Chicago, 2014: "Save Ferris" Edition

Wait ... it's April? Oh. No. Chicago. AMTRAK!! NOOOOOOOO! Thanks to your generous $32 per passenger subsidy, American taxpayer, we're off to the Midwest Political Science Association conference.


We'd never been to The Museum of Science and Industry, which frankly sounds like it would be the worst museum ever, but has a reputation for being one of the best. Unlike the Field and the Shedd, it isn't a short brisk walk or cab ride from the Loop. Nevertheless, we heard of great discoveries within. It requires either a $20 (one way) cab ride, a METRA ride (GAH!), or a bus ride (DOUBLE GAH!!!!) to get there. We went METRA. Hey look! Treasures of the Disney Archives! An original Pete sketch.


A major focus of the exhibit was the animation process. They had a collection of original maquettes from Pinocchio.

Another major focus of was costumes. Annette.

Fess Parker's hat

An entire wing of the exhibit was devoted to Mary Poppins. Most of you know that Mary P. was my first crush. Her carpet bag.

If you've ever watched a "making of Mary Poppins" you know what this is.

Confession: I stayed in this exhibit for a long time. Some might say too long.

Abe Lincoln's animatronic head. Pure nightmare fuel.

Not nearly as spooky as Lincoln's cyborg head.

All the way in the back of MSI, on a lower level, was the exhibit we really came to see. Spaceships. This is Scott Carpenter's Aurora 7.   

We've seen 5 Apollo command modules. Apollos 12, 13, 14, 16, and now 8. Apollo 8 is special.

Apollo 8 launched on December 21, 1968. America needed something grand and powerful to distract it from the tumult and tragedy that characterized 1968. Just in time for Christmas, the crew of Apollo 8 orbited the moon.

On Christmas Eve, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders read from Genesis 1 as they orbited the moon. For their trouble, they were sued by Madylyn Murray O'Hair for violating the establishment clause of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court dismissed the case for lack of jurisdiction.

We always end up at the space toilet in a space museum. It should be our meeting place if we get separated.

If you find yourself at MSI, do not miss the U-boat.

Take son to world class science center. Check. Confront primal fear. Check.

Not a bad view from our hotel window.

It's okay to hate the Cubs. Truly, it means you're a normal person. But if you're a baseball fan, it is not okay to pass up an opportunity to visit the Baseball Time Machine. This year, we sat in (or very near) the seats sat in by Ferris, Cameron, and Sloan

We'd never sat this close to the field at Wrigley. We were within 40 feet of 2 foul balls. It was great.

Boo Cubs! Yay Wrigley!

All hopped up on sugar and nitrites!

What year is it?

So wrong and yet so right.

Well, Chicago ... see you next April.

Kansas Cosmosphere, December 2013: "How do you go to the bathroom in space?" Edition

Many of you know that our Christmas holiday takes us the length of Kansas to southwest Nebraska. Kansas is unfairly maligned, for it boasts an outstanding 6-stool burger shack and (believe it or not) a world class space museum: The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center. It's truly inspiring to go to a place devoted to a time when humans aspired to be more than simply ordinary. 

You might remember that after visiting Kennedy Space Center in May, Jefferson asked to learn more about space over the summer. His summer lessons culminated with an August trip to the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville. The museum in Huntsville is largely devoted to the work of Wernher von Braun. For some reason, his slide rule is in Kansas.


Despite what you might think, "we're not in Kansas anymore" is not the most uttered phrase while touring the Cosmosphere. That honor belongs to: "Dude, how is this here?" A piece of the German wall.


The Cosmosphere does an excellent job placing American space exploration in the political and social context of the time. There are fantastic exhibits of German and Soviet space artifacts. Oh, and some old ejection seat from some plane.


Sometimes you fail. This is an unmanned Mercury test.


One of the most iconic pieces of space memorabilia: the silver Mercury 7 suit.


It was too dark in here to get a decent photo, but this is Liberty Bell 7: Gus Grissom's spacecraft for the second Mercury mission. It sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean and was recovered in 1999.


