Captain_Oblivious
DIS Dad #257, Galactic Salad Dodger
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2008
Chapter 19: Do You Ever Have Déjà Vu?
We started keeping track of the states we’ve visited as a family somewhere around 2010. In that time, through all of our travels, the only major destination/tourist attraction we’ve visited more than once is Disney World. Other than that, it’s been about trying to see as many different places as we can on the way to setting foot in each and every state.
We finally broke that trend this past summer. Our travels were taking us past the city of Chicago on the way to (mostly) Wisconsin. We had visited Chicago last during our Rust Belt Road Trip of 2011, back when Sarah was 9, David was 7, Scott was 5, and Drew was impossible. Chicago was the furthest west we got on that trip. We stayed two nights, met up with fellow DIS Dads @FreezinRafiki and middlepat, and had a great time.
We love Chicago. It’s a huge city, with great architecture, beautiful views of Lake Michigan, and a ton of things to do. On our previous trip, we’d visited the Museum of Science & Industry (MSI), ascended to the top of the John Hancock Tower, toured Wrigley Field, and kept the American Girl store in business for another year.
We liked the museum so much, we had decided to visit once again.
Here’s a photo of the building from 2011, since we were too lazy to take another one on this past trip.
It had taken a little over three hours to get there from Springfield (sadly, no Simpsons sightings), so we arrived around lunchtime. After PB&J in the car, we bought our tickets and spent the rest of the afternoon in the museum.
In our opinion, the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry is the best science museum we’ve ever seen. For one thing, it’s massive, and it wouldn’t be hard to spend an entire day visiting all of the exhibits. Not only that, but the museum has several unique exhibits that go above and beyond the standard items you see at other similar museums. On the downside, several of these more unique exhibits are an up-charge, requiring a separate ticket beyond the general admission. I think they’re worth seeing once. But then again, I’m a nerd.
We decided to start on the top floor and work our way down. We visited the electricity and physics exhibits first.
Anytime a museum is firing up a Tesla coil, you have to stick around to watch. It's usually noisy and will freak out your kids, which is always great fun. It seemed more muted this time around. I wonder if they had to tone it down from years past. This thing was crackling in 2011.
Because we have three boys and one highway engineer, we spent quite a bit of time in the transportation exhibit.
Here, you can see what it was like traveling on airliners of the past as they crammed you into a cattle car with no legroom whatsoever. So glad we’re beyond such primitive treatment.
You can also inspect the jet engine up close.
Or check out a full-size replica of the Wright Flyer (the real one is in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.).
Nearby was what turned out to be Drew’s favorite exhibit by far. Dominating the room is a massive model train set that depicts a freight train’s journey from Chicago to Seattle. There’s even a small elevated train running through the streets of Chicago.
Drew absolutely loved it. There were several platforms arranged around the display, and he would tear off running for each of them so he could see all of the trains running back and forth. We spent quite a bit of time here just because he didn’t want to leave.
I’m telling you, there’s something about boys and trains.
Now you might be thinking, all this is well and good, but I don’t really see anything that would make me want to visit Chicago as opposed to the science museum in my town. And you’d be absolutely right. As long as your science museum also has a genuine World War II German U-boat in the basement.
This is the U-505, the only German submarine on display in the United States. It was captured by the US Navy on June 4, 1944, just before the sub could be scuttled by its crew. Eventually it wound up on display in this museum, and you can tour it for an extra charge. We had taken that tour back in 2011 so we didn’t spring for it this time. But the exhibits surrounding it are still really cool. Well worth the time and (in my opinion) extra charge.
They were showing an IMAX movie about the National Parks, and we did spring for tickets to see that. I mean, it’s the National Parks scenery on a giant screen. Catnip. I don’t even remember the title, but I think it was something like, “Pretty Pictures Made Specifically To Ruin The Oblivious Family Budget.”
Being a science museum, they couldn’t resist explaining how the IMAX system worked. The screen is actually perforated, so they shut down the theater lights and backlit the screen so you could see the structure and sound system mounted behind it.
The movie itself was fine. Probably not worth the extra money. But it featured nice scenery. And for the most part, it avoided the number one problem with IMAX movies, which is when the director decides to spin the camera around so much it makes everyone watching the huge screen lose their lunch. I only recall one moment when I had to close my eyes before re-visiting my PB&J. Those always taste better the first time down.
An exhibit on farming allowed Drew the chance to pretend to drive farm tractors and combines. I feel safe in saying this would probably teach you everything you would ever need to know about @afwdwfan ’s job. I mean, how hard could farming possibly be? It's just an excuse to ride around in a tractor all day.
Fine. I know, based on Andy's numerous farming posts, that there's much more to it than that. And yes, I'm jealous that he gets to ride in a tractor.
We then checked in for our other splurge: the Coal Mine exhibit. This used to be included in the general admission, but recently became an extra charge. We hadn’t seen it on our last trip, so we paid the freight and got a timed entry in the afternoon.
This exhibit has been a central part of the museum since it first opened in 1933, and it’s very elaborate. To enter, guests must climb stairs through scaffolding, meet their tour guide, and then descend in a “mine shaft” to the exhibit below.
