I buy a lot of books. My husband, having given up the battle, will lug a package in with a bemused “I think it’s more books…” and he aided and abetted me moving the big bookshelves in to create more shelf space and the full built-in library look I’ve craved. He really loves me.

However, there comes a time when books alone will not do. When you want to get up close and possibly even touch the research. Which is what I did yesterday. Only… I don’t know yet what I was researching. You see, we did a spontaneous side quest. We’d drive up into Oklahoma, to have a Date outing which involved plans for a Korean restaurant and the acquisition of pickle loaf. That morning, there had been a video on the artillery museum at Fort Sill that popped up, so the First Reader of My Work and Best Beloved suggested we take in the museum since we would be right there. Some time, and slight confusion later (we didn’t realize the museum was wholly on base, as the USAF museum isn’t, fortunately it was easy enough to get visitor’s passes) we were wandering around the outdoor display. I think there’s an indoor part, we didn’t find that and, well, I didn’t want to ramble over the base too much.

It is an extensive display, beautifully maintained with paths that wind around all the exhibits and have detailed signs for each. We couldn’t possibly have looked at all of them, the First Reader just doesn’t have the stamina. Still, the section we took in had fodder for this writer. For one thing, you get scale when you wander up to one of these, in a way reading measurements in the books doesn’t give you.

This itty-bitty jeep-trailered rocket? Nuke. Yes, really. I don’t know why I’d always thought of them as bigger (I do know about the Davy Crocket backpack nukes), but this was… wow. Now, that would be a story where one of these was actually used.

I erroneously thought this was a tank at first glimpse.

It is smaller than a tank, but still very impressive to walk up close to it.

I asked the First Reader ‘where do they ride?’ as this vehicle had wheels, but no obvious way for the men who manned the gun to shelter. Turns out, those pipe and pierced metal racks are seats. He’s showing me where they could sit, although it looks darned uncomfortable, or stand holding the pipe (looks like plumbing!) and ride along that way. Seems like a good way to fall off, to me, but then again… when you must.

As we traveled home, tired, content, full of bulgogi and with as much pickle loaf as the store had on the shelf, we talked about museums. We’re going to start making it a priority to go to the local ones, then see if we can manage travel further afield (he doesn’t travel well any longer, two hours is the upper limit).

If you can go and look at something, or even better, go and do something, you’ll learn it better than from a book. Far be it from me (looks around room filled with books) to knock the book learnin’ but sometimes you need to get your hands on to really understand it. Want to learn about bees? Sign up for your local bee school. Want to learn how to write firearms and proper handling? Take a class. Want to learn what old-timey life, or war, was like? Visit a museum! Find a living-history museum if you can, like the Fort at No. 4 in New Hampshire, or Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts. Those can really bring it to life through dedicated re-enactors who are generally happy to answer questions (the first is almost all volunteers, the second is professionals).

Get out there and get up close to the research! Then come tell us about it in the comments.