Me, Muffin and WDW for Xmas stuff!! PTR - Page 27 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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You have been very busy delivering babies!
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You have once again completely changed things around!
On Sunday, we got up with the chickens and had a lot of ground to cover!! We first went to the gym and then the pool. We then got breakfast which was not included, but it was very reasonable and the food was delicious!! We both got the buffet. Muffin loves the fresh salmon here and I enjoyed a really good egg white omelet with spinach and mushrooms.
After breakfast, we were off to our first stop of the day; The Museum of Science and Industry! We had to get a cab because it was just too far to walk. In fact, the cab fare was close to 20 bucks! We got there way early because we thought it opened at 9AM and it really opened at 9:30AM! We bought City Passes which included this museum, The Field Museum, The Art Institute of Chicago and the Willis Tower. It also included The Shedd Aquarium but no way did we have time to do that again, although I wouldn't have minded. The booklets cost 94 bucks each and were well worth it to us!! Anyway!
While we were standing in line to get our tickets redeemed, there was a woman, her mom and her two boys, who were around 8 and 10. These boys gave me a headache!! They kept playing with the rope lines and one of them disconnected it at one point. They also kept banging into me because they were messing around and neither the mom or the grandmom had anything to say to them about their behavior! I couldn't wait to get our tickets and get away from them!!
When we got up to the front of the line, we had a lot of choices to make!! Our pass included the museum and one special exhibit. There were lots of cool looking things to choose from and we wound up picking the U-505 Submarine tour and paid an extra 11 bucks each to see "Robot Revolution". We decided that we have to come back here again because there was also a Coal Mine and some cool movies that we didn't get to see.
First we walked through a Circus exhibition. There were many displays on the history of the Circus and some fun interactive exhibits.
This display was my favorite. It was a moving miniature circus going through a town. One of the performers built it in his spare time.
When you look through these windows, you see your face on a circus performer's body. It was cool!!
This was one of the bodies you saw your head on!
Poor Muffin!
Then we walked through a series of life sized window displays that you had to find things in.
The submarine tour was AWESOME!! The U-505 sat outside of the museum for many years and when the decision was made to bring it inside, they actually had to build a room around it!! It is HUGE!! So, for those of you who do not know, the U-505 was the only submarine captured by the US Navy during World War II. She was designed to attack shipping with torpedoes and was very effective in stopping ships. She was captured off the coast of West Africa and towed to Bermuda in secret. Lots of very important information was gathered from her capture, including an Enigma machine. All but one of the crew survived the attack.
This was the captain's quarters. Yeesh! There were 59 men living on this boat and two bathrooms!
The galley
These were the bunks and there were only 35 of them for 59 men. Some of the junior officers had to time share their space. Yuck!
Also, it was about 93 degrees in the cooler parts of the boat!!
Next we milled about for a bit before our Robot Experience time.
This is a giant 'Mousetrap' sort of contraption. A metal ball flows through it and it does lots of cool stuff!
A cool train that you can go in
A vortex
The city of Chicago complete with working trains
A closer look
These photos are all from the Robot Experience. It is truly amazing what we are able to do with robots and it just keeps getting more advanced!!
This little guy could actually climb this ladder
This is a DaVinci Robot. We have one at work for surgeries!
These guys are playing soccer
This is a therapy robot. It is a baby seal and responds when you touch it!
This is a facial recognition robot. It maps your face and then follows you around.
These are Swarm robots and are used in the military.
This guy kicks your butt at tic-tac-toe
This guy plays Blackjack, but I beat him!
This one does push-ups, headstands and karate moves
This robot can climb walls
Next, we went inside a 727.
Can anyone remember taking these steps to exit the plane?
Foucault's Pendulum
This Museum was so fun and we would go back in a heartbeat!!
The Museum of Science & Industry remains one of my all-time favorites. Growing up, my favorite things there were: the coal mine, the baby chick hatchling area (sometimes you'd be there as a chick was just cracking out of their egg!), and the doll house that belonged to Colleen Moore. Because she had MY first name, I sort of thought the dollhouse was a little bit mine too! Oh, the logic of the 8 yr old brain!
The robot section is "new" at least from my elementary school field trips (clearly - I don't think robots had been invented in my childhood!) and looks really cool!!
What a great time at the museum! I love Chicago, although I haven't been for many years. In the good-old days of student discounts for flights and hotels in the 60s and 70s I'd visit friends there and always stayed at the wonderful Palmer House (I think it's a Hilton now?), right across from Marshal Fields. Names from the past!
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We said exactly the same thing after our visit there (back in 2008! ) that we must get back there, as there was also so much we didn't see on our visit there. Mmm.... must do something about that one day!
