We headed west and south last Friday for a two-night stay near Chicago's Midway Airport. The jellyfish ("Jellies") exhibit at Shedd Aquarium was our main draw, but we took in some other sights as well.
We tried something different and stayed at an airport hotel. There were no Nickelodeon channels on the TV, just sports, business news, and weather. The TSA security checkpoint at the the pool was a little much - I think they took the description "airport hotel" too literally. Ease up, TSA! The kids renewed their love for foosball in the recreation area, and we played the bar TV trivia game while eating dinner at the hotel restaurant on Saturday. The kids won $40 from me, and I'm still not sure how.
After our aquarium visit, we headed down the street to Adler Planetarium, where the kids have never been. J and I were last there about 20 years ago, and I might as well have never been inside before because I didn't recognize anything. We saw a plantarium show about the current night sky, and looked at all the space program exhibits.
We went back to the hotel for dinner, then returned to the city to visit Navy Pier. We have been talking about seeing a Navy Pier fireworks show for a long time, and this was finally going to be it. When we got there, all the parking lots and ramps were full, and there were people everywhere. We went back to the hotel and started planning how we were going to see those fireworks someday. (Side note to Rahm Emanuel: Why aren't there any Navy Pier signs on North Lake Shore Drive? We missed the exit, which we have done before, and "going around the block" is not possible in downtown Chicago. Get your people on that, would you?)
On Sunday, we arrived bright and early at the Museum of Science and Industry. We saw the Body Worlds exhibit, which is not for the squeamish. You can see some examples on their website, but basically, they removed the skin from cadavers and plasticized the innards. Visitors can walk around them and look at them. You can see all the organs, bones, muscles, etc. J and I saw this display, or a very similar one, at the Great Lakes Science Center in Cleveland several years back.
We then went to the Omnimax show about Tornadoes, and the scientists and other crazy people who chase them for research. If you're not familiar with it, Omnimax is a movie format that's displayed on a giant screen which tries to see how many people it can get car sick.
After the museum, we made it successfully to Navy Pier (taking the correct exit this time) and spent the rest of Sunday afternoon. We took a short boat ride, and I stayed safely on the earth while J and the boys slowly rotated themselves in the Ferris Wheel of Death.
Since we hadn't had enough of museums yet, we went to Henry Ford Museum Monday night to see the Emancipation Proclamation. Pages two and five of the actual document are on display starting at 6 pm Monday and ending 6 am Wednesday. The museum is open continuously during that time, and admission is free. We arrived at about 8:30 pm Monday, hoping that we'd only have to wait a few hours. Instead, we waited five; we finally saw Honest Abe's signature (along with Seward's), and dragged ourselves to the car for the ride home. Yes, the line was insanely long, and we discovered as the night went on that the line was moving slower and slower. We're not sure why it was going faster at first. But - we have a story to tell about it, and we all got home safe and sound. Some of us had to go to work this morning, but since my boss is in New Jersey, I can snore as loud as I want at my desk, and who's going to know?
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I hope everyone's doing well, and if you saw the Saturday Navy Pier fireworks show, send pictures, OK?
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2 comments:
You didn't get away with the snoring. I heard it ss I drove down I-94 on Tuesday morning. I didn't report it, though.
Shedd Aquarium was my favorite place to go when I lived in Chicago! And we did go see the Body Worlds for one of my classes, but it freaked me out and I kind of ran through it! :)
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