Michigan, Chicago, & Ohio 2003

September, 2003


Hi!
We recently got back to NY from our trip to the mid west to attend a Labor Day Weekend wedding not far from Kalamazoo, MI. Since we were driving that far, we decided to turn the trip into a mini-vacation. Things are not always what you expect. I had envisioned Labor Day in Michigan to be the beginning of the Ice Fishing Season and was surprised to be in 90 degree heat. Sarah and I were pleased that the campground had a lake to soak in after our day-long drive from the rest stop campsite in Ohio where we spent the previous night.

After the wedding, at which I performed the ceremony, we went to Chicago.


Allen performs the ceremony at Francois and Sonia's wedding.


Sonia and Francois read from the ketubah.



We hadn't been to the Shedd Aquarium or Field Museum of Natural History in almost 15 years and were pleased with the changes.

The Shedd Aquarium is the best aquarium that we have visited. They began to expand their facilities about a dozen years ago and what they have done was done well. Of particular note is the section devoted to the reef system of the Philippine Islands and the relationship between the reef and the peoples of the Philippines. Another particularly interesting exhibit is the seahorse room.

There was also a good whale and dolphin show. We were taught to indentify the several Pacific white-sided dolphins. In the final test, we were only able to identify the trainers.

Being at the Shedd brought home the concept of how important it is for schools to have field trips to museums and other cultural sites. At $24 for adults and $15 for children plus $10 for parking, if you throw in a few bucks for snacks and souvenirs, it is going to cost a family of four more than $100 to take their kids here. This is beyond the financial ability of many middle and lower income families. Schools have to take up the slack to provide these children with the educational advantages of museums, etc.



Allen, Sarah, and 'Sue' at the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago.


When we visited the Field Museum last in the 1980s, the exhibits, such as the Age of Dinosaurs looked as if they were build in the age of dinosaurs. Now there is the 'Disneyfication' of the Field Museum. In some ways, The Field Museum of Natural History is now better than NYC's AMNH. While we found the Field's exhibits to be somewhat less informative (on the scientific level) than AMNH, the new presentations that they have given to their dusty old skeletons (and mounted skins) in glass cases made the exhibits exciting. I remembered some of the skeletons as ones that I had photographed more than a decade ago, but was drawn by the new ways in which they were shown.

As an example, in one section the old marble floor was covered with a material which was meant to resemble a forest floor with wooden ramps and railings which made room appear to be a walk in a national park. This combined with cartoon-like trees of flat plywood placed against the old glass cases gave a 'modern' look to the old place.

A particular up-to-date exhibit was the room about evolution. One of the features here was the placing of over-head TV monitors which showed local news crews giving the 'news' for the various eras. The 'newscasts' ended with the 'extended weather forecasts' for the next few million years.

Also, there was 'Sue,' right there in the lobby. Sue is the most complete Tyranosaurus rex found (about 90%) It took about 10 years to get Sue from out west to the lobby. Although not more impressive in size or appearance than other such fossil (or cast) exhibits, the fact of being in the presence of so much of the actual creature was like standing near the Wright brother's actual aeroplane: Awesome!


The trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden was a plesant way to spend a day. While there was nothing of particular interest in the garden (they were well maintained and presentable), there was a special limited-time showing of 90 sculpture made in Zimbabwei by the Chapungu (the dominant ethnic group which has been in Zimbabwei for about 800 years). Some of the sculptures, made over three generation of artists, were quite thought provoking.


A place that we visited more recently and again this trip was the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry. We spent most of out time there in a special exhibit on DNA which included cloned animals and hatching chicks (right before our very eyes).

For some time Sarah has wanted to visit Henry Ford's Greenfield Village. Opening in 1929, Greenfield Village recreates a village from the 19th century (although some buildings were much older). Ford brought buildings from different parts of the country and a few from England to Dearborn, Michigan and put them along the streets of Greenfield Village. Several historic structures are here: Thomas Edison's lab (where the incandescent light bulb was developed) and rooming house from Menlo Park, NJ, Noah Webster's retirement home where he compiled his dictionary, Robert Frost's home from when he was poet-in-residence at U of Michigan (Ann Arbor), and the childhood home of William McGuffey (of the McGuffey Readers).

We had added excitement for our visit: The weekend after Labor Day is the annual festival of vintage automobiles and 2003 is the centennial of the Model T. More than 500 classic and old automobiles were on hand and many puttered and leaked oil around the village throughout the day.

In addition to the village there is the Henry Ford Museum which also has old cars, machinery and some historic vehicles: The Lincoln Continental that JFK was riding in when shot and the bus in which Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat to a white person.



Toledo was our next stop and we did well there. We were the only visitors to COSI, their science museum. Having the place to ourselves allowed both of us to get connected to the van der Graaf generator in the 'Electric Show' for which we were the only attendees. Although Sarah took a picture on me on the generator, my hair, what little there is left of it, is too wiry to stand up. The hair on my arms stood out, but they don't show in photographs.

Also, we both got the opportunity to ride the bicycle on a wire about twenty feet above the floor. Having a counter-balance made the ride safe enough for children (for which it was intended), but it is still an eerie feeling to be pedaling a bicycle on a wire looking down to the floor far below. Considering where we were, maybe it was a (Lake) Erie feeling.

The reasons that there were no other visitors to COSI that day was that it's too early in the school year for trips and the zoo was free to county residents that day.


At the Toledo Zoo we lucked-out. September is Senior Citizen Month. Not only did I get free parking, but I got a complimentary muffin and coffee in the bakery.

Sarah was pleased with this zoo visit because she was able to see several zoo babies: an elephant, a gorilla, and several tigers. I always like watching baby elephants. Their trunks are like wet noodles and they don't have full control of them. She was also pleased because I shared my muffin and coffee with her.

The Toledo Zoo has turned their old "carnivore" house into the new restaurant. It's interesting to see people leisurely dining in brightly painted cages.


Our last city before coming home was Cleveland.

It was convenient to have three places to visit with a single parking fee.

The Cleveland Museum of Natural History has all of the requisite exhibits and a particularly good one on human evolution.


The Cleveland Museum of Art is one of three cities to have the exhibition 'The Sensuous and the Sacred,' Chola bronzes from south India. Although there was little here in terms of style that we haven't seen before ((and as this was a collected exhibition, we actually had seen some of the bronzes before in other museums (2 from NYC)) the sheer number of statues was very impressive. More even than the Brooklyn Museum of Art, but that's a permanent collection.



The small Cleveland Botanical Garden reopened just July 15 after being closed for several years for renovations. One of the things that was built was their ultra-modern glasshouse. Although small (it only has two ecosystems), it does a good job portraying in a very realistic manner the Spiny Desert of Madagascar (with small animals in Plexiglas covered niches) and the Costa Rican Cloud Forest ((replete with butterflies and leaf-cutter ants marching along a vine within easy (but do NOT touch) reach.))


We were surprised (pleasantly) at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo with their Disney-like Australian Adventure: A simulated 1800s Australian village with rail depot, stores, and a home to visit. There was a petting area, and small kangaroos (wallabies) were free to roam, but they stayed well behind the wire which deterred people from following them onto the grass. I guess that if the zoo had wanted to keep the kangaroos close to the wire, they'd have to tie them down, (Sport).

Also impressive at this zoo was the Rain Forest building. Two floors of tropical plants and animals in what is supposed to be a climate-controlled building. The system must not have been working that day since it was over 80 degrees inside and the humidity was almost 100%. :-) It was a pleasure to get out into the cool Cleveland autumn air.

Sarah was pleased to see two recently born giraffes, one only 15 days old, a baby orangutan, and a zebra foal.


At the Great Lakes Science Center we learned that the Great Lakes hold 20% of the Earth's fresh water. That's a lot when you consider that most of the Earth's fresh water is frozen in the ice caps.

We also got to play a lot of science games and see and touch a lot of neat stuff. Sarah, as usual, got some good deals at the gift shop. See for yourself at


It was a good trip and now that we're home, there is much for us to do visiting local attractions via the subway.

Regards,

Allen & Sarah