I know some of you are anxious to hear about my fall vacation to Utah. It was a dream come true to finally make it to Zion National Park. I've heard nothing but wonderful things about it, and after seeing it myself, I can honestly say everything I have ever heard is true. But, I have a couple of summer travel posts I want to do yet, and I'm still going through all my Utah photos, so it will be two more weeks before I start my Utah Travel Series.
In the meantime, today I want to share about my visit to the Lincoln Park Zoo in summer; and I've emphasized "In Summer" because the only other time I've ever been there was in the winter. (You can read about my visit to the Lincoln Park Zoo in Winter HERE and I also wrote another post about the Lincoln Park Conservatory HERE.) I was honestly stunned at how different the park looked in summer verses the winter. Foliage and vegetation makes all the difference in the world!
The first time I went to the zoo with my daughter and son-in-law, we were childless, as Alethea wasn't born yet. On my second visit, we not only had a toddler in tow, but a newborn as well, so we were moving a lot slower and didn't get to see everything. One thing we missed was the conservatory, but that was OK because the first time we visited I got to see the inside but there were no flowers on the outside because it was February. On this visit, I got to see the outside garden flower beds. It was incredible to see such beautiful flower beds with the conservatory and Chicago skyline in the distance.
Beautiful yellow Calla Lilies with purple Salvia as the edging plant.
There's a large, lawn space in-between the beds for picnicking, strolling, sitting in the grass, and viewing the flowers from all angles.
Even though Alethea lives in a city, she doesn't get to see skyscrapers very often so this was a pretty exciting day for her.
There is a lovely fountain with a stone bench all around it. Alethea loved walking on the stone bench all around the fountain.
I just love the beautiful, soft plumes on this ornamental grass.
The weather was so perfect the day. Alethea loved running on the grass through the gardens.
After enjoying the flower gardens, we headed off to see the animals.
At the time of day we were there, the lighting was not the best for photographs, but I did manage to get a few nice shots.
I didn't see this fun, unique sculpture during my first visit to the zoo. It's a globe, that rotates, and water runs over the top down to the bottom. The kids all seemed to love it!
The giraffes were no where in sight when we first arrived, so dad took Alethea into a building while I waited on a bench with my daughter as she fed the baby. Eventually, the giraffes just appeared (it must have been feeding time) and the crowd just let out an excited collective squeal. It was so fun to hear, and of course I ran over quickly to see them and snap a few pictures.
The pond and/or outdoor bird area was the part of the zoo that looked the most different to me. I couldn't believe how gorgeous it was with all the foliage on the tree and the beautiful plants surrounding the water.
Flamingos are always my favorite animal to see in a zoo.
I was so excited to see a baby rhinoceros! I mean, how often does one see a baby rhino? He was so CUTE! He followed his momma everywhere. Unfortunately, even though I snapped a gazillion photos, I didn't get one that was not blurry.
The first time we visited, the apes were inside. They still had quite a few gorillas inside, but it was fun to see some playing outside too!
Aren't camels such a fascinating animal?
I hope you enjoyed my little visit to the zoo? Have you been to a zoo lately? I'd love to hear from you!
Last February I went to Illinois to visit my children for a week. I've been covering the highlights of that visit the last couple of months on my Wednesday Travel Posts. We had a Breakfast Fit For A President at Buttermilk Restaurant in Geneva, we visited the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, we enjoyed Tea For Two (or three?) at Cafe K'tizo in Wheaton, and we spent an entire day at an IKEA store giving us quite the IKEA Adventure. My last full day in Illinois was spent at the Chicago Field Museum. It was a Saturday, so my son was off of work and able to join us on this adventure.
The Chicago Field Museum is located right in downtown Chicago along Lake Michigan; so there are both gorgeous views of Lake Michigan and the Chicago sky line.
When we first walked into the museum there was a band playing in the lobby. That was a fun surprise!
There are also two life size elephant statues in the lobby. Of course I had to take Jason and Jordan's picture next to them for scale.
Like most of the museum buildings in Chicago, the Chicago Field Museum is located in a gorgeous, historic building. I just loved the ceiling and the arched window openings in the balcony level.
Isn't this ceiling just stunning? Love all the natural light.
