Just in time for the Maryland Science Center’s Grossology exhibit (where visitors can partake in such fun activities as scat tracking), the Baltimore National Aquarium and the Maryland Zoo are teaming up with the Center to offer visitors discounted tickets to the other two venues after an initial visit to the first. So if you’re planning a visit to Baltimore this summer and you visit one of these attractions, you can get $3 off coupons for subsequent visits to the other two. And with the National Aquarium and the Maryland Science Center quite near each other in the Baltimore Inner Harbor area, it’s easy to hit up these two destinations in the same day. The promo runs through Sept. 3, 2007.

More information on the Weird, Wild and Gross Summer Promo

Among the weird, wild and gross things you’ll learn at these Maryland attractions:

- How ticks and leeches suck blood

- How a cow’s digestive tract works

- Why cats cough up hairballs

- How the Australian grey-headed flying fox survives in the Australian rain forest

- Which Australian lizard has a blue tongue

- Why the death adder snake deserves its name

- How the Fly River turtle ended up with a pig-like snout.

Grossing Out Visitors is Goal of New Tourist Promotion

The Smithsonian Museum of Natural History’s Korea Gallery opens today in Washington, DC. The first in what will eventually be a series of permanent galleries devoted to the history and culture of the Asian diaspora, the 1,800-square-foot exhibit features 85 artifacts and works of art ranging from ceramics excavated from the tombs of ancient Korean rulers to a contemporary Korean wedding attire set for bride and groom from Korean designer Lee Young Hee. Additional highlights include sections of the exhibition devoted to Korean landscapes, Korean handwriting and Koreans living outside their native country.

The Korea Gallery at the Smithsonian

In the coming weeks, the Houston Museum of Natural Science will become home to over 1,000 cockroaches. Nope, museum officials aren’t experiencing a hygiene problem. They’re actually paying Texas residents 25 cents per cockroach for an upcoming insect exhibit. Moneymakers take note: all cockroaches must be alive and healthy to warrant the payout.

Cockroach Call at Houston Museum

As of this weekend, Americans will have a new reason to appreciate George Washington: whiskey. Three miles from Virginia’s Mount Vernon Estate, the George Washington Distillery & Gristmill is described as the only authentic 18th-century distillery in the country and will feature fire water made using the first president’s recipe for Rye Whiskey. Built to look like the 0riginal distillery and mill Washington built in 1771, the building operates the old-fashioned way: with a 16-foot waterwheel to power the millstones, as well as copper stills and mash tubs for, uh, other whiskey-related activities. Distillery visitors will be able to explore exhibits like Spirits of Independence: George Washington and the Beginnings of the American Whiskey Industry. Now that’s what I call drunken patriotism.

A new museum dedicated to Jewish history and culture opened today in Munich. Built as a freestanding cube with a completely translucent ground-floor, the Jewish Museum Munich houses a permanent exhibition of the history of Munich’s Jewish population, as well as temporary exhibits that change throughout the year. The museum is part of a larger Jewish community center that occupies the site.

Most hotel packages are good for a single hotel. If you don’t want to stay at that particular place, then you’re out of luck. Not so with Philadelphia’s King Tut Hotel Packages, which are being offered by 15 Philadelphia hotels between Feb. 3 and Sept. 30, 2007. Starting at $189/night, the packages include two anytime VIP passes to the Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs exhibit at the Franklin Institute Science Museum. VIP tickets mean you can visit the museum whenever you want during opening hours. Regular visitors have to make reservations to see the exhibit. Some hotels include extra perks with their version of the package. Guests at the Doubletree Hotel Philadelphia, for example, will receive a breakfast buffet and overnight parking with their package.

