September 18, 2013 Zion, Illinois

We moved to Illinois Beach State Park in Zion, Illinois.  We have a nice level site with electricity but no water or sewer on site.  From our windows we have a nice view of Lake Michigan.  There are very few campers here so we practically have the campground to ourselves.  We heard they will fill up again on the weekend.  Our first night here we had two pretty severe thunderstorms that lasted all night and into the morning hours.  At one point we saw a big flash of light and we lost power.  The next morning Bill went out to inspect the electrical box and found the fuse had blown but the surge protector had protected the RV from electrical damage.  With a flip of the switch he was able to get the power back on.  We spent the day pretty much inside doing paperwork and chores since the weather was still threatening rain.  Later in the day the skies cleared enough that we rode our bikes on a bike trail along the lakeshore.  The wind had been gusty all through the night and day, and Lake Michigan looked angry with waves that made it appear to be more ocean than lake.

On Friday we drove to Waukegan and had lunch with Bill’s Aunt Emily.  Friday evening we had a lovely dinner and visit with Aunt Emily’s son, Gary and his family.  It was so good to see Gary and Carla and their son and grandsons.  Thanks Gary for preparing a delicious meal!

Saturday we rode the Metra into Chicago.

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Bill had been there before, but it was my first visit.  We were able to purchase a weekend pass for unlimited riding on the Metra for only $7.00. There was so much to choose from and we had only planned on spending two days in the city. We also purchased a 2 day pass for the Chicago Trolly and Double Decker bus which turned out to be a great decision since it was a great way to see all the city sites and got us to our chosen destinations without a lot of walking.  Most of the time we rode on top of the double decker open bus, and Chicago lived up to its name as a cold and windy city!  Among the many sites we saw while riding around the city included Millennium Park with “The Bean”, the Art Institute of Chicago, Buckingham Fountain, Michigan Avenue’s Magnificent Mile, and Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears.

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33 foot artwork in Millennium Park, locally called “The Bean”, made of mirrored material so it reflects

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The reflections from The Bean were fascinating!

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Self portrait of Bill reflected in The Bean

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Famous for fabulous shopping

 

Our first stop was The Field Museum which was established in 1893 and ranks among the world’s foremost museums in natural science.  It houses over 25 million artifacts and specimens.  We saw the Hall of Gems, a fabulous exhibit on Ancient Egypt which was one of my favorite things there, a wonderful exhibit on Native American cultures, especially those of the Pacific, Northwest Coast and Arctic regions; a Hall of the Ancient Americas which included 13,000 years of human history focusing on the Incas and Aztecs.  There was also a Hall of Conservation called “Restoring Earth” and a DNA Discovery Center.  Bill’s favorite by far was the dinosaur exhibit, featuring Sue, the largest and most comprehensive T Rex ever discovered.  That evening we caught the Metra back to the station closest to our campground.  We were pretty exhausted but looking forward to returning the next day to Chicago.

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The Field Museum

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Real mummies

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From the Conservation exhibit hall

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A dinosaur named Sue….found in South Dakota….actually the age and sex is unknown, she is named Sue after the person who found her

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Hello, Sue!

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Sunday morning we once again caught the Metra in to Chicago with our first stop being Willis Tower, formerly known as Sears Tower with its famous SkyDeck.  After going through security and waiting in line, we took the elevator up to the 103rd floor where we had a 180 degree view of 4 states and 50 miles.  The highlight of our visit was walking out on The Ledge, a 1.5 inch thick glass enclosed cube extending more than 4 feet, where you could look straight down.    It was like standing on air.  We are not afraid of heights, but we agreed it was a little hard to take that first step out into what appeared to be nothing but air 103 floors up.  A part of our brain told us it was safe and okay, we our eyes also was sending messages to our brain not to do it.  It was amazing!

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Gorgeous 180 degree views of Chicago…we were fortunate to have such a clear day

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Bill’s foot on the glass ledge, where you could look straight down 103 floors to the sidewalk

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Took more nerve than we expected

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A side view of the cube, or ledge

 

We caught the trolley outside the tower to head to the next destination.  On the way the tour bus took us on the south side of Chicago through the Hyde Park and Kenwood areas.  President Obama’s home is in Kenwood.  We also went by the home of Muhammed Ali.

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Sidewalk in front of the residence of President Obama, barricaded off and protected at all times by Secret Service

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Not possible to get a clear view of the house

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Home of Muhammed Ali

 

The tour bus let us out at our next stop, The Museum of Science and Technology, the largest science center in the Western Hemisphere, which includes more than 35,000 artifacts over 14 acres of displays and exhibits.  We saw 80 at 80, which showcased 80 amazing artifacts from the museum’s 80 years of existence.  The highlight of the museum for us was taking an onboard tour of a real U-505 submarine, the only German submarine captured in World War 2.  Unfortunately the museum closes early on Sundays so our visit was shorter than we had hoped and expected.

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My favorite astronaut

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Bill operated a telephone switchboard like this in the main office of his high school

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The specially made room to house the submarine which was floated here and lowered into this room….sub is on the right of the picture….impossible to grasp how big it really is. They had a time lapse movie showing the sub’s move from Lake Michigan into the museum.

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Forward torpedo room and also served as sleeping quarters. We were told that each bunk was rotated among three men as each got off duty, so they shared their dirt, fleas and sweat. Bunks were located throughout the ship

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Galley that prepared food for 59 men

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Radio room

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Twin diesel engines

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Rear cabin

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Enigma machine

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Front of the submarine showing a launched torpedo