no carolina museum of forestry

on friday, i drove to whiteville, no. carolina... checked into a really nice little best western in town, crashed... got up too early the next morning, went back to sleep, got up too late... managed to find the museum, set up fossils... then go get some interesting breakfast at a local drive through call "the 701"... just about as greasy a scrambled egg as i have ever had...

the fossil fair was wonderful... and busy! so many little hands wanting to hold fossils... i carefully let them feel the serrations of an auriculatis, the smooth heavy 10,000 year old rib of a manatee or sea cow, the rough top of a large dermal plate of a stingray, and the heaviness of a sperm whale tooth... i showed them how the teeth were gone from the piece of a porpoise jaw and how the vertebrae was part of the back of the animal... it was easy to share with the children, because i usually knew more than they did... as i know much less than most of the other displayers/presenters...

i was honored and lucky to be in such company... and i had a grand day...