Travel: Chicago part 2

 

Yesterday I covered the first part of our spring break trip to Chicago, including our eventful trip there, where we stayed, and our first full day in the city.  We spent 3 nights so this will cover our second full day and our (also eventful) trip home!

Day 3 (Tuesday)
When I checked the weather this morning it gave alerts about how Chicago should expect extreme weather and possibly tornadoes this day.  So...it was a good thing we mostly had inside time at museums scheduled!

First up was the Shedd Aquarium.  This was one thing we knew we wanted to do when in Chicago.  Matt & I had done a few aquariums before (Maui, Seattle) but never with the boys.  I had, apparently, been twice with my family although I didn't realize it was twice until I got home and was looking at pictures.  The first time I don't remember but knew we went when I was a little (I still have a Muppets book with a Shedd price sticker on it).  We went again when I was in high school.  I remember that trip but nothing about Shedd was familiar AT ALL until I came home and saw pictures of the dolphin show room...I guess I blocked out all the fish.

And at Shedd there were A LOT of fish.  A LOT.  I think we got fish fatigue by the time we got to the larger sea creatures like penguins and beluga whales.  We went through ALL. THE. ROOMS. and it was a bit confusing.  Then there were different levels...trying to cover it all in a morning was maybe a bit much but I also didn't need to spend all day looking at fish.

We ate lunch in their (overpriced) cafeteria and finished seeing fish.  Then walked over to the Field Museum.  We had given the boys the option of the Field Museum or the Museum of Science and Industry (and had explained what was at each) and they picked Field Museum.  Which was handy because it was a 3 minute walk from the aquarium. 

The Field Museum is in a very impressive building but we were there for mainly one thing.  We wanted to see Sue.  We had read a picture book about Sue, the most complete T-Rex skeleton ever found and how, after a bidding war, she ended up at the Field Museum.  When we read that book a few years ago I promised the boys that we would take them to see Sue someday and this was that. 

We did a few other parts first - the Egyptian section and then all the stuffed mammals.  It was making me, a non-animal person, rather sad, thinking of all these animals being killed to be in a museum until Matt told me that they mostly came from zoos when the animals were dying anyways???  I think there was a sign that said something along those lines and that was helpful.  I hadn't ever been that close to many of the animals.  Also helpful, showing what a human is. 

There was quite the build-up in exhibits to get to Sue.  Saw many dinosaur fossils but then Sue had a whole room with a light show that highlighted which parts of her were real and which were man made.  Notice her lower rib cage, they said that was a fairly recent discovery that it should be like that.  Also, Sue had arthritis.  I have something in common with a dinosaur from millions of years ago!!  Sue was impressive and very much worth the trip (although they should have sold the book about her in the gift shop...). 

 

We also have a kid who has picked triceratops as his favorite dinosaur so he was excited to see this one too.  There were MANY more dinosaurs than these two.  Not as many as the Shedd had fish, but many.  We stayed until closing and our final stop was the gems.  Those were also very impressive and cool.  

Then we Lyfted back to the hotel (it was 2-3 miles and raining and we had been on our feet most of the day.  We Lyfted there too.).  There was a Whole Foods across the street from Embassy Suites and we stopped there for a random-ish supper.  We found some pizza bites we could microwave for the boys and I got a salad kit.  Some fruit.  It was more than we'd spend on groceries at home but less than we'd spend eating out! 

We supplemented our hotel room supper with the BEST snacks we had had at Happy Hour the whole trip - hot pretzels with cheese which are my FAVORITE.  I waited in line 10 minutes for them to make more and they were delicious.  Matt & I also discovered Tequilia Sunrises on this night and that was also delicious.  (The boys have some sort of fruit punch here.) All in all, our best happy hour yet. 

The view from mine & Matt's room was spectacular, especially at night, and the boys were entranced with it too.  I LOVE a good city view and we very rarely have them, this was the best one we've ever had at a hotel!  

Day 4 (Wednesday)
Hotel breakfast, packing up, and checked out of the hotel.  The walk back to the train station where we had just a little time to stall between check-out and when we needed to catch our train.  It wasn't raining which was helpful!  Picked up some Subway at the train station for lunch on the train, got on our first train, prepared for the switches this time!  And they went much smoother knowing we'd be moving.  

On the final train to South Bend, we sat on the upstairs deck and the boys LOVED that.  They were up and down the stairs, moving between seats.  It made it a bit more secluded AND there was a rack for our luggage.  Got to experience 3 different kinds of seats on this trip!

That was it! Our spring break in Chicago.  We had mostly decent weather for April, saw many big sights in the city, took the boys somewhere new, and got Jamba Juice!  It was a great trip.