The family-friendly Beaty Biodiversity Museum showcases a 2-million-item natural-history collection including birds, fossils and herbarium displays. The highlight is the 25m blue-whale skeleton, artfully displayed in the two-story entranceway. Don't miss the first display case, crammed with a beady-eyed menagerie of tooth-and-claw taxidermy. Consider visiting on the third Thursday of the month, when entry is by donation after 5pm and the museum stays open until 8:30pm; there's often a special theme or live performance for these monthly nocturnal events.
Many of the exhibits are in pullout drawers, so you can spend hours poking around. There's also a surprisingly well-stocked gift shop with some excellent nature-centered books and cool wildlife-themed knickknacks (bird-species stuffies recommended). And if you're curious about that humongous whale, start your visit by viewing Raising Big Blue; the free movie that tells its story is screened in the museum's auditorium throughout the day.