This is a huge museum. It can be overwhelming trying to even see everything in one day. I don't even think it's possible. If you ever have the chance to visit this museum, look at the map first and pick the exhibits you think you might be the most interested in, because you may run out of time to see them all.
The first exhibit we visited was "Inside Ancient Egypt". Here we explored an ancient Egyptian tomb. It is a three-story recreation of a mastaba which features two authentic rooms from the 5,000-year-old tomb of pharaoh’s son Unis-Ankh.
Here we are examine floor to ceiling hieroglyphics.
Next, we went to the Hall of Birds. Being a huge bird lover, this was one of my favorite exhibits in the museum. We spent a lot of time here. I was blown away by the wingspan of this bird.
I've never seen so many bird specimens in one place in my life. The hall seemed to go on forever. It was amazing seeing all the different species of birds.
I loved being able to study the birds up close and learn all about their unique features and capabilities. I also liked how many of the birds included a skeleton version as well.
We continued on with the exhibits on the west side of the main level with Africa, the World of Animals, and the Mammals of Asia! I think this was one of our favorite areas of the museum because we got to see so many animals. My son, an animal lover, didn't like it. He said "It's a museum for dead animals". I told him he shouldn't look at that way. When will he ever be able to get so close to a wild animal to study their unique features and get a better idea of their size? I'm not entirely positive how these animals came to end up in the museum, but I would hopefully assume most of them died of natural causes.
We saw several displays of cats (my favorite, of course!) and I especially loved the ones with little babies.
Aren't these foxes gorgeous! They have such beautiful coats!
This is an example of how helpful it was to see these animals up close because I could not believe how HUGE this grizzly was. It's one thing to see them in movies or in a zoo quite a distance away, but to be able to stand on the other side of the glass and see the amazing scale of this animal was incredible.
The museum did a very nice job of creating a natural environment for the animals and arranging them in realistic, educational poses.
I think I remember reading in this display that this cat is where today's modern house cat originated from. We have the Egyptians to thank for our feline friends today.
The Lions of Tsavo was a fascinating exhibit. The story is that these lions killed and ate over 135 (current research shows only 35 deaths) railroad workers in Kenya over the course of nine months in 1898. Wow!
By now we were ready for lunch and went to The Field Bistro inside the museum. I brought my lunch with me, but I bought lunch for my son plus a cup of coffee for myself for a mere $25.00. 🤣 I guess I should have packed him a lunch too and saved some money. You are allowed to take food into the museum but you have to eat it in designated picnic areas only.
After lunch we headed upstairs to see the dinosaurs in the Evolving Planet exhibit because we wanted to be sure to see it before we ran out of time. It was by far the most crowded exhibit in the museum.
I just loved the flying pterodactyl in the lobby!
The Chicago Field Museum is famous for it's life-size skeleton of "Sue" a Tyrannosaurus Rex! For years, she greeted the museum's guests as they walked in the doors. Unfortunately Sue is no longer in the lobby because she is being moved to a new location in the dinosaur exhibit in the upper level. This exhibit won't be opened until March of 2019. :( It was so funny at lunch because our table was located near where Sue use to be. There was just a sign in her usual spot explaining where Sue was. We kept watching so many people come into the museum looking for Sue and then walking over to the sign and reading it. The disappointment on their faces was heart-breaking. I'm not so sure I agree with the museums decision to move Sue. That has been her spot forever. People liked her there! Some things really are better off left alone.
Anyway, in the balcony you can still see Sue's head and other body parts on display. It's a temporary exhibit until she is put back together in her new home.
The dinosaur exhibit includes a mix of both skeletal dinosaurs and realistic models like the velociraptor below.
My son Jordan and I breezed through the "Plants of the World" exhibit was Ashley nursed Alethea. It was basically a hall of artificial plants displayed behind glass describing what the plant was and where it was from. Jordan noticed this pine tree immediately because our yard back home is full of them.
Ashley, Alethea, and Jason rejoined Jordan and I when we went into the Hall of Gems. This was one of my favorite exhibits because gorgeous jewelry was involved! It showed the original source of the gem and how it is transformed into beautiful jewelry. This was also a very crowded exhibit and it was kind of frustrating for me because I couldn't see the exhibits well through the sea of people. This display shows how precious pearls are made.
Also in the west side of the balcony is the Hall of the Pacific. Below Jordan is looking inside a modern rendition of a pacific island town store.
