Travel Tips: ASTC Passport Program

Participation in the ASTC Travel Passport Program is an amazing value. Our family membership to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History comes with perks like reduced parking rates, guest passes and invitation to members-only events in addition to unlimited visits to the Museum and free shows at its Nathan and Fannye Shafran Planetarium & Ralph Mueller Observatory.  Because of the Museum’s affiliation with the ASTC Travel Passport Program, we also receive free reciprocal admission at hundreds of natural history, science and children’s museums.   The ability for our family to use the ASTC Passport Program to visit member museums around the country for free is a huge value!

What does the ASTC Passport Cost?

Each ASTC Passport member charges its own rate for a membership.  Our family membership to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History costs us $90 a year.

ASTC Passport Review

We have had this membership for approximately two and a half years.  Honestly, we don’t immediately renew when it expires but wait for the next opportunity when we want to visit the Cleveland Museum of Natural History or one of the other ASTC member museums and sign up for a new membership.   When visiting Los Angeles last Fall, we decided while walking down the Hollywood Walk of Fame that we wanted to go to the La Brea Tar Pits next.  I called my husband from our Uber and had him purchase a membership online.  Minutes after he sent me the confirmation email, I used it to get free admission into the Tar Pits.  Since then, we’ve used our current membership for admission for several trips to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, two visits to the Carnegie Science Center and the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh.  The value of those museum visits are about four times of the cost of our membership, and we still have five months left, including summer break.

Nancy is very fortunate to live in Washington, DC and have the free Smithsonian museums at her doorstep.  She never considered purchasing a museum membership to use solely for travel until this spring.  Her family purchased a membership to a local children’s museum and used it for free admission when visiting Kidspace Children’s Museum in Pasadena and plans to use it to visit more museums when traveling.

Our family has visited 10 amazing ASTC affiliate museums and always looks forward to our next opportunity to use our membership.

#1:  Adler Planetarium – Chicago, Illinois

My older son wanted to be an astronaut through pre-school, and both boys had a great time visiting the Adler Planetarium, which was the first planetarium in the western hemisphere.  The beautiful stone building houses many interactive exhibits and three theaters, including the most technologically enhanced planetarium theater and a high-definition 3D theater.  Our boys were aged three and five at the time of our visit and enjoyed the interactive exhibits focusing on the planets, solar system and space exploration, and, of course, the planetarium show.

#2:  Carnegie Science Center – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Of the dozens of museums my 10 year old has visited, the Carnegie Science Center is his favorite.  He’s probably not alone, as this is Pittsburgh’s most popular museum. The “science” portion of the museum is pretty cool, but the real draw for him is Highmark SportsWorks^®, which is housed in an adjacent building and uses more than 30 interactive sports exhibits to show how physics, anatomy, biology and chemistry control sports.  The Ropes Challenge consists of a series of challenges, including a rope bridge, rolling logs and a horizontal net that culminate in a zip line and is probably my boys’ favorite “exhibit” ever, especially the zip line.  Other highlights of the sports complex include the SkyTykes Ropes Course, located under the Ropes Challenge, a 24-foot rock climbing wall (which even my daughter tried out), a batting cage, a 10-meter dash and various challenges for endurance and balance.  This bright complex is a perfect place for kids to burn energy, especially on cold or rainy days.

Inside the Carnegie Science Center, my boys’ favorite exhibit is Roboworld, which is considered the world’s largest permanent robotics exhibition.  Roboworld features more than 30 interactive displays, including a robot who shoots baskets with impressive precision and another who challenges visitors in air hockey.  My kids could spend hours playing air hockey with a robot or comparing basketball precision.

#3:  Center of Science and Industry – Columbus, Ohio

The Center of Science and Industry, commonly known as “COSI” is a comprehensive science museum with more than 300 interactive exhibits.  We were fortunate to visit several years ago during the week that COSI hosted its annual outdoor Big Machines exhibit.  At the time, our four and six year old boys were at the height of their machinery enthusiasm and absolutely loved “touch a truck” events.  So, it was a bit of a challenge to get them away from the trucks and inside COSI.  Once inside, we discovered that COSI nails the “hands on” aspect of science, particularly with its lab spaces and hallway exhibitions.

#4:  Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh – Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

A dream climber for kids

The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh is an interactive museum for kids with great activities and hands-on creating opportunities for kids of all ages.  The two-story climber attracted my 3.5 year old daughter like a magnet.  She had to make it to the top and then back again.  I was nervous about her exiting at the top until another mom assured me that the entrance and exit were both located at the bottom.  As soon as we arrived, she headed straight for the two-story climber that thankfully has entrance and exit openings only at the bottom.

My boys happily worked in the MAKESHOP® just opposite the climber while I hung out at the wall dividing the two areas to keep an eye on all three children.  The kids used household boxes to anchor markers in place and then attached motors to make them move on their own.  The project involved tape, hot glue and a lot of trial and error, and this was my boys’ favorite exhibit at the Museum.  The Museum’s Studio also offers hands-on creating opportunities for kids of all ages.  This multimedia space offers wonderful supplies that allow kids to create paint, sculpt and silkscreen.  The Studio is housed in a former planetarium and is a beautiful and bright space to inspire creative juices.

