Fly Away: Chicago Part 1: Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum

We spent our first morning in Chicago meeting up with our cousins at The Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum (the museum of the Chicago Academy of Sciences). It was our first time visiting the Lincoln Park museum and we thought it was AWESOME -- a perfect balance between a children's museum and a nature center with something for kids of all ages. Almost every exhibit offers a good mix of play and learning. We're pretty sure if we lived in Chicago, we'd take full advantage of the serious array of programming offered there.

Instead, we spent a rambunctious morning (it was our first time seeing our cousins this trip!) exploring the museum's exhibits. Favorites included Mysteries of the Marsh and the adjacent Family Look-in Lab(where we viewed lots of marsh-dwelling animals in tanks), the Hands-on Habitat (part playground part schooling on environments), the Butterfly Haven (a nice-sized room with identification sheets available), RiverWorks (offering a working/playing model of many of Chicago's water engineering feats), and the outdoor Nature Trails (of which we only briefly sampled). Mom was not excited about the Birds of Chicago exhibit, but thought everything else was well done (especially the art exhibit using insects to make wallpaper -- super cool).

(kane wasn't feeling that great ... but he perked up after this when we hit the riverworks exhibit)

After we exhausted ourselves, we ate our packed lunch in the sunny entryway next to the gift store -- there is not cafeteria per se, but there are vending machines and the gift store sells a small variety of drinks, sandwiches and salads. Free street parking close the museum is available, but we suggest arriving early to get a spot -- the Lincoln Park Zoo (which we checked out on our last visit) is right next door. The Green City Market will return to its outdoor location on May 4th (directly across from the zoo) and offers a good option for eating on Wednesdays and Saturdays AND RIGHT NOW is open Saturdays at the Nature Museum (we also went to the market during our visit to the zoo a few years back and are big fans).

It's All Happening at the Zoo: Lincoln Park Zoo

Because D.C. becomes such a zoo in the summer tourist season, we haven't had many chances to actually go to, um, the zoo.  Last time we went I think mom seriously considered putting one of those monkey backpack leashes on Kane.  Then she checked herself and decided we'd put the zoo on hold for a bit.  So we were really excited when she said we were going to get a chance to be those zoo tourists in Chicago.  We hit up the Lincoln Park Zoo one Wednesday and because we got there early we also got to check out a few stands at the Green City Market (which is held directly across from the zoo on Wednesdays and Saturdays, 7 am - 1 pm).  We got to try out some really yummy apple cider donuts (which is good because we didn't get a chance to check out the Oak Park Farmer's Market or its legendary donuts at all during our stay) and snagged a smoothie and some crepes, but when mom heard their wasn't a coffee joint up and running, we hit the road.

Perfect timing because we showed up at the zoo farm's milking and cow feeding session.  Which was awesome.  And then we got to pet some goats.  And then those were pretty much the last animals we saw.  A few zebras here and there and some gorillas.  But we couldn't find many animals at the zoo.  No worry - we are animals enough on our own.  We had a nice time walking around, looking at the pretty gardens, listening to music, and had a good (especially for the price) lunch at the zoo's Park Place Cafe.  We even had a few sips of straight sugar water out of our cute animal thermoses before mom realized that it wasn't water and made us empty them out.  Boo.