And Jason and Alethea checked out Maori Meeting House. This house was originally built on Tokomauru Bay in New Zealand in 1881. It served as a spiritual outpost for sharing Maori culture and history.
I was so amazed by these incredible totem poles. I not only couldn't believe the size of them (they were huge) but how many of them the museum had. This was a huge exhibit.
And finally, here's a short video of my son (who is a classically trained percussionist) attempting to play the slit drums. As always, I forgot to turn the camera the right direction. :) Why do I always do that? Better yet, why do the make the video portion of the IPhones like this? No one remembers to turn the camera! Anyhow, I like how my daughter (who has her Master's degree in Voice) instructs him on how to play the slit drum. And what's really funny is watching my perfectionist son try to get it right. So typical of him.
The Chicago Field Museum is open every day from 9-5 except Christmas. They also have multiple "free admission" days for Illinois residents through out the year. We were there on a "free day" that's why it was so crowded. The cost for general admission is $24.00, but there are additional costs for other exhibits. We only went to the general admission exhibits and we still didn't have time to see everything. It's not necessary to pay to see other exhibits unless you really want to. Parking was around $20.00.
And that concludes my Illinois Travel posts. I will be leaving for Savannah, Georgia at the end of April and will begin a new travel series in May!
Last February I went to Illinois to visit my children for a week. Although most of the week was spent shopping (and eating 😊) we also went to Chicago on two separate days to visit a couple of their museums. Throughout the calendar year, Chicago has free admission days for Illinois residents. We were fortunate to get free admission for my kids so all we had to pay for was the parking and little ole me!
The historic buildings that most of Chicago's museums are housed in are noteworthy in and of themselves. They are so huge; quite the impressive monuments! The dome in the middle of the building serves as the centerpiece for the entire building. Just wait till you see what it looks like inside.
This is the dome looking up from the inside. The design inside changes constantly throughout the day. This 'rainbow' was one of my favorites, but we also watched the sun and moon travel along the top of the dome too.
This day was Alethea's first all-day outing so we were concerned how long she would last. Thus we made a plan to look at all the exhibits we really wanted to see in case we had to leave early. It turned out that our plan was a good idea, for even though Alethea was very good, this museum was so HUGE we didn't have the time to see everything anyway!
When we arrived shortly after the museum opened, the first thing I did was look at the map to see all the exhibits. I saw the words "Colleen Moore's Fairy Castle" and my curiosity got the best of me. "What in the world could that be about?" I wondered. "Fairies, Castles, that sounds like my sort of thing!" So off we went in search of the castle.
The castle was open on all four sides for viewing and encased behind glass. As you walked from one viewing point to another a recording comes on explaining all the details of what you are looking at.
Colleen Moore was a famous silent film actress. She spared no expense building this beautiful "doll house" and then touring the country during the Great Depression to raise funds for children's charities. There are items and room in this house made with real diamonds and gold!
The price tag for this castle in 1935 was $500,000. There are no human figurines in this castle. It has a fairy theme where images from various fairy tales grace the walls. Walt Disney himself donated a full length portrait of Mickey and Minnie Mouse dressed as the King and Queen of Hearts.
There are many items in this castle that are thousands of years old. You can read more about the details in every room HERE.
One of the most popular exhibits in the museum is the "Science Storms" exhibit. When you see a live tornado simulation from the foyer as you enter, you can certainly understand why!
The best part of the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry is that they have many educators in the exhibits who engage with the audience, teaching them, and encouraging them to ask and answer questions. There was an educator at this tornado simulator teaching people how tornadoes are formed and the different shapes they can take.
In this exhibit you can learn all about avalanches, atoms, lightning, fire, sunlight, tornadoes, and tsunamis. Here Alethea is trying to figure out how this ball is staying in the air all by itself!
And here Alethea is again fascinated by electricity!
The "Extreme Ice" exhibit captures the pace of the world's glaciers melting. There is a short video you can watch when you first enter the exhibit, then you enter the rest of the exhibit to see photographs and explanations of what is happening to the glaciers.
I don't know how they do it but they have a glacier that you can actually touch to feel how cold they are: and it was REALLY COLD!
"Yesterday's Main Street" takes you on a stroll through Chicago land's cobblestone streets during the late 1920's.
They have an old fashioned ice cream parlor in this area. It was super cute, but no where near as cute as Alethea!