#5:  Cleveland Museum of Natural History – Cleveland, Ohio

We are members of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, which is located in University Circle, about 15 minutes from our house.  So, this is the ASTC museum we visit the most frequently.  Inexpensive metered parking is usually available on Wade Oval, right outside the Museum.  Because of our membership, I occasionally bring my oldest and youngest for a short visit while my husband accompanies our middle child to his nearby piano lesson.   It’s also a snow day favorite or something we combine with a trip to the Cleveland Museum of Art, which is located around the corner.

In good weather, we often enjoy the Ralph Perkins II Wildlife Center & Woods Garden, which opened in the Fall of 2016 and features living plants and animals that are native to Ohio.  The dinosaur collection may not compare to those of the National Museum of Natural History – London, the Field Museum or the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, but the Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton is still pretty cool, and there is a mastodon skeleton that was found in the region.  Lucy, the reconstructed cast of female hominid who lived over 3 million years ago is the a perennial favorite of my kids.  Lucy’s skeleton was discovered in Ethiopia in 1974 by Donald Johanson, the curator of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.  I have a series of pictures of my two youngest standing next to Lucy at various ages.

We always try to catch a planetarium show at Nathan and Fannye Shafran Planetarium & Ralph Mueller Observatory.  My daughter is a huge fan of the One World, One Sky:  Big Bird’s Adventure, and even though my boys have seen it more times than we can count, they agreed to accompany her the last time that the timing aligned – albeit after a few eye rolls.

#6:  The Field Museum of Natural History – Chicago, Illinois

The Field Museum is one of the world’s largest natural history museums.  It opened in 1893 and was named to honor its first major benefactor, Marshall Field, the founder of the Chicago-based department store who donated $1 million to the Museum in 1894.  It is located on Museum Campus along Lake Michigan and also boasts one of the world’s best dinosaur collections, including Sue, the world’s most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton, which was prominently displayed in the main hall of the Museum until 2017.  With two young boys aged three and five who were excited about prehistoric creatures, we definitely did not miss the dinosaur exhibit.

We also explored an Egyptian tomb in the three-story Inside Ancient Egypt exhibit.  This exhibit includes one of the world’s largest collections of human mummies.  This was our boys’ first exposure to Egypt, but they were fascinated and have since enjoyed Egyptian exhibits at the National Museum of Natural History and the Cleveland Museum of Art.

#7:  Great Lakes Science Center – Cleveland, Ohio

While we cannot use our membership to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History for free reciprocal membership to ASTC member museums within a 90 mile radius of our home, we recently visited the Great Lakes Science Center as part of a NASA Free Evening.  The event feature science-related programming and Astronaut Terry Virts, the author of View from Space.  Our kids thoroughly enjoyed hearing Virts describe his experiences on the space station.  Virts’ presentation and slide show inspired them to thoroughly explore the NASA Glenn’s Visitor’s Center, including the 1973 Skylab 3 Apollo Command Module.  They also enjoyed trying out all the hands-on exhibits and building with Lego as part of the Science Center’s special exhibit.

#8:  La Brea Tar Pits & George C. Page Museum – Los Angeles, California

The LaBrea Tar Pits & Museum are dedicated to La Brea’s shallow pools of oil that coagulated into asphalt and trapped Ice Age animals.  The Tar Pits are registered as a National Natural Landmark, and over 3.5 million fossils have been found on the site, with excavation continuing year round at Project 23 and seasonally at Pit 91.  My son was fascinated by the Fossil Lab where you can watch paleontologists working on specimens collected from Project 23.   After viewing the completed fossils, watching Titans of the Ice Age, the 25-minute 3D movie featured in the Museum’s theater, and observing the Fossil Lab, my son had an opportunity to try separating fossils himself.  With all these great hands on opportunities, it’s not surprising that the stop at the La Brea Tar Pits & Museum was his favorite of our trip.

#9:  Maryland Science Center – Baltimore, Maryland

The Maryland Science Center is another phenomenal science museum located in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.  This was the first science museum we visited as a family.  We were skeptical if our one and three year old boys were old enough for the Science Center, but they had a blast, especially while exploring the Spacelink exhibit and the Kids Room, which includes a large water play area.  We also enjoyed a show at the IMAX theater.

#10:  Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History – Washington, D.C.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History is an amazing free admission museum on the National Mall.  It was the world’s most visited natural history museum in 2017.  The Museum’s collection includes over 126 million specimens.  Our favorite is the Hope Diamond, the 45.5 carat grayish-blue pendant surrounded by 16 diamonds that is reportedly insured for $250 million.   The Hall of Fossils includes 46 complete skeletons and is currently undergoing a massive $45 million, five-year renovation and scheduled to reopen in 2019.  The iconic 14-foot tall elephant is the focal point of the entry rotunda.

For traveling families who enjoy natural history museums, science centers and children’s museums, investing in a membership to the ASTC Travel Passport Program museum can be an amazing value.  Next on our list is the Ontario Science Centre, which was one of my favorite museums that I visited as a child.  Make sure to check out our other posts on other ASTC  museums, including children’s museums, natural history museums and science museums.