This is the only East Coast stop for the popular exhibit, which features 130 artifacts that once belonged to the famed Egyptian king. After its Philly run, the show leaves the U.S. for London. Hence the hype…

King Tut Hotel Packages

We blogged about the Chicago Field Museum’s overnight experience for kids and families based on Ben Stiller’s new movie Night at the Museum, but that is certainly not the only program out there. In fact, there are tons of evening and overnight activities for kids at museums around the country (and beyond). Some are simply Friday night events just for kids, while others are full-on overnight camping adventures for groups and families. Costs range from $10/child to more than $50/person. And while there are plenty of overnight experiences inspired by the movie, there are also myriad programs that focus on the arts, nature and history. Here is a list (by no means exhaustive) of programs to get you started:

American Museum of Natural History Sleepovers New York, NY

Imagine Children’s Museum Kids’ Night Everette, WA

Children’s Museum of Illinois Great Escape Kids Night Out Decatur, IL

Children’s Museum of the Highland’s Kids Night Out Sebring, FL

Eureka Museum for Children Science Night Sleepovers West Yorkshire, UK

Children’s Discovery Museum Friday Night Kid Night Normal, IL

Canadian Museum of Civilization Overnight Adventures Gatineau, Quebec

expERIEnce Children’s Museum Overnight Experience Erie, PA

Children’s Discovery Workshop Overnight Camp-ins Williamsport, PA

Kidspace Children’s Museum Overnight Nature Retreats Pasadena, CA

Calvert Marine Museum Overnight Programs Solomons, MD

Children’s Museum of Portsmouth Sleepover By the Sea Portsmouth, NH

Curious Kids Museum Scrapbook Overnight St. Joseph, MI

Notebaert Nature Museum Bunking with Butterflies Chicago, IL

Connecticut Children’s Museum Camp-Ins West Hartford, CT

Houston Museum of Natural Science Overnight Events Houston, TX

Chesapeake Children’s Museum Artsy Overnight Annapolis, MD

The Georgia Aquarium has extended the deadline for purchasing annual passes from Dec. 31, 2006 to Jan. 31, 2007. Annual passholders can visit without making advance reservations and have their own private members only entrance. They also receive a 10 percent discount on tickets for their guests, as well as 50 percent off admission to aquarium tours. Other member discounts include cheaper parking, food and gift shop deals. Passes are $62.50 for adults, $45.50 for children ages 3 to 12 and $51.50 for seniors over 55. To put that in perspective, a general admission ticket for an adult is $24. If you plan to visit more than once a year, buying the pass is a good buy - especially since you can go without having to secure an advance time slot.

Fans of Ben Stiller’s new flick Night at the Museum may want to bring the filmic experience to life with the Four Points by Sheraton Magnificent Mile Hotel’s Night at the Museum package, offered now through March 2007. The $295 package includes two tickets to Chicago’s Navy Pier IMAX Theatre, free drink and snack vouchers, a movie-inspired scavenger hunt at the Field Museum, dinner for two at Lawry’s Prime Rib and accommodations for two at the above-mentioned hotel. Not included? A pissed-off, hungry T-Rex skeleton. You’ll have to see the movie for that.

Night at the Museum Movie Inspires ‘A Night at the Museum Package’

Anyone even remotely interested in photography, famous faces or photojournalism should take note of the Annie Leibovitz retrospective A Photographer’s Life: 1990-2005 that’s hitting museums in the U.S. and abroad over the next year. At the Brooklyn Museum until Jan. 21, 2007, the collection includes 100+ photographs from both the iconic photographer’s private life and the very public lives she has so famously covered for magazines like Rolling Stone, Vogue and Vanity Fair. After leaving Brooklyn, the show will head to the following venues:

San Diego Museum of Art

High Museum of Art (Atlanta)

Corcoran Gallery (Washington, DC)

de Young Museum (San Francisco)

Maison Europeenne de la Photograpie (Paris)

National Portrait Gallery (London)

Brooklyn Museum - A Photographer’s Life: 1990-2005

(Above photo credit: Annie Leibovitz (American, b. 1949). Nicole Kidman, 2003. Photograph © Annie Leibovitz. Courtesy of Vogue for Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life, 1990–2005)