go have a beer and strike up a conversation at the bar-  Groveland Tap

Best get dressed up and have dinner place-  The Lexington

Best breakfast served til 2:30pm-  The Grandview Grill

Best street to go take the kids for a walk- Along Mississippi River Boulevard

Best place to go sledding-  on the huge hill across from the Town and Country Country Clubhouse

Best summer programs-  St. Paul Parks and Recreation Urban Tennis

Best arena-  Xcel Energy Center (I’ve been to over a hundred different arenas in the country and this is one of the best)

Best way to enjoy the river-  Paddleboat ride from Harriet Island

Best Mom/Dad overnight trip away from the kids-  Saint Paul Hotel with a do not disturb sign

-Matt Thomas is the primary host of Twins baseball coverage on AM1500 KSTP. Listen to him on AM1500 as you drive to the stadium. Look for him broadcasting live from the plaza when you head into the ‘dome.