Staycation Chicago - Museum of Science and Industry
We decided to act like tourists in Chicago today and visited the Museum of Science and Industry. We haven't been a in few years and the kids have a different perspective as they grow older. They appreciate completely different parts of the Museum and the information that can be learned.
Photo Taken By thedarkhorse: Part of Brick by Brick Exhibit (The LEGO exhibit)
We decided to pony up for a membership this time and went with one that gives us access to all the "exhibits" without paying extra each time we go. With a family this is almost a no brainer if you can swing the money up front
Going to need to look into the free access to "more than 300 science centers and museums outside Chicago" and see what might be good for a day trip. Need to get our moneys worth!
| Now need to complain for a second, the cost of a trip to a Museum in Chicago is crazy. We were looking at about $200 for the 4 of us and my Dad who came with us just for admission, the Lego exhibit, and their Deep Sea movie plus another $22 for parking. These prices mean that hard working families just can't afford to take their kids to these museums and they are missing out on a day that might have opened their eyes to things they never knew interested them. Don't know the solution, but this is a serious problem. |
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Anyone with kids if you have any sort of a Science Museum near you get your kids there. It helps expose your kids to things you would never think to talk about and makes learning fun for them.
Anyways going to share some of the photos from today, but not all of them. Want to do a post on the Lego exhibit on it's own. We spent about an hour in there and that deserves it's own post for sure. We are planning on going back in the near future as we were there for 5 plus hours and didn't nearly see everything. Huge advantage of buying the membership we didn't feel rushed and took our time with what we did see.
The drive into the City of Chicago at any hour can be filled with traffic. Both of these photos were taken at a dead stop. Nice clear day, but still chilly!
Interesting story my Dad shared. The fighter plane shown below is similar to ones that littered Hawaii when he was a kid. He said tons of planes which had been downed during the battle at Perl Harbor were still sitting on cliffs or stuck into the side of mountains. Man he loves to find a way to rub in that he spent part of his childhood in Hawaii.
So one more from the Brick by Brick exhibit, but the rest will be another post. This one is of MSI and the next couple give a little background of the building.
Fairy Castle is the largest "miniature house" I've ever seen. Very cool the attention to detail which included painting that were done with a single bristle paint brush. The patience needed to create this is insane...so glad there are people like this to create amazing works of art for us to enjoy.
Heading home...Friday traffic and stopped sitting on the tollway yet again. Oh how I hate traffic, but it did let the kids take a power nap.
All photos are taken by @thedarkhorse and all rights are reserved.
Photos are taken with my Smasung S8+
What a fabulous blog @thedarkhorse and what an amazing venue to visit at your leisure. The price is steep especially for a family. Wouldn't you think they'd get more paying visitors if the price was cheaper which in the long run would be more lucrative for them? Your photos are wonderful and its great to see the sheer joy on the faces of your girls in the photos. I bet they thoroughly enjoyed the Fairy Castle and all the amazing and intricate details in each compartment. The workmanship is superb and many hours must have gone into the construction of it. You did extremely well to spend all that time at the museum and then come home to put this comprehensive post together. You deserve to have the day off tomorrow. Put your feet up and delegate........that's my advice. (lol)
The place was pretty empty being that all of Chicago and most of the suburbs still had school and their break didn't start until next Monday. Our district was smart and used Thurs and Fri before spring break for parent teacher conferences so the break turns into almost 2 full weeks as they get the Monday after Easter off also.
On a normal weekend or day during a break the place is packed. So honestly I'm not sure if more people is something they are wanting to achieve. But maybe at a lower price and using online ticketing with a max number of tickets per day they could achieve some sort of balance. Or maybe during the week on non peak times cut the price by even 30% to increase traffic and give some other people a chance to go that might not otherwise be able to afford it.
Now it's funny about the Fairy Castle, my Wife swears that my working from home has "corrupted" her little girls. This actually wasn't something they really cared about. They looked at it like a massive doll house and couldn't appreciate what painting a picture on the wall with a single bristle means....or they just didn't care. Either way the adults liked this one more then the kids and they were ready to get to the space area. We had to tell them to relax at least 10 times.