We've never been to any of Chicago's museums, except the Children's Museum. Well, actually Luke has been to The Field Museum on a business trip, but I didn't get to go along. So I've told him when we go back some of these are must dos. I'll definitely be checking into the City Passes.
The Museum of Science & Industry remains one of my all-time favorites. Growing up, my favorite things there were: the coal mine, the baby chick hatchling area (sometimes you'd be there as a chick was just cracking out of their egg!), and the doll house that belonged to Colleen Moore. Because she had MY first name, I sort of thought the dollhouse was a little bit mine too! Oh, the logic of the 8 yr old brain!
The robot section is "new" at least from my elementary school field trips (clearly - I don't think robots had been invented in my childhood!) and looks really cool!!
I loved that place, Colleen!! I totally forgot about the Fairy Tale Castle! That was beautiful!! Here are a few pics of that:
The Gardens
Quote:
Originally Posted by lauriep
What a great time at the museum! I love Chicago, although I haven't been for many years. In the good-old days of student discounts for flights and hotels in the 60s and 70s I'd visit friends there and always stayed at the wonderful Palmer House (I think it's a Hilton now?), right across from Marshal Fields. Names from the past!
Thanks, Laurie!! It is still a beautiful city!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
We said exactly the same thing after our visit there (back in 2008! ) that we must get back there, as there was also so much we didn't see on our visit there. Mmm.... must do something about that one day!
You should definitely get back there!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
We've never been to any of Chicago's museums, except the Children's Museum. Well, actually Luke has been to The Field Museum on a business trip, but I didn't get to go along. So I've told him when we go back some of these are must dos. I'll definitely be checking into the City Passes.
You will love them, Cam!! The City Pass was a great value!!
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What a great trip you had and got to see so much! What days were you actually there as it may have been a bit somber there after the Mets and Cubs series! I'm a big Mets fan, but wasn't expecting this outcome as we could not even get one win against the Cubs in 7 games this year! But then again the Mets are a completely different team now than back in May and July, when they played the Cubs! They may be a team of destiny, but we'll see! Looking forward to the Field Museum report!
Sorry, to bring up the wounds to Cub fans here and especially Cubfancolleen as I know how it is being a Met fan and to have so much disappointment year after year! This year is different and I thought my team was a year away from contending, but the moves at the trade deadline did it plus the team seemed to congeal at that point and has continued! I think there may be an upper force involved and perhaps one who visited from Rome to NYC back in late September, just before the playoffs began! Just can't figure out Daniel Murphy with the post season he's had with HRs in six straight games! He's never done that in more than two straight games before in his career!
Sorry for this slight derailment and back to your TR!
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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After our wonderful morning at the Museum of Science and Industry, we grabbed another cab and headed to the Field Museum.
This time, our City Pass included one 3-D movie experience and all special exhibits. The movies all looked fun to us, so we asked the cashier which one to pick. She said that her favorite was Galapagos. There was a movie ready to be shown in about 10 minutes, so this was the first thing we did here.
The movie was very cute and the Galápagos Islands are simply beautiful. We learned that they are home to many species of birds and marine life. The Islands are volcanic and they were never attached to any continent. Of course the most famous inhabitants are the Galápagos tortoises.
After the movie, we saw an exhibit on China called Cyrus Tang Hall of China. Although this was a ticketed event, I believe it is a permanent exhibit at the museum. It was really cool to see artifacts that survived thousands of years empires and dynasties.
Next, we went to an exhibit called Underground Adventure. This was like a Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground for adults!. You got smaller and smaller the deeper underground you went and there were all kinds of roots, bugs and soil information around you. It was very interesting, but I am sure glad I live above ground!!
Next, we were pretty hungry so we went to a very cool place called the Explorer Cafe for lunch. All of the menu items are couched in prehistoric terms! I got a T-Rex grinder which was a panini with prosciutto, Black Forest ham, salami, provolone cheese, olive tapenade and mustard vinaigrette on a Tuscan cheese bread. It was amazing and huge! I could only eat half of it. I also got a beer flight of local IPAs. Muffin got a Big Shoulders burger and a glass of Chardonnay and said that it was also delicious.
After lunch, we explored the 'Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age' area and got to see lots of bones and some really cool replicas of these big guys. We used the rest of our time at the Field Museum wandering around and I took some random photos.
This is another stop that I would highly recommend and we will certainly be back here in the future!! Today, we had just one more stop to make before relaxing for a bit. We, once again, hopped in a cab and headed to the Willis Tower.
