The Adventure Starts to Stand Around...

The main lobby that we’d seen primarily existed to hold three things: the Burlington Zephyr (a train, a huge real train!), the gift shop and the ticket counter. Since we already had tickets for the museum, we didn’t need to stand in any of these lines. We could line up for the entrance to the museum proper, an entrance that was two floors up. So, we dropped two floors exiting the parking structure and climbed them back up again to get inside. Weird but, what are you going to do?

After riding the elevator up, we lined up briefly to have our tickets looked at to prove we’d paid. To prove we’d been checked, one employee ripped my printed ticket ever so slightly. I thought this weird, especially since I then had to stop at a nearby desk to have it date stamped. I think this was due to our entry into the special exhibit but the reasons weren’t explained and it just seemed confused. Luckily the process didn’t take long and we were finally inside!

We headed up yet another level and were in the large rotunda area on the main floor. It was decorated with Christmas trees of the world and was all bright and shiny. As we wandered into the centre of the area the Star Wars exhibit quickly came into view on the right. To our left was the transportation area with another real train, model trains and real planes hanging from the ceiling. This was also the location of the ‘Millennium Falcon’ ride. We lined up for this. I quickly decided that sitting for the better part of three hours and then standing for a prolonged period of time was not a good choice. Luckily I was asked to check on the length of the line and any cost associated with the ride so I got to take a little stroll. As it turns out, the ride was free but we were lining up to get tickets for the ride, not actually ride it. We scheduled our trip for 17:00, far later than we expected to stay but, as we didn’t know how long it would take us to go through the exhibit, we scheduled it to give us as much time as possible.

Finally we were freed from the lines and only had to deal with the crowds. The transportation exhibit was investigated before heading through Enterprise, ToyMaker 3000 and Petroleum Planet. Finally freed of all the sitting and standing, the children started to run wild. I couldn’t blame them really as I wanted to stretch my legs a bit as well but this meant we really didn’t look at anything. We looked and chased and played a bit.

Exiting Petroleum Planet we passed the Coal Mine ride. The boys were instantly interested. Even after a visit to Yesterday’s Main Street they were interested in the Coal Mine. The announced wait for the Coal Mine was a half-hour. This didn’t dismiss their interest. While it felt like we’d barely started walking, we were apparently ready to line up again.

Another half-hour or so of waiting was not easy on the children. They grew itchy. Kara especially grew bored by this standing around. Once we reached the ride, she was well and truly bored and wanted to play. None of us had ever been on the Coal Mine ride before so we no clue what to expect. As it turns out, it was less of a ride than a guided tour of an exhibit with some riding involved. Keeping Kara quiet proved impossible and keeping her contained slightly less impossible. Somehow, between us, she managed to entertain herself and stay somewhat non-disruptive.

The ride exited down on the Ground Floor, right by the Food Court. 13:00: time for lunch.

Unfortunately, we were not the only ones with that idea.

The Adventure Continues... Arrival

Things started out well on Saturday morning. George wanted to get started at 8 in the morning. Like a fool I stayed up late knowing I had to get up early but made it to the Compound 1.5 right on time. A couple minutes later we were on the road, all the way up to the Krispy Kreme a couple blocks away. After fueling up on coffee and donuts, we were on our way.

Once we made it to Gurnee Mills (not all that far inside Illinois comparatively speaking), we stopped at the Toys ‘R Us. We needed pullups for the youngest, Kara, as well as needing a stretch of the legs and a trip to the bathroom. We had a look at the toys as well but nothing caught our eye. After this break stop, we were on our way again.

We didn’t stop again until we got to the museum. We didn’t get lost or anything. Our parking ticket stated that we arrived at 10:47. It was a long trip but it could have been worse. The traffic hadn’t been awful and the children had remained distracted. We were there!

The parking structure was three underground levels. We parked in-between the first and second levels. We walked up towards the entryway on the first level. When we entered the museum, we realized this was backwards. The primary entry area was on level three. So, by walking upstairs, we only made ourselves need to take an elevator downstairs again. As we figured this out, we saw Star Wars characters walking through the lobby.

Excitedly we hurried the elevator into getting us downstairs before they got away. George got the camera out and the boys lined up for pictures. C3PO was there and Darth Vadar, Boba Fett, Stormtroopers and Rebel Pilots. It was a nice turn-out of ‘professional’ fans; the sort of people that regularly dress up like this at conventions and such so that they have the costumes and experience to volunteer for things like this. They did a good job of staying in character, especially C3PO.

After getting to meet C3PO, Niko imparted a great truth to me. “They are real robots you know, C3PO and R2D2,” he said, his face completely serious. “I could really tell when I was standing next to him.” Now Niko is 8. He seems to have almost figured out the truth behind Santa Claus this recent Christmas and yet he believes in the droids. I couldn’t tell him otherwise. I started talking to him about droid maintenance. That seemed to work.

The Adventure Begins...

Every good adventure has a background. This is the background of Saturday’s adventure.

On the last Friday at work before Christmas, my phone buzzed with a text message. It was Amy, George’s wife. This was a rare but not impossible occasion so I was curious indeed. She wrote to mention that she’d just ordered tickets to go to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. They had a Star Wars exhibit that was running until early January and she’d gotten tickets for the last Saturday that the exhibit was open. A moment too late she’d considered that I might want to go along as well. Did I?

Despite the fact that I’m not a Star Wars fan, I wanted to go. Watching George’s reaction inside would be worth the trip. Besides, I hadn’t been to that Museum in… far too long. In general, the Museum would be fun.

It is not uncommon for me to go on otherwise family trips with the Gentekis clan. This is especially true now that there are three children. This way the children don’t outnumber the adults. That helps more than you’d think. It’s not a deliberate part of the decision making process when I’m invited to come along but it’s a good reason all the same.

One problem with this situation is that Amy had accidentally double-booked herself. She had plans to go to Delavan (a small town about an hour west of Milwaukee) that night. Since our tickets for the Star Wars exhibit were for 15:00, we would have to run from the Museum right to Delavan in order to get her there in time. George’s excellent driving skills would easily get her there.

Of course, the biggest problem with the whole concept of going to the Museum of Science and Industry is that it would involve going to Chicago. Nothing good comes from Illinois. Not literally of course but, you know, they suck. It’s a good-natured distaste of our Mid-West ‘brothers’. It’s good-natured until you go there anyway.

There’s nothing quite like going to Illinois to make you never want to go there again.