High Desert Museum

We made our yearly visit to the High Desert Museum and got to see a lot of the exhibits. It is into the winter so there was no “Birds of Prey” show and we didn't take the time to visit the Native American's Exhibit
The big show of the day was at the Desertarium. Lizards, snakes, tortoise, scorpions, and gila monster were out under the heat lamps. They had a short presentation and there was even an opportunity to pet the snake or submit a name for the two new gila monsters. The Birds of Prey are usually my favorite but it is now the winter season so all we saw were the birds in their cage and the wire mesh made pictures difficult.
The homestead exhibit had two sheep and a lady acting as the homesteader and telling you about the life in the little cabin. The steam sawmill is nice but I have never been there the days they have it running. I think it is only like four times a year but all the the lumber used in building the barn comes from the mill. The 1 to 12 scale model of a sawmill is interesting. It took the man 25 years to build and is a very nice job. They say the steam engine even works. I will have to take their word on that.
The river otter talk was just that. The 12 year old male was not going to get up from his nap for a few fish. They had a second female until last March when she died of old age. Both the lynx and the bobcat were also taking there nap all day long.
We did go through the Spirit of the West Gallery that has a number of very nice life size dioramas and also visited a gallery with a large glass exhibit and video.
Several places had bird feeders and benches that provided an opportunity to watch the bird and squirrels feeding.