I’ve just visited the most amazing museum! It’s called the Burke Museum, and you don’t even have to leave the University of Washington campus to visit it! It’s a unique place because it has stuff about the natural history and culture of the Puget Sound region. If you’re lucky, you might even get a chance to see Native American artists at work, carving a canoe or a totem pole. The region’s natural history is represented as a "trip through time," from the earliest plants and dinosaurs, through the Ice Ages and up until the present. They have a cool model of a volcano, huge mammoth and dinosaur skeletons, and a terrific exhibit of local bugs and butterflies. It was decided that the best way to understand the Puget Sound region is to see it as part of the whole Pacific Rim, so the entire downstairs of the museum is devoted to exhibits on different Pacific cultures including Hawaii, New Zealand, Japan, China, Korea, and Indonesia. Not only do they have cultural objects such as masks and clothing, but they also have recordings of language and music, as well as videos and live performances of folktales. It really is a place not to be missed! Not to mention, it has a typically tasty Seattle coffee shop downstairs, called the Burke Café, which is popular with students and visitors.They serve great muffins there, too!