Tellus Science Museum

On I-75 70 miles outside of Chattanooga, in the middle of seemingly no where, there is an interesting building off to the right that for many years I either wondered about or just ignored. Finally our family checked it out, and it is amazing! We've been many times since then and have been members of it or a reciprocal museum for 5 years now.

PICNIC? yes! 

SWIMSUIT? no

COST? 

Adults: $14 + tax

Children (3 – 17): $10 + tax

PLAYGROUND? not really, 

but the "My Big Back Yard" room is very play ground like

AUTHOR'S RATING? five out of five stars!

HOURS? 10am-5pm

Closed Major Holidays

We love that the scale of the exhibits when you are in the parking lot and when you first walk in is

BIG.

We love the dinosaurs (although we often remind ourselves that, even though the information on the dinosaurs speaks as if the scientists are absolutely sure of their dates and facts, all they can do is make some educated guesses.)

Don't miss the panning for gems room that is located on a hallway branching off the transportation room. We didn't visit this our first time and really missed out! You get to keep a little bag of the real gems that you find! Behind the gems room is a dinosaur dig room where you can keep one fossil that you find. 

The transportation room goes from bicycles and buggies to space and aeronautics. We love it!

There are great picnic tables (under a huge pavilion) outside for picnics, and we often end our morning at Tellus enjoying food brought from home out there. 

{map for Tellus Science Museum}

ASTC: Science Centers' Best Kept Secret

I have been meaning to write about this amazing deal for a long time. There is an association of science and technology centers that allows reciprocal benefits for any museum on their list. Here's the way it works:
1. Go to the ASTC website. Read a little about this organization.

2. Scroll down and find where it says  Travel Passport Program page.
3. Click on that link and read all the rules for this program. (The gist is that they want you to visit science centers outside a 90 mile radius of your normal stomping grounds. *When I first used this program, I understood that I could go to any museums outside of a 90 mile radius around the museum I was a member of; now they also include the caveat that it needs to be 90 miles away from your home as well. I have never been asked to show my license, but that may have changed. To remedy this puzzle, CALL THE MUSEUM YOU WANT TO VISIT AND ASK!)
4. Check out the Participant list, May 1, 2017–October 31, 2017 and choose a museum to become a member of. Since I have a big family, I am always looking for a museum that says "parents and all children living in the household." Visit the website for that museum and order and pay for that membership. The last time I did it, our membership cost $70 for TWO YEARS. This time that museum was not available, so I bought a year membership for $60.
5. Visit any museum outside a 90 mile radius for free. With our $70 membership of two years, we visited Huntsville Space and Rocket and Tellus (twice) and got into the Planetarium at the Science Museum in St. Louis for a reduced rate. Just one visit to Tellus would have cost our family $78, and it has before too because we love it and have visited many times. One trip to Huntsville Space and Rocket Center would have cost us $124. So all in all, we saved $228 with the reciprocal deals!

Interested in visiting these museums that are near Chattanooga? Check out these posts:
Huntsville Space and Rocket
Tellus Science Museum