The High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon Makes Nature and History Interactive

It used to be that heading to Bend, Oregon meant skiing or hiking out in the dozens of parks surrounding the Cascade Mountains. Never did people go there expecting to get educated in a massive and quality museum that envelops you in interactive ways. Even though the High Desert Museum has been in Bend since 1982, it hasn't been until more recent years when its scope increased exponentially to becoming one of the most celebrated museums in the state of Oregon if not internationally. As with most museums in any state during a national economic downturn, most other must-see museums in Oregon are closing while the High Desert Museum fortunately stays standing tall. Because of its adventurous variety, though, you could come close to calling it a theme park where business usually stays more consistent.

Obviously, families can see interactive wild animal parks in a lot of states around the U.S. Oregon even has another one called Wildlife Safari that's been around for decades in the town of Winston. But The High Desert Museum provides a look at the wildlife you'd be apt to see in some parts of Eastern Oregon as well as a chance to get a more realistic view of the area's history. It's also one of the few interactive museums around to suggest you create your own itinerary when visiting rather than having a set beginning-to-end tour.

The reason for that is because of its quasi theme park nature and overwhelming expansiveness. When you're heading there on Hwy. 97 just three miles south of Bend, it'll be a tough choice where to start first. Yet with a strong team of volunteers who work there, you won't have to argue with your family where to go first. These volunteers aren't disinterested, personality-challenged teenagers doing the gig just to make money for the summer. Instead, they're well-trained individuals who will show you where to go, help you make the most of your time and are able to handle wild animals with more aplomb than the clumsy wildlife experts you see on Leno or Letterman.

Of course, if you have kids, heading to the animal exhibits are the first places you'll want to go. The museum has 32,000 sq. ft. of outdoor trails that have myriad wildlife exhibits along the way enabling you to get up close to many of the creatures you'll find out in the desert regions of Eastern Oregon or other desert regions around America. As with most wildlife parks, the key is to remind people of the wildlife's importance in our ecosystem, even though the animals they have there would never be able to survive in the wild due to their obvious human dependency. They nevertheless are still unpredictable when you consider what the museum has there. Everything from porcupines, wild eagles and desert insects of all varieties are here to get within feet of--with an expert nearby to make sure you don't become a victim of a wild animal becoming predictably unpredictable.

As you might guess, the kids will love the display and interactions with the spiders and snakes. While Eastern Oregon isn't the same as Arizona, you'll still find rattlesnakes, some wild spiders and a few reptiles out in the desert wild of this region of the state. At the High Desert Museum, the wildlife handlers will let you get up close to the safe ones while personally educating you on each creature's background. You'll be able to see these various wildlife exhibits along the natural trail on a daily basis with some of the current ones (as of this writing) involving interactions with raptors and otters.

On a weekly basis, the museum offers specialty tours through their available natural environments and wildlife. Be sure to go once on a Sunday with your kids where a weekly Reptile Encounter takes place and an allowance to touch various snakes and lizards. Yes, these are all docile snakes and lizards, even though it might not be a good idea to take your kids through this if they have a tendency to be rowdy and decide to grab hold of one of these creatures to see what happens when they do.
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All the outdoor natural areas at the museum have value that far exceeds the price of admission. If you're a history buff, however, you'll find plenty outdoors as well as indoors in the expansive 28,000 sq. ft. indoor facilities. Also know that the wildlife exhibits are indoors as well as outdoors, right along with the historical exhibits. The historical exhibits in the indoor facility are a little more predictable in what you'd expect to see in most museums. They nonetheless give you a tangible way of understanding the important and sometimes mysterious ancient history of Oregon's desert regions. One of the highlights, "Spirit of the West", gives you dioramas demonstrating the trials and tribulations of the early pioneers who came out west to build a new life.

It's the "By Hand Through Memory" exhibit, though, that gives you a tangible way of understanding the region's fascinating history. By being able to actually touch ancient Native-American artifacts found in Eastern Oregon, you can get more of an emotional connection to the tribes who lived here thousands of years before any individual from Europe gazed an eye on Oregon's natural blessings.

As promised, you'll also be able to see more wildlife exhibits indoors where there's no place to run or hide if creatures from the wild give you the chills. Come see two wild bobcats in-residence indoors here by the names of Ochoco and Snowshoe. The latter is actually a Lynx, which is quite rare to see around these parts. He actually was found in Northern California, apparently the victim of someone who owned him as a pet. Both Ochoco and Snowshoe were unfortunate victims of humans keeping them as pets and then neglecting them.

In that regard, there may be some mixed feelings for those of you who believe these animals should be in the wild. While I recommended seeing them with the good-hearted feeling they're getting excellent treatment here, perhaps you should skip it if seeing them in a museum goes against your personal philosophy.

As of this writing, an alternative to seeing wildlife indoors is a new exhibit on wild bats that should remind people how cute bats are after being maligned in vampire flicks for decades.

Heading back outside will enable you to see one of the museum's strong points: Living and interactive history. The High Desert Homestead Ranch enables you to meet a group of actors portraying a pioneer family nearly identical to the ones who lived in Oregon during the mid 1800's. Here, the line between present and past blurs as they allow you to do chores with them, including splitting wood and churning butter, just to name two. Don't be wearing your best clothes (or have back problems) when attempting to help with the chores.

After that, the Lazinka Sawmill nearby will show you a real and workable sawmill--albeit only in the summer months. Summer is the best time to go to the High Desert Museum, despite higher admission prices. In the summer, adults get in for $15, seniors for $12, kids 5-12 for $9 and kids under 5 for free. During winter hours, all the admission prices are cut by anywhere from $3 to $5.

Summer is always suggestible, mainly because I'll assume you don't want to travel around Bend in the snow since this region of Oregon frequently gets snowed in starting around Thanksgiving through into the following May.

The High Desert Museum official site for more details on exhibits and other events this summer:

http://www.highdesertmuseum.org/