Day 5 – Friday, August 7

And finally, all good things come to an end, but without a few more adventures before leaving town.

In the morning I got up and had breakfast and then started packing everything up and loading it into my car. I checked out of the hotel and started driving to my destination for the day – the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry (MSI). I had visited MSI the last time I was in Chicago, but there were some displays I didn’t fully see plus new displays that have been added. Plus it is about science – so of course I’d go again!

I got to the museum and found the meter parking my friend told me about to save some money on parking, then walked to the museum.  Again, well worth it to get your tickets online ahead of time so you can skip long lines!  Some of the highlights of the visit include:

• The temporary display on robotics. It was well done with information about how robots help us in everyday life, the wide variety of robots, etc.  All of the displays showcased actual robots in use today.  They had some that played soccer, a demo of how self-driving cars work, a Roomba, drones, and others used in military and industrial applications. Many hands on displays (as is the whole museum) to help children (of all ages) learn about robots and how to program them.
• The behind the scenes “WOW!” tour. I did this tour the last time I visited as well, but it was so interesting I decided to go on it again. Again it was fascinating, but this time it was modified slightly as we had people with limited mobility on the tour and we actually had a group this time, as compared to last time when I was on the only one on the tour.
• Of course I had to include an Omnimax movie – this was about space exploration – the history and the future.  Very educational and interesting. Learned some things I didn’t know both about the past and especially about the current plans for future manned space exploration.
• One of the main tours I did that I didn’t get to last time was the tour of the German submarine U-505 that was captured during WWII. Anyone at the museum can walk around the outside and look at many displays, but as an add-on you can tour the inside of the sub. Very fascinating and moving to see it and hear the story of the capture.
• Another new exhibit was on Numbers in Nature – about how mathematical patterns and numbers are everywhere in nature. Again, very interesting to be reminded about how numbers and math are not a man-made construct, but exist in many living things. There was also a fun mirror maze to go through.
• In between all of these set-time activities, I tried to see as much of the rest of the museum as I could, there is a lot of museum and to really see everything you need more than 1 day.  Most of the rest of the museum I had seen on my last visit, so didn’t mind too much.

It was then time to leave MSI because 1) I needed to start the trip home and 2) it was closing.  I did stop at the gift shop, but they didn’t have any of the magnets I wanted – the Robots ones were only available at the gift shop by that exhibit and not at the main one – wasn’t too happy about that.

Before I headed out of town, I wanted to make it a complete Chicago trip, so I headed to the nearest Portillo’s for a quick dinner before I headed back home. The trip home was uneventful and easy driving. Got home a bit latter than I would have liked, but the extra time at MSI and a good dinner before I left town were worth it.

So that concludes my adventures in Chicago…. until next time!