It was then when I realized I was a nerd.

Our last "tourist" attraction was at the NC History Museum.  We've been wanting to go here F.O.R.E.V.E.R.  And every time we went to the Science Museum with the kids, we would look longingly over at the History Museum.  But we weren't stupid.  History + young kids = boredom for them.  And boredom for them = not a fun time for Justin and I.

Wednesday afternoon we headed downtown!

The bottom floor of the museum was all about NC state history.  Which was pretty interesting.  I have some ancestors that came through the Wilmington area from England so I was intrigued.  I think my favorite part was seeing stuff that came off of Blackbeard's ship.  Swords, anyone?

The history was arranged in chronological time, so we started with the settlers, cruised through the Revolutionary War, and then stopped at the Civil War history.

Did you know that North Carolina was the last to join the Confederacy?  They were hoping not to take sides, but when Lincoln sent them a telegram demanding soldiers to fight the south, it was then they realized that they couldn't stay neutral, and joined the Confederacy.

There were lots and lots of artifacts from the Civil War.  And the stories were sad.  The south was not prepared for this war at all.

After the war, we saw how North Carolina was devastated by the war and started to become industrialized.  Factories were popping up because farming wasn't fruitfall anymore. 

Young toddlers were working in factories.  I cannot imagine.  I can hardly get Jax to pick up his room, let alone punch a time card and work a menial job.T

The Great Depression came next.  I got to see some clothes that were made out of sackcloth.  I've heard about it, but haven't really seen it.  That was interesting. 

Upstairs in the museum, was individual exhibits.  Justin went through a sports exhibit.  Eh.  Not my cup of tea.

We went through another Civil War exhibit, but I wasn't sure why this was upstairs and not down with the other ones?

At this time I was hungry.  I told Justin that I needed a snack or something.

"Why?" he asked.  "It's almost 5 o'clock.  The museum is closing in 10 minutes.  Let's go get dinner at The Pit."

Oh my.  We had been in the museum for almost 3 hours.  It only felt like an hour.  And I enjoyed every minute of it.  My inner-nerd came out today and had a lot of fun.

Only...don't burst my bubble and tell me that my inner-nerd is really an outer-nerd.

Oh, I am really excited to see this exhibit.