Sunday's Column - San Bernardino Museum

We have a very good museum in San Bernardino.  It is split into several parts but perhaps the most intriguing is the floor devoted to birds.  They have the fifth largest collection of bird's eggs in the world here, but also every type of bird is on display.  If you try and find a Mountain Chickadee in the wild you are going to have to look very hard for it.  They are quite small and blend in, but their whistle is unmistakable - it's a little like the opening stanza of "We're in the Money."  I often wondered what they looked like and it was here at the museum that I found out.  Now I can spot them clearly, although rarely up in the trees.

When I was there last one of the other things that drew my attention was this replica of an odometer used by covered wagons when they traversed the country in the 19th century.

It had never occurred to me that they had a way of calculating the distance they had traveled, and it must have taken some sort of genius with numbers to work it all out.  (I bet my friend in England, Paul, could do it as he's always helping my out with my poor math skills.)

Outside the building they have a huge steam locomotive to remind us of the days of even more expansion, and in the basement you can stand up next to a polar bear; truly one of nature's most fearsome creatures.

They work hard at the museum to keep it an interesting place to visit and I always look forward to my regular trips there.

You can read the entire column as always at www.sbsun.com/trevorstravels