Something at the museum

Advertising is an amazing thing. There is the potential for something to exist your entire life right in front of you, but it's not until they put a bright flashy sign on it that you actually see it.  Take, for example, the Trail Museum. I grew up near Trail.  Lived there all my life. I could tell you all sorts of crazy facts about the area, like it is populated by Italians and their descendents, that its primary industry is smelting metals like lead, copper and zinc, and that the city was not subject to the Great Depression due to its vigorous growth in the 1930's. One thing that I have shockingly never known, however, was the fact that Trail had a museum. And it is open to the public. And it is free.

So you can imagine my surprise when I am driving down the highway into the heart of Downtown Trail and WHAM!  There it is on the side of the road in bright red and white letters "Museum Open FREE Admission." It was a revelation. Trail has a museum!!! Advertising has expanded my world.

Knowledge of a thing is worth nothing, however, if one is not able to make use of it, so last week I took advantage of a free afternoon to test out my free museum admission.  It was amazing. I learned things. I found crazy old mechanical calculators with so many buttons that I couldn't figure out how they worked and had to call over the museum attendant to give me a demonstration.  I found an old phonograph which plays cylindrical shaped records before they invented the disk shape ones.  I found out that there is actually a creek flowing through downtown Trail and the highway was built on top of it.  CRAZY!!!

And you know what the best thing about the museum experience was for me?
This sign:

 

Honestly, don't mind if I do!