A Day in the Windy City

The day before the Fourth of July (otherwise known as that lesser-known holiday, the "Third of July"), BJ and I braved the deluge of fellow tourists and voyaged down to Chi-town. Admittedly, "All That Jazz" was in my head for most of the day. But, our activities for the day weren't particularly jazzy. In fact, they were downright nerdy.

No bones about it, we were in for a fun day.

I decided to forgo my usual Michigan Avenue/Outlet Mall itinerary in the interest of not boring my hubby to tears. So, we decided upon mutually-agreeable activities of going to Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum. I was hoping to steal a few minutes to run in and out of Topshop, but honestly, we were just having way too much fun at the museums.

After a too-early-for-most-humans ride on the train, we arrived (sleepily) to Shedd Aquarium. And then I geeked out. A lot. BJ did, too, but I'm much more obvious about my excitement than he is.

"Look at that seashell lamp! I need that seashell lamp!"

"Look at that fish! I'm going to name him George!"

I also put my hand directly into a touch tank and grazed my hands along a few sturgeon, which felt surprisingly reptilian and not slimy as I had imagined (BJ refused to join in the fish touching). And the best part was watching sea otters swim back and forth, smile at me (or at least that's what I believed to be true), and swim back and forth again. I would have included a picture, but those otters were just too fast and squirrely to be photographed (or should the word be otter-y?).

Our next destination was the Field Museum. I hadn't been there since I was little, and yeah, I forgot about all of the taxidermy. Apparently at least 57% of the Field Museum is just exhibits of dead animals. And this was upsetting to me. Let's move on.

I enjoyed all of the old-school exhibits in their Wes Anderson-like glory.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

I felt tiny several times. More than usual.

Craned my neck to see these guys

Yup, that's me standing in a dinosaur footprint. My Toms have never looked so dwarf-like.

I wanted to take home the pretty Native American textiles, but I'm guessing the museum would frown upon that.

I also wanted to see if this would fit in my purse. Darn protective plate glass. Maybe BJ will surprise me by purchasing it from the museum and giving it to me for my birthday. Yes, this seems very possible.

And then I saw the greatest thing of all, which easily could have been included in one of the museum exhibits. Who remembers these bad boys? Perhaps you saw them at zoos or aquariums when you were a kid. The smell of burning plastic should be off-putting, but I think this machine reeks of glorious nostalgia.

And then my inner six-year-old, who at one time dreamed of being a paleontologist, got giddy over the dinosaur exhibits.

I think this dinosaur is sassy. She's showing off her legs.

Overall, an awesome day trip with the hubs. I found out that being geeky can be pretty exhausting. BJ then proceeded to come home and watch Star Trek. I guess he has a higher tolerance.

P.S. After the Field Museum, we managed to muster a bit more strength to wander over to the Adler Planetarium, where I got a kick-ass shirt. It's pictured here with my plastic dino from the Mold-a-Rama machine.