This building was formerly the Sears Tower and at 108 stories tall, it was higher than the World Trade Center and earned the title of the tallest building in the world for many years. It remained the tallest building in the US until It was eventually surpassed by the new Freedom Tower in NYC in 2013. It is still awesome to visit!! We bought some coffee mugs here, got our kitschy picture taken and, of course, went to the Sky Ledge!!
We then walked back to the Sheraton. It was a beautiful day and a lovely walk. We relaxed for a bit, got freshened up and headed out for another walk and dinner. I don't know if you guys remember this from my last Chicago trip, but I mentioned that as we were leaving last time, we checked out a place called Pinstripes. It is a bowling alley/ restaurant and it was brand new to the area in the Spring. The manager was kind enough to give us a tour and we were very impressed and decided that next time we came to Chicago, we would go here. Well!!
We stopped in and they couldn't give us a lane to bowl in before 6:30PM. So, we put our name in and took a walk over to the Navy pier. This is in so much better shape than the last time we were here!! We stopped at Riva's for a drink:
Then we went for a very fun evening of dinner/bowling!! The bowling was 5 bucks each for shoes and 5 bucks each per game. We initially bought two games and had so much fun that we wound up buying two more!! We had burgers and beers to eat and drink and we both stink at bowling but the atmosphere was awesome!! After we were finished, we realized what a long day it was and how tired we were so we walked back to the hotel and were asleep in no time flat!
Oh my goodness, that was a BUSY day! 2 museums, Sears Tower, Navy Pier, AND bowling?!?!
Oh, sorry, fell asleep, as I was so exhausted just thinking about all you did! You are making me homesick, though.
What a fun day you had in Chi-Town. The Field Museum seems so worth a visit with so much to see. Seems quite comparable to the American Museum of Natural History in NYC, which I have visited a number of times. I love that museum as it's quite diverse and vast and tough to cover all in one day. How big is the Field Museum and how much time did you spend there? What were your favorite aspects of the museum (highlights)?
The rest of the night with bowling food and drinks sounds like a good time to me!
I have never been to Chicago (that is crazy, considering all the international travel I've done in my life), but hope to eventually! Well, I've been to O"hare and that was for my connecting flight to Memphis this year.
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Wow, you guys packed a heck of a lot into that day! And people say we're like the Energizer bunnies when we're on vacation - I think you have us beat there!
Great pictures from the museum! What a fascinating place!
Thanks, Marnie!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
What a great trip you had and got to see so much! What days were you actually there as it may have been a bit somber there after the Mets and Cubs series! I'm a big Mets fan, but wasn't expecting this outcome as we could not even get one win against the Cubs in 7 games this year! But then again the Mets are a completely different team now than back in May and July, when they played the Cubs! They may be a team of destiny, but we'll see! Looking forward to the Field Museum report!
Sorry, to bring up the wounds to Cub fans here and especially Cubfancolleen as I know how it is being a Met fan and to have so much disappointment year after year! This year is different and I thought my team was a year away from contending, but the moves at the trade deadline did it plus the team seemed to congeal at that point and has continued! I think there may be an upper force involved and perhaps one who visited from Rome to NYC back in late September, just before the playoffs began! Just can't figure out Daniel Murphy with the post season he's had with HRs in six straight games! He's never done that in more than two straight games before in his career!
Sorry for this slight derailment and back to your TR!
We were there for the games, Dave. The fans were so sad.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam22
Oooo! The fairy tale castle is so beautiful!
Thanks, Cam!!.
Quote:
Originally Posted by luvnwdwgal
Museums, bowling and eating! 3 of my favorite things!
Ditto, Cindy!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by cubfancolleen
Oh my goodness, that was a BUSY day! 2 museums, Sears Tower, Navy Pier, AND bowling?!?!
Oh, sorry, fell asleep, as I was so exhausted just thinking about all you did! You are making me homesick, though.
It was a great but exhausting day, Colleen!! We figure we can sleep when we are dead!
Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperDave
What a fun day you had in Chi-Town. The Field Museum seems so worth a visit with so much to see. Seems quite comparable to the American Museum of Natural History in NYC, which I have visited a number of times. I love that museum as it's quite diverse and vast and tough to cover all in one day. How big is the Field Museum and how much time did you spend there? What were your favorite aspects of the museum (highlights)?
The rest of the night with bowling food and drinks sounds like a good time to me!
I have never been to Chicago (that is crazy, considering all the international travel I've done in my life), but hope to eventually! Well, I've been to O"hare and that was for my connecting flight to Memphis this year.
