On Saturday I went into the city.
Wheaton: I missed the train I intended to take this morning so had to walk around a bit. I ended up at the library, but first walked through a small park directly in front of it. Wheaton’s parks are very strict.
I understand no Skaterz, I hate them too. But pets? Bikes? Roller blades? A sign 5 ft behind it got more specific.
Are regular skates OK then?
Train: Stopped outside of Oak Park. Saw a little dog running around its owner over and over. It was cute, but I like big dogs. Probably can’t make it out, but it’s in the middle. Dog was resting at this point.
Chicago: Walked along the lake. This is what it actually looks like…
But this is what I saw…
It’s Mothra and fire.
Field Museum:
Walking into the dogs/cats relatives exhibit they give you a choice of which door to walk into. Easy decision. Sure, there is a lion on the cat side, but there’s a grizzly bear and panda (!) on the dog side. Go dogs!
I assume that you’re probably familiar with the hit mid-90′s film, The Ghost and the Darkness, starring Val Kilmer and Michael Douglas. If you are, then you probably know that the film is based upon a true story, and that the man-eating lions portrayed in the film have been on exhibit at the field museum for a really long time. The lions, which are pictured above, were portrayed as male lions in the movie though they are in fact female. Why is this?
When I first went to the field museum as a kid I ran around for hours trying to find these lions. They were so big and awesome in the movie with sweet adult Simba manes. When I found them, I was disappointed. No manes, still huge but not enormous, and no human remains were at their feet while blood stained their mouths. I imagine that when Val Kilmer went to see these lions in preparation for his role (he’s a method actor, I think) he had a similar reaction. Good for him. Nobody would have believed that two female lions could ever give Val any trouble. He was the best Batman ever. He had a shiny suit. He perfectly captured Jim Morrison’s pretentious douchiness. His name is Val Kilmer.
Note: female lions do all the hunting and are clearly the best, Val Kilmer is dumb. His name is Val Kilmer.
This mask in the ancient American’s exhibit will give me nightmares.
As will all of these.
He was a king in life, but who’s looking down on who now? Egypt!
Note: not a king as it turns out, just a random mummy.
A dinosaur!
Dinosaurs!
Dinosaurs! Remember when there was just one The Land Before Time movie? And Littlefoot’s mom died? And all the other dinosaurs were orphans too?
So depressing.
Not a T-Rex but still a dinosaur!
With my ticket I got to choose between one of three special exhibits to visit; one on chocolate, one on dinosaurs, and one that must have been about gems or something because it was really boring and can’t remember it at all. I chose the chocolate one since it was ending in a day. It wasn’t as cool as I thought it was going to be, but I did get to take that picture. It’s chocolate that they’re working with, but it looks like poop. Big poop.
Not pictured:
Skaterz: I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of them, but they’re everywhere. Every time I go into the city on a weekend a bunch of random suburb skaterz get on the train, go into the city, and ride their boards around the loop while their one arty friend videotapes them. Sweet ollie, brah.
Crazy parents: At the beginning of the ancient America’s exhibit there is this winding hallway with screens on each wall. It’s supposed to represent Chicago during the last ice age, so it’s basically just a snow-covered forest at night with wooly mammoth’s walking around. I was walking through it when this family of five; a mom, dad, and three young kids came busting in behind me. The parents began by saying to the kids, “Look kids! Ice age!” They repeated this over and over and over.
Then, they snapped. The two parents started saying each others names, followed by “look, ice age!” I don’t remember their names, but I’ll call the dad Stan and the mom Jenny. It went like this:
“Look, Stan! Ice age!”
“Jenny, ice age!”
“Honey, ice age!”
“Jen, ice age!”
And they just didn’t stop. Kept going and going. They weren’t joking either, with complete sincerity Stan talked to Jenny like she was a little child and Jen did the same to Stan.
Stuff I found actually interesting: There have been 6 major extinctions, we’re currently in the 6th. It was neat seeing how Chicago was built up and the shoreline extended. Rich Victorians would wake up and drink shots of chocolate. Much more.
