I was looking something up on the computer the other day and tried to find a post on my blog for someone about the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum (because we’ve gone there umpteen times and it is one of my VERY FIRST A-LIST field trips to suggest to anyone visiting Austin)… and lo, and behold, I HAVE NEVER POSTED ABOUT IT. Here I am priding myself on being full-on NATIVE TEXAN and I haven’t actually put up a Field Trip Foto Friday post on the Bob Bullock! For shame on me.
I’m here to rectify this situation and get my #texasforever hashtags ready to share this post on social media for the entire world to read. I’m not sure a Texan can live very long without going to see the Spirit Theater “Star of Destiny” show.
I try and get in at least once a year or every other year for a fix. They also have a show called “Shipwrecked” about the La Belle: French explorer La Salle’s 1684 North American colonial expedition and shipwrecked vessel that is on display in the museum.
The Bob Bullock has THREE FULL AMAZING FLOORS of all things Texan, and it takes a good three visits to get ‘er done. You’ll want to linger and mosey all the way through, stopping to watch the videos and interact with the exhibits as you go.
Of course, you’ll find NASA controls, astronaut suits, parts of military and space crafts floating around…
There are things to touch and read, things behind plexiglass and glass, things hanging from the ceiling… and they have gorgeous murals and mosaics, an actual explorer ship, and a pint-sized replica of the Alamo you can sit in and listen to “Seguin” tell about his brave run for help! They have a collection of artifacts from the Alamo at the Museum, also.
The museum offers special events all year. Currently, they are doing a summer 2018 schedule that includes crafts, family programs, films, and special exhibitions. They rotate the IMAX films out also – so check before you go to see what is showing.
When we went the last time, they had a kid-friendly historian there talking about military gear and letting the kids see it all up close. It is fun to go with the older kids, too. I learn something every single time I go, so every age is a great age to visit!
They have homeschool days each year where admission to the museum is free, and they also offer discounted group rates for the IMAX® Theatre and Spirit Theater shows. This year (2018) it was in February, so be watching the website calendar for the dates for 2019 if you plan to go then.
You can also go to Bob Bullock for a discounted rate on Austin’s free museum day… which is Sunday, September 23, 2018 (this year). They have free days other times of the year and educator days for teachers and homeschool parents, also. If you join their mailing list at Bob Bullock, you’ll be in the know (I’ve been on it for ages). If you don’t like the crowds, you can call the museum and find out if you can qualify for group rates for your homeschool co-op if you have over a certain number of visitors on any day of the year that they are open.
They have a cafe and gift shop there at the museum in case you get hungry or want to take home some nifty Texas souvenirs. The food is kind of pricey, so I often bring along a sack lunch and eat it outside by the HUGE TEXAS SIZED IRON STAR STATUE. We plan our trip so that lunch is either at the very beginning of our journey, or at the very end, so that we don’t have to add the cost of eating out in to our field trip.
They sell the Capitol Building Christmas ornament collection and so many really cool things there. You can even get a scorpion flavored lolly-pop (but even Texans think that’s crazy). I usually go on homeschool day and end up spending what I normally would on entry at the gift shop. They have chili flavored chocolate, Texas history books, Texas pillows and kitchen gadgets, mugs, trinkets, postcards, foods, and I even saw my blogging friend The Homesick Texan’s cookbook there when I went! Poor thing moved away to New York City. Of course she’s homesick.
I’m not the Bob Bullock ambassador, even though my family has been Texan since before Texas was a country. They didn’t pay me for all this shameless plugging and free advertising, either. They should, I know… just check out these photos below of my OTHER set of homeschool kids, now grown…
We’ve been enjoying annual trips to Bob Bullock for what seems like forever. So glad that we live close enough to make this one of our regular field trips and we can take our out-of-state visitors with us to show off our Texas-love. There’s not much that Texans love more than an infusion of all things TEXAS. Bob Bullock makes the Lone Star shine even brighter. We give it all thumbs in the family UP.
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