Two Trips to the Schulz

Earlier this fall I made two trips to the Charles Schulz Museum here in Santa Rosa. One trip was with Cay, one with Carlos. The museum itself is one of three parts to the campus. There's also an ice rink with a diner (Snoopy's Home Ice and The Warm Puppy Cafe) and a huge gift shop and gallery. Both times I visited all three. The first time Cay and I pretty much explored at random. The rotating exhibit was about the Kite Eating Tree. The second time when I was with Carlos, we started exploring, then I found out about the family guide, which had little tidbits of information, and a sort of "scavenger hunt" which made exploring a little more fun, and we also walked the maze on the grounds, which I'd completely missed the first time. The rotating display at that time was "School Days". There was also an extended display of Snoopy in Space, which was running both times, and has been extended into the new year.

One of the fun things about the museum is that there are scattered photo setups throughout the space, where you can put yourself in a Peanuts cartoon.

I think the single thing that impressed me most was this huge mosaic piece, which was made up entirely of strips from the newspapers printed actual size on ceramic tile:

The other thing that stood out to me was the bathrooms. Yes, the bathrooms:

There was a border with Peanuts strips all along the walls, even in the stalls. You don't have to bring in your own reading material ;)

There's a lot more. It's really quite a big little museum. There's a recreation of Schulz's home office, a room dedicated to his life with all sorts of artifacts from his life, not only out on open display, but in drawer cases you can view as well. And there is an education center, where you can read, draw your own cartoons, or engage in other art/craft projects related to cartooning.

Here are a few more photos from the museum: