This morning we drove out to the Hyde Park area to visit that flagship of overstimulating and exhausting museums, the Chicago Museum of Science & Industry.
With our chidren waking up on East Coast time, we arrived at the museum half an hour before the exhibits opened. It was great to be nearly first in line and then have an hour or two in the museum before the crowds became too crazy.
(Get this. With our cheap-o Boonshoft Museum membership, we got in for FREE. I think our Boonshoft annual membership costs less than the price of admission for one day at the Museum of Science & Industry.)
Here are a few highlights from our visit:
Recognize this car? Hint: It flies and belongs to a large family of red-headed wizards.
Zephyr
The coal mine! This is one of the things I remember from my family's trip to Chicago when I was...ten? eleven? twelve? I also remember really believing that we were 600 feet underground and worrying that the mine would collapse. (I couldn't have been twelve years old...right?)
The train exhibit was a big hit, of course.
The German U-boat! Now enclosed in a spiffy new exhibition hall. This is David explaining to us how the torpedoes work.
Here is David smiling. We took the tour (of course!), and let's just say there wasn't a lot of smiling on the inside of the submarine. It was tight, hot, dark, and absolutely fascinating. (Now when my kids are driving me crazy, I can think, "At least I do not live on a 110-degree German U-boat with 58 men who have not showered for 90 days.") They added some light and sound effects inside the submarine--that's what freaked out David. (It was kind of scary, but I don't think he's too traumatized.) The tour ended for Mary when her head got bumped in the engine room. (I think she was perfectly happy to miss the last five minutes.) At least Greg and I thought it was really cool.
The highlight for David and Mary was the farm exhibit. (We come all the way to the third largest city in the coutry...and they want to hang out on the farm.)
Not quite as good as the real thing, but this combine was still pretty exciting.
We managed to drag ourselves to one more exhibit...which included hanging out on a real Boeing 727. 
And I think we only saw about 5% of the place! Phew!It was overstimulating, exhausting, and really fun!
