So at 4pm on a Friday, the Natural History Museum looks like this:
Ya, it was mad packed. And everyone comes in packs of 20 in matching t-shirts, and plays by the buddy system line of rules. Ya, it's not a great picture. I think the shot from the 2nd floor is supposed to look really good, but the room was dark today b/c of the impending storms. On the bottom floor I explored the "hall of mammals." What they did was take all the dead animals from the zoo, stuff them in captivating poses, and stick them behind glass. In other words, it's a lot like being at the zoo. Only the glass is smeared with little children nose prints (eww).
I also checked out the dinosaur and evolution of animal exhibit. The museum does this cool thing, where the exhibit is actually merged into the mural background. This way, there's no way you can mess up your pictures. Here's a sea turtle skeleton, against the mural of the sea. 
The second (top) floor is devoted to rocks. Moon rocks, volcano rocks, gemstone rocks, earth crust rocks, meteorites. If you're a rock fan, this place is for you. It was kind of abandoned. Everyone was in the Harry Winston Gallery where they displayed the Hope Diamond (not photographed). The gallery also included other large, polished, expensive pieces of jewelry.
Other exhibits: Sikh culture (sucked and small); Korea (sucked and small); African Voices (did not go). The museum also had photos from the winners of the national wildlife photography competition, and god those people knew how to take photos. Half the photos are from amateurs, and people list the camera type and settings, so you can get an idea of what you need to accomplish their shots. Oh, you also need close access to wild animals, helicopters, or scuba diving equipment.
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