Chicago - Griffin Museum

We just recently got back from a whirlwind family vacation, taking the kids on their very first visit to Chicago. We flew in, arriving at Midway Airport in the early evening. After grabbing the bags, we made our way to the train stop. And thanks to some kind help from one of the CTA workers, we got the right tickets for the train to take us into downtown.

We soon made it to our stop, and must have looked like a bunch of tourists as we lugged our suitcases out and walked over to our hotel. We stayed at a place that was pretty conveniently located, just a short walk from Michigan Avenue and close to a lot of attractions. This was the view from our room:



And the view from the window in the hallway, overlooking Lake Michigan. Elliott ran to the window and was excited to say hello to all the boats in the lake.



We explored the hotel, going out onto this outdoor terrace. This is the view looking up:



Now I like to think that I'm an expert world traveler, someone who would be worthy of appearing on The Amazing Race. That is, until, I actually travel and then make a fool of myself. After visiting the terrace, we went into the elevator to go back to our room. In order to use the elevator, you have to flash your room card on a scanner. I ran a card by it, but nothing worked. Thinking our room card had stopped working, we took the elevator down to the lobby and went to the front desk. Who told us, well, that wasn't our room card. It was the card for the CTA train. They were kind and gave us a new card, and then probably laughed at the country bumpkins who were all confused by the big city.

The next morning we headed out, going to a train stop in Grant Park. At least this time we knew not to use our hotel room card to pay for the train tickets.



We took the train south to Jackson Park and the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry. The building the museum is in was built for the 1893 World's Fair, and is one of only two buildings that remain from the fair. Nowadays, the museum has over 2,000 exhibits. Among those exhibits is the U-505, a German submarine that was captured during World War II.



There is also a space exhibit that has the Apollo 8 command module.



The museum also features other modes of transportation, including a full-size Boeing 727.



Below it is a 3,500 square foot model railroad set (the kids thought this was more interesting than the old submarine and space crafts).



The model recreates the "Empire Builder" rail line that connected Chicago and Seattle, and includes depictions of both cities and the Rocky Mountains. The miniature cities reminded me of the end credits of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.



The kid's other favorite part of the museum was the Mirror Maze, which was a little trippy to walk through.



Later that night, Jonah and I headed over to Soldier Field to watch a Major League Soccer game between the Chicago Fire and the Philadelphia Union. I'm still a die-hard FC Dallas fan, but of course the timing would never work out where they would be playing an away game in Chicago at the same time we were there on vacation. But it was an interesting experience to visit another team's stadium and to watch the game as a neutral observer. Philadelphia ended up winning the game.



As we walked back to our hotel after the game, we passed by the Field Museum.



We will pay a visit to the Field, and a few other notable Chicago locations, later on in the trip. Stay tuned for more pictures from that coming soon....