The guide shows off several types of machinery and mining equipment. After that demonstration, you get to ride in a “mine train” through the bowels of the museum to another exhibit concerning geology and coal. It’s pretty neat, and almost Disney-esque in the level of detail devoted to making you feel like you’re in a real coal mine. Unfortunately, there’s no photography allowed, so I can’t show you what it really looks like. But we felt like it was worth the cost to see it once.
After surviving the descent and not killing any canaries or humans, we emerged and checked out a mirror maze.
And then looked at the climate/weather exhibit. They have a cool 2-story simulated tornado.
And if you need the kids to nap in the car, you can put them on the human hamster wheel.
When we finally left, it was a little later than we’d planned, so we didn’t bother fighting traffic to get into the city for dinner. Instead, we headed north and checked out the distinctive skyline while stuck in construction traffic. I feel like Andy is going to go for a revenge joke here about highway engineers, so I’ll just say that understanding the nuances of this job takes years, much more than could be explained in a simple paragraph or science museum exhibit.
We ended up grabbing dinner at the Oasis, a rest area perched right over the highway, where you can have a crappy Burger King meal while watching cars zoom underneath you. Which is what we did.
Soon, we were adding our last new state of the trip. State number 40 for us (30 for Drew).
Once again, we were meeting up with Barry (FreezinRafiki), his wife Bambi, and his kids. They would serve as our special guest hosts for the next couple of days in Wisconsin. Naturally, they take a lot of pride in their home state and only wanted to show off its very best side. So, the first place they took us was Mars Cheese Castle.
This is exactly what you’d expect from Wisconsin: a giant store devoted to cheese. You can get any type of cheese you want here, including cheese with bacon infused in it (pretty good) and for dessert, chocolate cheese (also surprisingly not bad—sort of like fudge). There are several other examples of haut cuisine for purchase as well.
And you can’t go anywhere without finding the Cheese Head apparel.
After that visit, Barry and Bambi took us to the shore of Lake Michigan in Racine, and we let the kids run around on a playground until it got too dark to find them. So we left and hoped the kids would find their way back to the hotel.
Ok, not really. We stopped by their house, and somehow hoodwinked them into letting Dave and Scotty spend the night camping out in their basement with their son, Evan. Suckers! Meanwhile, we headed back to the hotel where Sarah was relieved to finally not have to sleep on the floor.
We needed the rest. A full day of Wisconsin lay ahead.
Coming Up Next: Cinnamon rolls as big as your head! And I finally explain the title of the TR.
We started keeping track of the states we’ve visited as a family somewhere around 2010. In that time, through all of our travels, the only major destination/tourist attraction we’ve visited more than once is Disney World. Other than that, it’s been about trying to see as many different places as we can on the way to setting foot in each and every state.
We finally broke that trend this past summer. Our travels were taking us past the city of Chicago on the way to (mostly) Wisconsin. We had visited Chicago last during our Rust Belt Road Trip of 2011, back when Sarah was 9, David was 7, Scott was 5, and Drew was impossible. Chicago was the furthest west we got on that trip. We stayed two nights, met up with fellow DIS Dads @FreezinRafiki and middlepat, and had a great time.
We love Chicago. It’s a huge city, with great architecture, beautiful views of Lake Michigan, and a ton of things to do. On our previous trip, we’d visited the Museum of Science & Industry (MSI), ascended to the top of the John Hancock Tower, toured Wrigley Field, and kept the American Girl store in business for another year.
We liked the museum so much, we had decided to visit once again.
Here’s a photo of the building from 2011, since we were too lazy to take another one on this past trip.
It had taken a little over three hours to get there from Springfield (sadly, no Simpsons sightings), so we arrived around lunchtime. After PB&J in the car, we bought our tickets and spent the rest of the afternoon in the museum.
In our opinion, the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry is the best science museum we’ve ever seen. For one thing, it’s massive, and it wouldn’t be hard to spend an entire day visiting all of the exhibits. Not only that, but the museum has several unique exhibits that go above and beyond the standard items you see at other similar museums. On the downside, several of these more unique exhibits are an up-charge, requiring a separate ticket beyond the general admission. I think they’re worth seeing once. But then again, I’m a nerd.
We decided to start on the top floor and work our way down. We visited the electricity and physics exhibits first.
Anytime a museum is firing up a Tesla coil, you have to stick around to watch. It's usually noisy and will freak out your kids, which is always great fun. It seemed more muted this time around. I wonder if they had to tone it down from years past. This thing was crackling in 2011.
Because we have three boys and one highway engineer, we spent quite a bit of time in the transportation exhibit.
Here, you can see what it was like traveling on airliners of the past as they crammed you into a cattle car with no legroom whatsoever. So glad we’re beyond such primitive treatment.
You can also inspect the jet engine up close.
Or check out a full-size replica of the Wright Flyer (the real one is in the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.).
Nearby was what turned out to be Drew’s favorite exhibit by far. Dominating the room is a massive model train set that depicts a freight train’s journey from Chicago to Seattle. There’s even a small elevated train running through the streets of Chicago.
