2 Best Sights in Southern Oregon, Oregon

Crater Rock Museum

Jackson County's natural history and collections of the Roxy Ann Gem and Mineral Society are on display at this impressive 12,000-square-foot museum in Central Point. Fossils, petrified wood, scrimshaw, fluorescent rocks, thunder eggs, and precious minerals from throughout Oregon and elsewhere in the West are included, plus works of glass by renowned artist Dale Chihuly.

ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum

Geared toward kids but with some genuinely fascinating interactive exhibits that will please curious adults, too, this 26,000-square-foot science museum is close to the Southern Oregon University campus. In the main hall, you can explore touch-friendly exhibits on nanotechnology and sports science, and Discovery Island has curious games and puzzles geared to tots under age five. There's outdoor fun amid the plantings and pathways in the xeriscape Black Bear Garden, as well as a weather station, solar-power nursery, and kid-appropriate climbing wall.