Chicago Historical Society

Destination: Chicago Historial Society

Date: 12/5/10
Cohort: Chris
Cohort's favorite thing to do/see in Chicago: Isaacson & Stein Fish Market (800 W. Fulton Market)

The Chicago History Museum (or Chicago Historical Society – the names seem to be interchangeable) was another first for me.  I chose this as my next destination because pretty much as soon as I made my list of where to go, there was a Groupon for it.  Learning bargain!

My boyfriend, Chris, was kind enough to join me and have his inaugural visit as well.  Eager beavers that we are, we got to the museum a few minutes before they opened, so we went for a walk around Lincoln Park.  (The actual park – not the neighborhood.)  While I was busy trying to form a snowball out of day-old powdery snow, a bold little panhandler approached Chris for a handout.

We were unable to oblige, but the raspy-tailed little scamp didn’t seem to mind much, and followed us around for a bit.  As we walked over to check out the big Abraham Lincoln statue, I tried out my snowball.  Turns out, the snowball was a lot better than my throwing skills, and I hit Chris squarely in the back of the head.  Oops!   The statue turned out to be The Standing Lincoln, by Augustus Saint-Gaudin, replicas of which stand at his tomb in Springfield and in front of Westminster Abbey.  Chris pointed out that it looks like he’s wearing earbuds.  I was speculating about what Abe could have been listening to, and came across this NPR article!

Once the museum opened, we went almost immediately to the Children’s section and seized the opportunity to become a Chicago-style hot dog.  Here we both are.  We tried to take a picture of us in there together, (there was a mirror on the ceiling so you could see yourself) but it turned out to be really creepy-looking and I chose not to include it.

Then to try out the old-timey bike.   I learned later (thanks for making me do my own research, MUSEUM!) that they eventually came to be called penny-farthings because the ratio of the wheels was similar to a penny and a farthing coin.

Next we hit up the "Chicago: Crossroads of America Exhibition," which is pretty much the bulk of the museum.  We got to sit on “L” Car No. 1, from the first fleet of elevated rail cars, built in 1892.

They had cards outside that helped you imagine you were taking the train home from the World’s Fair.  The card I retroactively selected for this picture of Chris read, “Your name is Osgood Wilson.  You work as a shoemaker.  Your fair favorite was the moveable sidewalk.”

There was lots to learn, a great deal of it about the World’s Fair and the Great Chicago Fire.   Really.  A pretty significant portion of it.  We moved on to the temporary exhibit on weddings; “I Do!  Chicago Ties the Knot.”  I don’t know if you’ve heard, but people often joke that boys get squeamish about weddings, or just plain don’t care about them.  Let me tell you – people are right.  It was downright comical watching Chris tear through that gallery like a dog when you turn on the vacuum cleaner.

As we headed out, we saw Abraham Lincoln’s deathbed.  It was sort of a weird note to end on, but in the museum’s defense, I think you’re supposed to see it on the way in.  So it’s really more of a weird note to begin on.  In the gift shop, I found some sweet “Instant Chicago” capsules that you drop in water to get little sponges shaped like iconic things.  The items listed on the package were, “Hancock Tower, Sears Tower, Football Player, and Chicago.”  We seem to have ended up with a bonus Tennis Player as well.  Or perhaps an angry caveman?

Looking back on the visit, it’s kind of funny (or sad?) to think that my favorite part was pretending to be a hot dog.  But then I got the e-postcard I sent myself from the exhibit that lets you fill the letters of the city with all of the different things you love about Chicago, and it all made sense.

Adler Planetarium

Destination: Adler Planetarium
Date: 11/18/2010
Cohort: Cassie
Cohort’s favorite thing to do/see in Chicago: Fine Arts Building (410 S. Michigan)

I’d never been to the Adler before last night because I’d always heard it was kind of, well, dumb… Luckily, my good friend Cassie, who can find/make a dance party anywhere, suggested the Planetarium’s monthly space bash, Adler after Dark.

We started off the evening with a peek through the telescope at the Doane Observatory, where we saw Jupiter and its Galilean moons; Europa, Callisto, Ganymede, and Io.

Tristan: Which one is Jupiter?

Everyone Else: The big one in the middle…

Tristan: Oh. I thought that was the moon...

Back in the Adler, we picked up some wine and checked out the exhibits to the sounds of thumping techno music coming from the DJ stand. Our favorite by far was playing with Non-Newtonian fluid, AKA Oobleck. Oobleck (so-named after a Dr. Seuss book) is a fluid whose viscosity alters in relation to force applied to it. So, you can stick your hand in slowly, and it will stay a liquid, or you can smack it with a hammer (which I did quite a bit) and it’ll turn solid. Cassie and I hung out and played there so long, and taught other guests about it so enthusiastically that we got recruited to volunteer there by the Scientist running the exhibit. 

