My basic outfit to brave the elements included an undershirt, a long sleeve over shirt, my jacket, scarf wrapped around my ears, nose and mouth, gloves, cap, jeans, shoes and socks. Should I have probably brought more than denim blue jeans? Hindsight says yes, since I'm fairly certain it was the frozen nature of the jeans that cause me to have the skin basically ripped off of my right leg. Live and learn.
The Museum of Science and Industry was on the agenda for the day and it was the most remote locale that we would attempt to visit on the trip, so initially the trek out was rather daunting to me. Once in Chicago, however, I discovered just how easy it was. All we had to do was take the electric train, or METRA as it it known, and walk 2 blocks to the museum.
The ride over was easy and uneventful, but the walk to the museum was a bit more intense. There was snow blowing in our faces pretty hard and the temperature was below zero. Despite some closed sidewalks and large snowdrifts, we found ourselves at the main entrance.
Today was a “free day” at the museum, presumably with the intent of drawing crowds to the museum during a traditionally slow time of the year. With the weather the way that it was, however, few brave souls attended. Not that I can really blame them though, if I lived in Chicago, I would do very very little from December to March, but we only had a few days and a little snow and cold wasn't going to stop us! Plus, because the place was so desolate, we were able to linger around exhibits that during a busier time, we would be rushed through.
The museum was a lot of fun. Very interactive and lots of fun exhibits. We made it our goal to at least see every one, whether or not we were able to completely explore it or not. The first thing we saw was an exhibit with a creepy circus theme, which I can only assume was themed to optical illusions. Following this was a big thing about WWII, with many reprints of old newspapers, videos and static mannequins,
all leading up to the only U-Boat captured by the US during the war.
It was impressive. I always figured the boats to be fairly small, but this one was massive.
We took the requisite pictures and went into the kids' interactive area, where the docent gave us a look as we entered. There were all sorts of displays, explaining simple machines and water pressure and gravity, among other things.
Around this time, we stopped by the bathrooms and these were all futuristic. Tons of stalls, and the sink that intuitively knew to give you soap and when to turn on the water. It was quite impressive,
Time was zipping past us, so we decided to stop into the cafeteria for lunch. For a museum, there were a lot of good looking food offerings. I decided on a ham and cheese sandwich, and Lauren had chili. We both had worms 'n' dirt for dessert. The sandwich was OK, but the dessert was the best worms 'n' dirt that I have ever had—and that is really saying something!
Refueled, we continued our tour. There was an interesting thing about agriculture, which seemed to have an awful lot about cows and cow poop.
I'm not sure, but I do know that I got to be a virtual farmer (plowing virtual fields), practice hooking a cow up to a milking machine, and feel how warm milk is when it comes out of a cow. For anyone interested; the answer is that it is very hot once it leaves the cow. Remember kids, knowledge is power.
Past the cows is a little unassuming detour that contains the “Fairy Castle.” I know, I know. It sounds really stupid, but it was pretty neat. It was originally owned by early movie star, Colleen Moore, and it was impressive.
It was a standard little castle (made me think of a book that I loved as a kid, called “The Castle in the Attic”) but it was the details and stories that made it so neat. It was themed after legendary stories. For example, in the dining hall was King Arthur's Round Table, and in the main bedroom was Sleeping Beauty's bed. The little books in the library were actual books, with tiny tiny content. Also, illustrating the benefit and lack of crowds, we were able to wander around and take pictures for between 15 and 20 minutes without a single soul coming in and bothering us. The room that contains the castle has a maximum occupancy of 10. I don't think that we could be so leisurely during a busier time of year.
Next up was something called “Fast Forward,” which is what Innoventions should actually be like, displaying technology that is being worked on today,
NOT just a giant commercial for HP or whoever the sponsor du jour is.
Following that was the generic lab exhibit, where I virtually cloned some goats, Lauren saw some cloned mice and I found my favorite part of the museum. There is essentially a baby chicken hatchery, where there are chickens being hatched every day, and in fact we were able to see one hatch,
and then next to that, was a little area where the chickens went once they had emerged. I was the 'chicken whisperer' and they would run from all over the area whenever I put my finger up, much to the annoyance of Lauren who was trying to take pictures of them. Oops.
The train exhibit was next on our agenda.
From full-sized real trains to the most impressive model train setup that I have ever seen, mimicking a train trip from Seattle to Chicago, this was a neat display. I got to climb in an 1899 speed train and spent some time watching the miniature EL and buses in the miniature Chicago.
After the trains, it was only natural that we visit turn of the century main street Chicago.
There is normally a vintage ice cream parlor open, but I guess during the slower times of the year, it is closed. That was an argument against the low crowds. Also, yes I understand how cold it was outside—and yes, I still wanted ice cream. Deal with it.
We also got to see how an automatic toy-making machine worked, try and identify sea animals and ships by the sonar waves they give off, as well as learn all about petroleum, taste authentic water from Lake Michigan, see the exterior coal mine exhibit, where we wanted to do the tour, but they had completed for the day and see a huge periodic table of the elements, where on each element was various products that the element was used in. That was a particular highlight for Lauren.
At this point, we had pretty much seen everything that we could (curse being a few months early for the Harry Potter exhibit!) so we headed to the gift shop, where I got a magnet with the baby chicks on it, and went back out into the cold.
The actual snowing had abated by this point, so the walk back was a bit easier. Upon arriving at our home METRA station, we learned that we could take the PEDway right into our building, avoiding the cold. We could not have been happier.
Initially our plans for the night included going to the Billy Goat Tavern (home of the cheezeborger, cheezeborger, Coke-no Pepsi, cheeps—no fries sketch from SNL), but with the cold and Lauren not feeling so well, we decided to order in. After finally finding a place that not only offered the food stuffs that we wanted, but was able to deliver to our building, we waited over an hour for the food. Finally I called the place and they were very apologetic and I guess, due to a clerical error, someone else had gotten our food. Once that was resolved, our food arrived in fifteen minutes. I had my favorite, Italian beef sandwich and Lauren had a chicken Caesar salad that was apparently pretty good. Another night in the jacuzzi tub, and then to bed, since we had another presumably busy day the following day, when it was supposed to be even colder than we had experienced yet.
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