This part of the trip was about visiting the Field Museum in Chicago. The question was: where does one stay in an RV campground near Chicago? The answer: not in Chicago itself?
I don’t think I ever noticed that the northern border of Indiana touches Lake Michigan. I doesn’t touch enough of the lake to have named it Lake Indiana. Along this shoreline are Indiana Dunes National Park and Indiana Dunes State Park. These two parks are major attractions for all kinds of campers. These neighboring parks are about an hour from Chicago by car and approximately one and a half hours by train.
This campground is about an hour from Chicago by car, plus additional travel time if toll roads are used.
There’s no water at these sites only electricity. RV’s fill their water tanks before parking at Water Islands. The weather has been rain, rain, and more rain, mixed with high humidity.Because we’re not allowed to have a fenced area for the pups, staying here has been a challenge.
The Field Museum
I was immediately overwhelmed by the Field Museum. Below is a YouTube video that you may want to browse through. There’s also a link to the museum itself that showcases its different galleries. The Field Museum in Chicago is more than 130 years old. It first opened in 1894 and moved to its current location in 1920.
The Field Museum has over 40 million specimens and cultural objects in its posession. Only 1% are ever on display at one time. There was an exhibit representing birds. I would guess most species of birds in the world were ‘stuffed” and on display in their natural settings. I found this oddly disturbing at first.
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The link below allows a preview of many galleries at the Field.
https://www.fieldmuseum.org/discover/hall-and-galleries?ageGroups=All%20ages
When I approached the Field Museum, there were at least a dozen people—mostly men in their 20s and 30s—hovering over their phones. I asked one fellow, “Do you have to buy tickets online?”
He answered, almost in tears and in broken English, “Ya, und they sold out.”
Since my German ends with “Wo ist das Wienerschnitzel?”, I moved on.
It turns out that only The Fossil Pokémon Exhibit was sold out. The exhibit is an international draw. People were also happily spending money at the special Pokémon Fossil Exhibit store, which was accessible only with a purchased ticket to the exhibit. The Field Museum premiered the Pokémon exhibit.
Next to the Field is the Shredd Aquarium
Chicago Architectural Boat Tour
carolymarkrv 