We also learned how old I would be on IO, which seemed about right.

We hit up the Atwood Sphere, the wee planetarium built in 1913. Instead of sitting in a big theater, you sit in this little 8-person cart that brings you up into a big ball. It then rotates around you, shining light in through holes in the sphere, and an adorable man named Hans points out the constellations and assures you that the thing dangling between Orion’s legs is a sword.

While we waited for the Night Sky Live show to start, we hit up the dance floor/free snack area, which was where everyone seemed to be. (Rightly so! Dancing AND neatly stacked crackers? Move over, Oobleck!) In order to make sure we had a truly out-of-this-world experience, (thank you, Cassie) we opted to pick up a Green Alien Cocktail on the way. (Note the sweet wristbands they give you when you come in.)

After inventing dances like Orbitin’, Zero-Gravity Dance, and Space Junk in the Trunk, our last stop was the Definiti Space Theater to get a tour of Chicago’s night sky (if you could ever actually see it) from a gentleman who had clearly had enough of trying to teach a bunch of drunk people in a dark room about Astronomy. “People call me Big Ben,” he said. “Like the tower in London.” Not like the theory? Our favorite fact was that Jupiter actually has rings too, but they aren’t nearly as impressive as Saturn’s, which are made of ice, and therefore reflect light. Jupiter’s are just made up of crummy old dust and dirt.  And probably crumbs.  Space crumbs.

And then the arduous task of tipsily getting out of the winding, hilly museum campus and to the train. Thank goodness Big Ben had taught us how to find Polaris so that we could find our way home. Though I think the stunning view on the walk back gave us a pretty good idea of where we ought to be headed…

An introduction

I love Chicago. LOVE IT. I moved here from Maine 8 years ago, and still find myself getting really excited to be living in a big city. There are so many things to see and do! And I have seen and done pitifully few of them.

Let’s remedy that, shall we?

I don’t want to get over-ambitious here – I mean, I have a full-time job by day and a pretty demanding improv mini-career by night. I’m not exactly bursting with free time. So, I’m giving myself a year to visit 50 places of interest around Chicago.

Figuring out the 50 has been super-challenging. People don’t really make lists of such things, because once you pass the obvious top 10, (museums, tall buildings, etc.) the options become pretty vast, and the numbering becomes too nebulous and arbitrary.

Luckily, under DK travel’s website, I found a list of “places of interest” in Chicago. There were 50 of them. Well, 46. (For some reason, some were double-listed… Unless there’s a second Wrigley Field I’m not aware of…) I thought maybe it would be better to not have control over the destinations – just do what DK says, even if I’ve been there before, or it sounds dumb. (Both of which apply to the Hershey Store…) Sadly, this means that there are no restaurants or jazz clubs. Maybe next year? For the 4 remaining slots, I checked DK’s Chicago Top Ten, and found that there were exactly 4 places that had made the top 10, but not the top 50. (How did this happen?) Those four are indicated with stars.

So, here’s the deal, people. I will go to them, write about my time, and take a couple pictures.
My first adventure happens tonight!

The list is below. It’s weird, I know. American Girl Café? UPTOWN? In the same list?

1. Adler Planetarium
2. Andersonville
3. Armitage/Halsted Shopping District
4. Art Institute of Chicago*
5. Avondale
6. Blues Heaven Foundation
7. Boys Town
8. Bridgeport
9. Chicago Children’s Museum
10. Chicago Historical Society
11. Chinatown
12. Devon Avenue
13. Elevated Trains
14. Elks National Memorial Building
15. Emerald City Theatre Company
16. Field Museum
17. Fourth Presbyterian Church
18. Francis Dewes Mansion
19. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park*
20. Gold Coast Area
21. Heart of Italy
22. Hershey’s Chicago
23. Historic Water Tower & Pumping Station
24. Jane Addams’ Hull House
25. John Hancock Center
26. Lincoln Park Conservatory
27. Lincoln Park Zoo
28. Lincoln Square
29. Little Italy, Taylor Street
30. Magnificent Mile
31. Maxwell Street Market
32. Merchandise Mart
33. Museum of Contemporary Art
34. Museum of Contemporary Photography
35. Museum of Science & Industry
36. National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum
37. Navy Pier
38. North Avenue Beach
39. Peggy Notebart Nature Museum
40. Pilsen
41. Prairie Avenue District
42. River North Gallery District
43. Shedd Aquarium
44. The Café at American Girl Place
45. Tribune Tower
46. University of Chicago*
47. Uptown
48. Westfield North Bridge Mall
49. Willis Tower*
50. Wrigley Field