No rest for me today. Blogging and working while the Girls (Wife included) are off having fun today. Someone needs to make up for what was spent yesterday and cover the horse riding lessons today...a very expensive hobby that the kids do.
That was a great idea to visit the museum before the official school break @thedarkhorse It would have made your day out, much more pleasant and allow you to take in all the fascinating details without fighting the crowds. I don't believe for a minute that you working from home has corrupted your little girls .......but I see where she is coming from (lol) I'm sure they are directed to more of the subjects that you are passionate about but they wouldn't spend time with any of them if they weren't interested too. They must love having their Dad available. It is interesting about the Fairy Castle. If they couldn't actually play in it then I can understand their desire to move on. The space area was obviously a highlight for them and you can see the enjoyment written all over their beautiful faces. Horse riding sounds like a lot of fun. Will you be doing any blogs on that in the future?
The crowds over break is insane and I just like dealing with them. Already working on plans for our next visit and it will be midweek on a school day. Both the kids are very good students so pulling them from school for a day isn't an issue. Actually I give them each a couple "personal" days each school year to use at will. Figure it's better then them faking being sick to get a day off and gives them a little control over things which they love having.
I had done a couple posts before with some photos of the stables, but will do more for sure.
You are a very organized Dad. Its all about balance isn't it? I must check out your horse and stable photos.
Looks like a massive sized Museum. We have a great one in Victoria, British Columbia that used to be free for residents but that was ended years ago and we now pay the same price as tourists.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_British_Columbia_Museum
Great pictures, but too much for my slow connection and not all came through. I really need high speed, but not available in my area yet.
Cheers
It is a very large sized museum and they bring in great exhibits.
Have been downsizing my photos to 25% of the raw photo size (which is actually only 10% of the file size) trying to help those with slower internet. But I'm guessing I could go smaller in the future. I'll do a couple tests on a post to see how small I can go without effecting quality.
don't downgrade your quality! Most people have fast internet and so shall I some day. LOL
I'll catch up...:-)
I'm pretty sure I can go smaller without effecting quality. Plus if your having an issue I'd guess that some mobile users are also. I've never looked at the site on my phone so not sure how the photos are dealt with, but data gets expensive so smaller images might be better.
True enough, my phone takes 4 gig pictures so I started resizing to 10% on some this last blog. saves me mucho time when uploading. Quality is not affected unless zoomed in on.
Cheers
Just looked and mine are 4-6 gig photos, with most being 4.2 range. Not sure why some come in so high.
could be when you turn the camera sideways for a more panoramic shot?
Chicago , New York and washington have great museums . And I agree that they are out of the reach of most working families . Thats a shame .
My kids talk about when we lived in NY and the 6 month trip we would take to one of the museums . What they don't remember is how we had to save for six months .
Trips well made and worth all the issues it took to get there.
Two future Astronauts :)
It really is a shame. The kids that probably could use a different perspective are the ones that are missing out.
It good that you have those memories together.
yes and you will to ,with pictures .
Schools can do walkouts and send kids from Balt. to Wash. at taxpayer expense to protest gun control , but send them to a musume , God forbid
All museums are tax exempt , If they want to keep that status they should allow all school kids to enter FREE.
Oh don't get me started on using kids as puppets for political agendas.
This is so cool; I'm glad you took the time with your family to visit it! You're right about the price too. In Vancouver, we have Science World, same idea, but it's sure not priced for everyone's wallet either!! It really is unfair...just because some people don't make enough money, doesn't mean they and their kids shouldn't be able to enjoy these opportunities too. Not sure what the answer is though unfortunately!
And cute kids! For some reason I thought you had a boy and girl?
Huge advantage of working for myself is I can take the time with the kids. My oldest is a girl, but a tomboy...lol
So this seems like a common theme with overpriced museums.
Yes, not being tied to a desk or strict schedule is a great thing. I always was a tomboy, so I can totally relate :)
Overpriced museums...Someone is obviously profiting from it all! Such a shame.
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