Drew absolutely loved it. There were several platforms arranged around the display, and he would tear off running for each of them so he could see all of the trains running back and forth. We spent quite a bit of time here just because he didn’t want to leave.
I’m telling you, there’s something about boys and trains.
Now you might be thinking, all this is well and good, but I don’t really see anything that would make me want to visit Chicago as opposed to the science museum in my town. And you’d be absolutely right. As long as your science museum also has a genuine World War II German U-boat in the basement.
This is the U-505, the only German submarine on display in the United States. It was captured by the US Navy on June 4, 1944, just before the sub could be scuttled by its crew. Eventually it wound up on display in this museum, and you can tour it for an extra charge. We had taken that tour back in 2011 so we didn’t spring for it this time. But the exhibits surrounding it are still really cool. Well worth the time and (in my opinion) extra charge.
They were showing an IMAX movie about the National Parks, and we did spring for tickets to see that. I mean, it’s the National Parks scenery on a giant screen. Catnip. I don’t even remember the title, but I think it was something like, “Pretty Pictures Made Specifically To Ruin The Oblivious Family Budget.”
Being a science museum, they couldn’t resist explaining how the IMAX system worked. The screen is actually perforated, so they shut down the theater lights and backlit the screen so you could see the structure and sound system mounted behind it.
The movie itself was fine. Probably not worth the extra money. But it featured nice scenery. And for the most part, it avoided the number one problem with IMAX movies, which is when the director decides to spin the camera around so much it makes everyone watching the huge screen lose their lunch. I only recall one moment when I had to close my eyes before re-visiting my PB&J. Those always taste better the first time down.
An exhibit on farming allowed Drew the chance to pretend to drive farm tractors and combines. I feel safe in saying this would probably teach you everything you would ever need to know about @afwdwfan ’s job. I mean, how hard could farming possibly be? It's just an excuse to ride around in a tractor all day.
Fine. I know, based on Andy's numerous farming posts, that there's much more to it than that. And yes, I'm jealous that he gets to ride in a tractor.
We then checked in for our other splurge: the Coal Mine exhibit. This used to be included in the general admission, but recently became an extra charge. We hadn’t seen it on our last trip, so we paid the freight and got a timed entry in the afternoon.
This exhibit has been a central part of the museum since it first opened in 1933, and it’s very elaborate. To enter, guests must climb stairs through scaffolding, meet their tour guide, and then descend in a “mine shaft” to the exhibit below.
The guide shows off several types of machinery and mining equipment. After that demonstration, you get to ride in a “mine train” through the bowels of the museum to another exhibit concerning geology and coal. It’s pretty neat, and almost Disney-esque in the level of detail devoted to making you feel like you’re in a real coal mine. Unfortunately, there’s no photography allowed, so I can’t show you what it really looks like. But we felt like it was worth the cost to see it once.
After surviving the descent and not killing any canaries or humans, we emerged and checked out a mirror maze.
And then looked at the climate/weather exhibit. They have a cool 2-story simulated tornado.
And if you need the kids to nap in the car, you can put them on the human hamster wheel.
When we finally left, it was a little later than we’d planned, so we didn’t bother fighting traffic to get into the city for dinner. Instead, we headed north and checked out the distinctive skyline while stuck in construction traffic. I feel like Andy is going to go for a revenge joke here about highway engineers, so I’ll just say that understanding the nuances of this job takes years, much more than could be explained in a simple paragraph or science museum exhibit.
We ended up grabbing dinner at the Oasis, a rest area perched right over the highway, where you can have a crappy Burger King meal while watching cars zoom underneath you. Which is what we did.
Soon, we were adding our last new state of the trip. State number 40 for us (30 for Drew).
Once again, we were meeting up with Barry (FreezinRafiki), his wife Bambi, and his kids. They would serve as our special guest hosts for the next couple of days in Wisconsin. Naturally, they take a lot of pride in their home state and only wanted to show off its very best side. So, the first place they took us was Mars Cheese Castle.
This is exactly what you’d expect from Wisconsin: a giant store devoted to cheese. You can get any type of cheese you want here, including cheese with bacon infused in it (pretty good) and for dessert, chocolate cheese (also surprisingly not bad—sort of like fudge). There are several other examples of haut cuisine for purchase as well.
And you can’t go anywhere without finding the Cheese Head apparel.
After that visit, Barry and Bambi took us to the shore of Lake Michigan in Racine, and we let the kids run around on a playground until it got too dark to find them. So we left and hoped the kids would find their way back to the hotel.
Ok, not really. We stopped by their house, and somehow hoodwinked them into letting Dave and Scotty spend the night camping out in their basement with their son, Evan. Suckers! Meanwhile, we headed back to the hotel where Sarah was relieved to finally not have to sleep on the floor.
We needed the rest. A full day of Wisconsin lay ahead.
Coming Up Next: Cinnamon rolls as big as your head! And I finally explain the title of the TR.
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What an amazing venue!!!!
been there! Done that!
been there... done that...
That's why you have kids, isn't it? To freak them out?
That just happens.
Good catch there.
