Seuss in Springfield

Thing One, Thing Two, and Thing Three

With a lot of time spent in the car driving around the Northeast, we're always on the lookout for new places to stop and stretch our legs. Springfield, Massachusetts is best known as the home of everybody's favorite Doctor, Dr. Seuss and it's here that you can explore the sculpture garden dedicated to his most beloved characters. Walk amongst Horton, Yertle, and Things One and Two and then visit one of the five museums surrounding the courtyard.

One fee gets you in to all five museums so you can do as much or as little in each one as you have time for. If you're hungry there is a cafe in the "Quadrangle" (as the complex is called) with light sandwiches and a good kids menu (hot dogs, pb&j, wraps and paninis). We stopped in downtown Springfield at Red Rose for their pastas and pizzas before the five minute drive over to the museums.

Looking for aliens on the moon

Little C&G loved the Science Museum and we were just in time for a show in their small planetarium. They have a good dinosaur hall for your budding archeologists to check out and an African hall where you can see animals (taxidermied, of course) that would be very out of place in a Massachusetts winter. The gift shop is located at the entrance to the Science Museum and they have an amazing collection of Dr. Seuss books for sale, along with all kinds of Seussian goodies.

The Fine Arts Museum has a nice collection of paintings with a strong emphasis on French painters. The boys and I had fun making up wild tales about the dark and brooding portraits in the the Dutch and Flemish galleries. The gallery also has special exhibits and when we were there the exhibit was on the Beatles. It was very weird looking at paintings that were hundreds of years old while the sounds of the 60's floated through the open galleries.

Poor Yertle, Little C&G isn't helping

We didn't make it into the other three museums, as we needed to hit the road for our next destination. But it will give us something new to do on our next drive through central Massachusetts. The boys are looking forward to climbing on some of their favorite all time characters again.

The museums are generally open 10:00 to 5:00 Monday through Saturday and 11:00 to 5:00 on Sunday. Check their website for more specifics, if there's something you definitely want to see on your drive through town. Admission for adults is $15 and kids 3-17 are $8. The Dr. Seuss sculpture garden is located within the complex so you do need to pay your admission before you can go ask Horton if he's heard a Who.