Five or six feet away from the Mercury spacecraft is Gemini X, the eighth manned mission of the Gemini program. John Young and Michael Collins spent just under 3 days in orbit in this tiny thing.


Michael Collins' spacesuit.


The entire museum is astonishing, but it truly shines in its presentation of Apollo. This is the Apollo 13 command module. Yes ... THAT Apollo 13.












Here's what it looks like inside. Apparently, it is the same square footage as a minivan.


The last place Apollo astronauts would be before strapping themselves to a Saturn V is the White Room. The Cosmosphere has one of only two Apollo White Rooms and they let you get inside. Mom is taking the photo from the perspective of the command module.


The last face an Apollo astronaut would see was that of Guenter Wendt. The astronauts considered him a good luck figure. This is what you'd see as you were climbing into the command module.


The Apollo 11 crew gave Guenter gifts. Michael Collins gave him a fish trophy, Buzz Aldrin gave him a New Testament, and Neil Armstrong gave him a free ticket for a space taxi ride.


This is an actual console from mission control in Houston. Jefferson is pretending to figure this thing out.


This is a moon rock from the Apollo 11 mission.


Speaking of the moon, after retiring from NASA, Alan Bean (Apollo 12) became a full time artist. His medium: acrylic and moon dust from his tools and instruments.


Okay, let's get it out in the open ... six-year-old boys (okay, and sometimes their dads) are fascinated by things of the bathroom. There's no delicate way to say it: Apollo astronauts had to tape an adhesive bag to their butts to go ... #2.


This is the type of toilet used on the Space Shuttle. We might have spent as much time staring at this as we did the Apollo 13 CM.


Gotta go? Follow the rules, Mr. Bigshot Astronaut.


We loved this place. An extraordinary bargain at only $12, I cannot stress enough how worth it is to go out of your way to see the Cosmosphere.

Nashville (November 2013): "Green Swamp Juice" Edition

We wanted to do something special for Christmas this year. We hit the road for Nashville.












Country breakfast at Monell's is my favorite meal at any restaurant in any city. For $15, they bring out sausage, bacon, biscuits and gravy, country ham, fried apples, pancakes, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, cheese grits, and corn pudding. Then they bring out the fried chicken. Fried chicken. For breakfast!

We went to Dave and Busters for the first time. Jefferson went bananas. He found this game where you try to throw a ball into a wide mouth milk jug. It was darned near impossible, but even you missed the milk jug, you still got a ton of tickets. This was enough tickets to buy a kazoo.

We'd never stayed at the Opryland Hotel before. It is nuts. There are waterfalls. There's a river. There are restaurants, shops, a gelateria, a couple of coffee shops, and a TON of rednecks. Like this one.

This Christmas tree was extraordinary. Jefferson visited the nearby Santa, who, after Jefferson recited his list, broke character and asked us: "You get all that?"

One of the things included in our package was a scavenger hunt. There were 15 clues and it took us 2 hours. The final thing was Jack Frost's staff. Look at how proud that goober is!

Our package also included tickets to ICE, an exhibit featuring 2 million pounds of ice carved into stuff. This year's theme was the old Frosty cartoon. It's 8 degrees in there. They supply you with a vermin-ridden calf-length parka. I was itching for days after. Psychosomatic, I'm sure. But still.

It was all pretty incredible.

The ice slide was fun, but we got freezer burn on our butts.

This was amazing, but you know what they say about the yellow snow ...

We took a carriage ride around Opryland and it was beautiful, but windy and absolutely freezing cold.

But little buddy smiled all the way through it.

After the freezing cold carriage ride, we did what any excellent parents would do. We fed our child ice cream.

The final feature of our hotel package was the Shrek Feast, a Shrek themed breakfast buffet. They served disgusting green juice and had a green chocolate waterfall, but the rest of the food was actually pretty tasty.

Nightmare fuel.

Shrek's mouth and dead eyes never moved. The woman talked and led him around. Jefferson, as usual, not totally buying it. 

Merry Christmas everyone!