My family kicked off the extra long Memorial Day Weekend with a trip to the extended engagement of "BODIES: The Exhibition" downtown in the Rialto Theater. Clearly, it's a popular temporary attraction for Tucson, as there was a line out the door on a Friday after lunch. Fortunately, the Exhibit is inside, comfortably air conditioned, and the line moved quickly.

My husband and I entered with two teenage daughters in tow and you never really know what to expect with girls! Although, since both are fairly science-minded and have spent a lot of time with Doctors over the years, we knew it would be of interest to them. Our youngest, spent the first half of our time there just coming to grips with the fact that everything we were seeing was real, and not a sculpted model like she's used to seeing with her Pediatrician. I would have to agree that it was fascinating to know that what we were viewing were real examples of what our bodies look like inside. My husband seemed to enjoy all of the skeletal views with muscles & tendons to see where it hurts when he over-exercises. We all also found the petrified-looking slices really interesting, along with the full body view of all the arteries and vessels. It's amazing how small and threadlike they really look, as we all expected them to be much thicker.

Easily the most memorable were the models that showed sickness and disease in the body. Seeing the healthy examples of lungs & then seeing smoker's lungs was a pretty powerful image. We really liked the care and thought that went into having a clear trash bin for people to immediately drop their cigarettes into directly next to it. Hopefully, that power of suggestion will keep the motivation to give up smoking for good for those that do. Our daughter has struggled with asthma since she was a baby, so it was interesting to see up close & personal.

For anyone who has ever had surgery or injured a part of their body, it was easy to gravitate closer and longer to those special areas of interest for you as an individual. You can go (as we did) unguided and just read the signage and fun facts at each display. Or, you can get an audio guided tour with these small, hand-held devices that explained each display with just a push of a button.

Our greeter told us to allow about an hour to an hour-and-a-half to get through it all. But, the ease of navigating around the displays will allow you to do it in less time, if need be. It truly is a once in a lifetime experience to see it for yourself and really see what you're made of. The Rialto Theater is easy to get to and they have nice long hours every day, so it should fit into about any schedule you are on. And, everyone should have an interest in it at some level, because it's exploration of your own body. BODIES: The Exhibition is also a nice break from the Summer heat as a unique indoor adventure.

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