The Science Museum of Minnesota is known for bringing in big exhibits—the current King Tut showcase, for example, and last year's Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit—but the whole facility is a dream palace for those who want to know why things happen the way they do. The regular galleries invite visitors to explore the Mississippi River, dinosaurs and other fossils, and the growth of cells. If you don't just want to look at the exhibits, there are various experimental rooms where visitors can roll up their sleeves and see how hydraulics, lights, and other everyday objects really work. To top it off, there's the stomach-dropping experience of the Omnitheater, a facility that has taken generations of school kids on immersive journeys across the world and far into outer space.