Thanks, Dave!!. The Field Museum I'd HUGE!! We would need several trips to see the whole thing. I loved the China exhibit and the Mammoths!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Wow, you guys packed a heck of a lot into that day! And people say we're like the Energizer bunnies when we're on vacation - I think you have us beat there!
We sure did pack a lot in!
Today (Monday) was our last day in Chicago. We still had the whole morning here though and we still had one more event left to see in our City Pass booklet!! This morning, we would be spending the rest of our time in this beautiful city at The Art Institute.
We got up, showered and went to breakfast at Yolk. We love this place!! I had Caramel apple crepes and coffee and Muffin had fruit, yogurt, a bagel and coffee. Breakfast was delicious!! I also left with a new coffee mug.
Here is where our day went a little off track. We got a cab and Muffin told the cab driver to take us to the Art Institute. The driver clearly heard Muffin and even repeated the destination back to him. So we sat back and we were off. We drove about a mile and Muffin said to me, "Something is wrong. I think he is taking us back to the Field Museum. The Field Museum is much further than the Art Institute and finally, Muffin asked the driver where he was taking us.
The driver said that he was so sorry but had the Field Museum in his brain even though he knew he was supposed to go to the Art Institute. He immediately turned around and by the time he got there, our cab fare was 19 bucks! He decided to take-
Wait for it--
ONE DOLLAR off the bill! Needless to say, we gave him a 20 and could not wait to get out of that cab!! Anyway!
We loved the Art Institute and this is another place I would return in a heartbeat!! We spent a good three hours there and did not cover that much ground. We were given an audio guide, which was very helpful in explaining some of the art. Here are some pictures of the highlights of our visit:
A couple of the Chagall Windows:
We did a little Christmas shopping and also bought some nice prints here before leaving for Green Bay. We were on the road by 2PM and the rest of the trip was kind of boring. I don't mean that in a bad way and I always know that I am in for a lot of car riding at some point. It's part of the deal. The way I look at it is, I get to do some pretty cool stuff and go to some pretty cool places as well!!
Here are a few more pictures:
We stayed in Green Bay on Monday night. We bought some cheese, crackers, grapes and wine and watched the football game which we, of course, LOVED!!!! Go Birds!! On Tuesday, we drove back down to Chicago stopping for a couple of sales calls for Muffin. Both calls were in shopping centers so I got out and stretched a bit and was not bored at all.
I left for the airport on Wednesday morning and had a smooth and safe flight home. I had to hop a shuttle bus to pick up Muffin's car, picked up Lilly, fed her and took her to the park. Muffin got home Thursday night. I do have a little story about that!!
Thursday morning, Muffin called me and asked me to pick him up at the airport at 8:55PM. He was originally supposed to get home Friday afternoon but got his calls in early and was able to switch flights. Okay fine. Next time I heard from him was when he was boarding his flight and everything appeared to be going smoothly. Then!!
About 10 minutes before he was about to take off, I got another text that he was going to be delayed because as the flight attendants were closing the door, the handle came off!! It took an hour to repair the door and his flight did not arrive until 10PM. Thankfully, we don't live far from the airport and we were safe at home by 10:45PM.
Thanks for following along on my little side trip once again!! I will now get back to my WDW trip!!
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We got there way early because we thought it opened at 9AM and it really opened at 9:30AM! 
We bought City Passes which included this museum, The Field Museum, The Art Institute of Chicago and the Willis Tower. It also included The Shedd Aquarium but no way did we have time to do that again, although I wouldn't have minded. The booklets cost 94 bucks each and were well worth it to us!! 
Anyway!
They kept playing with the rope lines and one of them disconnected it at one point. They also kept banging into me because they were messing around and neither the mom or the grandmom had anything to say to them about their behavior! I couldn't wait to get our tickets and get away from them!!
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) that we must get back there, as there was also so much we didn't see on our visit there. Mmm.... must do something about that one day! 
I totally forgot about the Fairy Tale Castle! That was beautiful!! Here are a few pics of that:
I'm a big Mets fan, but wasn't expecting this outcome as we could not even get one win against the Cubs in 7 games this year! 
Looking forward to the Field Museum report! 
This year is different and I thought my team was a year away from contending, but the moves at the trade deadline did it plus the team seemed to congeal at that point and has continued! 
Just can't figure out Daniel Murphy with the post season he's had with HRs in six straight games! 
And people say we're like the Energizer bunnies when we're on vacation - I think you have us beat there! 
We still had the whole morning here though and we still had one more event left to see in our City Pass booklet!!
We spent a good three hours there and did not cover that much ground. We were given an audio guide, which was very helpful in explaining some of the art. Here are some pictures of the highlights of our visit:
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