The "Fast Forward...Inventing The Future" exhibit was fascinating. It examines what life may be like for us in the future. I especially loved this vertical farming model. It was so difficult to get a photo of this. It is a very tall model showing how we can farm up as more people move into urban areas and land becomes more scarce.
The "Transportation Gallery" houses historic vehicles that have flown, chugged, and sped into the record books.
You can climb aboard this 999 steam locomotive which held the land speed record for decade.
Jason was sure to check the train out!
You can also go inside a genuine Boeing 727 and learn all about aviation and technology from the inside out.
But perhaps our favorite part of this wing was not the large vehicles, but the miniature ones; for in this wing is housed "The Great Train Story"...the largest train set I have ever seen! It is 3,500 square feet (that's about the size of my house!), uses 1,400 feet of track and has more than 20 trains.
The Great Train Story presents 2,200 miles of scenery from the city of Chicago, to Seattle Washington.
There are interactive buttons where you can lift a drawbridge, set off tunneling charges, or fell a few trees. We especially liked knocking over the trees and screaming "TIMBER!"
But like everything in the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, this exhibit is not just for fun and play...there are educational signs throughout the display explaining the railroad industry in certain time periods.
I especially loved the city of Chicago portion of this train set. I could recognize and identify most of the buildings!
The "ToyMaker 3000: An Adventure in Automation" exhibit was super fun. You can watch a toy (a top) being made by automation from beginning to end!
The assembly line cranks out 300 toy tops in an hour...but they slow it down so you can see how the toys are made!
Perhaps one of our most favorite exhibits of all came as a complete surprise to us. It was the "Numbers in Nature" exhibit. This exhibit requires a ticket because of it's popularity. They can only allow a certain number of people in at a time or it could become dangerous in the mirror maze portion. To get a ticket, you just go to the nearby kiosk and print the number of tickets you need for your party. They are free. The tickets allow you to enter the exhibit at a specific time.
The reason I liked this exhibit so much was because it really solidified my faith in a creator. I found it fascinating to see all the patterns and numbers in nature and I knew that could never happen by chance or by a 'big bang', but only from a loving, all-knowing God.
In this exhibit is the "Mirror Maze". Oh my gosh, it was so much fun! And it was so beautiful. I went through it once, then I went through a second time so I could make a video for you all!
Here is my short video as I try to navigate this maze. Sorry, I was so excited I forgot to turn the camera sideways.
There are so many fun, hands-on experiences to participate in this exhibit. We really enjoyed this "Patterns In You" exhibit which shows how patterns in nature and the man-made world also show up in the human body.
The "Genetics and the Baby Chick Hatchery" was a fun place because Alethea got to see baby chicks for the first time! Haha! Just look at her face! She doesn't know what to think!
It is in this exhibit that you explore the building blocks of life and learn how the tiniest genetic variations define traits.
And perhaps the most touching and meaningful exhibit in the entire museum for me and my family was the "You! The Experience". Housed in this exhibit is the "Your Beginning" exhibit. Here you can view the marvel of human creation.
In this room is every stage of human development from a tiny speck at 28 days all the way through a full term baby. All these babies died natural deaths in the womb and the "specimens" (their word, not mine) were collected for display. When I first walked in this room, a deep sadness overwhelmed me for I knew these were all deceased babies and I felt for the loss of the families. But as I walked through the exhibit, again my faith was renewed and I marveled at how amazing our God is. To see week by week, month by month how God makes a baby in a mother's womb is truly miraculous.
Under every baby is a description of the babies development at that age.
We were at the museum from the time it opened till it closed and would you believe we did not even get to see everything? It is just so huge, it's impossible to see everything, you really must pick your "must sees" when you first get there.
The museum is open everyday from 9:30 to 4:00 with exceptions (see their calendar for the closed days). If your an Illinois resident, there are 52 days out of the year you can get in for FREE! Otherwise the cost for general admission is $21.95. It cost about $20.00 to park your car, and there are lots of extra fees and packages for other exhibits in the museum. We did not pay or see any of the extra stuff...there was more than enough for us with the General Admission ticket.
I loved my day at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. I felt my faith was renewed and refreshed and I left the museum feeling more in awe of my creator than ever before! If your ever in Chicago, don't miss this museum!
