Get your culture on...FOR FREE!

Do you sometimes get a craving to actually do something cultural, but don't really have a lot of money lying around? Would you like to impress that chick that makes your latte-with-extra-foam every morning, but don't really want to spend a lot of cash? Are you basically kind of a cheapskate like I am? This past Wednesday, I took a break from the daily grind to indulge in a lovely cultural lunch date. My BF picked me up from work and we drove over to the Milwaukee Art Museum for Free Day. Milwaukee residents save $12 on Wednesdays with a Milwaukee ID. In fact, the day before, Chris finally got his Milwaukee drivers license specifically to go to the Museum!

Zoos and Art, History, and Science Museums all over the country offer free days, afternoons, and evenings. These make for pretty awesome date days and nights...you know, a way to mix things up a little without spending a dime. A comprehensive list can be found here, but just for the fun of it, in case I have a random blog passer-by reading this particular post, here are just a smattering of Zoos and Museums offering a bucket of delicious freeness:

In addition to Art Wednesdays, here in Milwaukee, the Public Museum is free on Mondays for city residents. And the Milwaukee County Zoo offers Family Free Days throughout the year.

Chicago has loads of freeness, but the following are opportunities at the Biggies: The Art Institute of Chicago is free on Thursday from 5-8, and Museum of Contemporary Art is free for everyone on Tuesdays. The Museum of Science and Industry has a bunch of free days scattered through out the year (check here for deets.) Also offering various free days throughout the year is the Shed Aquarium. That place is amazing!!

New York City also has a bunch of free museums, but the popular ones have a unique "recommended" admission situation. For example, The Met has a recommended admission of $20, but you honestly can give them anything...or nothing! Same with the American Museum of Natural History...recommended admission of $16. The Bronx Zoo has a "Pay What You Wish" Wednesday deal. Other museums have "Pay What You Wish" opportunities--what I would call "Date Appetizers": From 4-8 on Fridays at the MOMA and from 5:45-7:45 on Saturdays at the Guggenheim. A pretty lovely way to gear up for a fabulous date night in the greatest city in the world, if I do say so myself!

This great land's other coast offers boatloads of freeness as well! The Museum of Contemporary Art in LA is free from 5-8 on Thursdays. And the LA Natural History Museum is free on the first Tuesday of every month. The Getty, one of the most visited museums in the US, is free to everyone!

While you have to pay a fee for the ferry, Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay is always free! Talk about romance!!

Seattle's very unique and incredible Experience Music Project | Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame offers free admission from 5-8 on the first Thursday of the month.

Free Love doesn't stop there! The Denver Zoo offers several free days scattered throughout the year. The Cleveland Museum of Art is free all day every day, except when it's closed on Mondays, but that's just fine because the Cleveland Zoo is free on Mondays with a Cuyahoga County and Hinckley Township ID.

Memphis's Rock n Soul Museum is free to Shelby County, TN residents on Tuesday from 2-7 with ID.

The Dallas Museum of Modern Art is free on the first Tuesday of every month. And the New Mexico Museum of Art is free on Fridays from 5-8.

Of course ALL Smithsonian Museums (as well as the Smithsonian Zoo) in D.C. are always free! As is the Alamo! Meanwhile, in 2009, the National Park Service offered free entry to Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and 144 other national parks during three weekends in the summer...the story came out last June, so hopefully they'll do the same thing this summer.

So yep, get the heck out there and explore your own city! Take a look at this list and see if there are any freebies in your area's delicious gooey cultural center. If anything, you'll save money to get extra tipsy on an additional martini afterward!