While preparing itineraries for a conference that was being held in Chicago a year or so ago, I stumbled across a website for a museum. I have been wanting to visit the International Museum of Surgical Science since I came across it. This seemed like an ideal time because they had a special exhibit, similar to the more well-known "Body Works" exhibits displayed across the country, that incorporated preserved human tissue in among the regular information. I have to say it really enhanced the information and education the museum provided. While the quality of the preservation was not good as other examples, it was more closely tied to what I wanted from that type of exhibit...education. Anyway, there were a lot of great displays, and it was really rewarding to see things I encounter at work. I also really enjoyed the apothecary shop display they had and the cross-sections linked to the x-ray technology really enhanced the information. As an added bonus, the museum is housed in a historic house/mansion so there were some neat little nooks and crannies including a bathroom hidden in the wall.
Following the IMSS, we went to the Adler Planetarium. I have never been before. The building was beautiful and it was so great to be on the lake during a storm with all of those windows. My brain was a little overloaded at that point in time from my first museum trip so we were much more leisurely. I saw some beautiful old telescopes but most of our educational time involved watching some of their shows. There are some great interactive events for kids like remote control simulation with a "Mars Rover" and crater formation. I think this is definitely a place I would like to go to with my kids someday. We didn't make the aquarium, but I am looking forward to going back for that purpose.
Chicago is an interesting city. There are places of absolute beauty with amazing architecture and installments and in the same panorama you get some of the ugliest ill-kept landscapes I have seen. There is a lot of juxtaposition.
We got to do one of my favorite things on this trip...camping out in our hotel room, watching TV in bed. It was great to get some downtime during this trip to watch bad cable snuggled up in bed. It is such a decadent luxury.
Sunday afternoon we went to a friend's house to participate in a LARP. This is my third LARP experience. I have to say while I have long been a geek, it wasn't until I found a joy for LARPS that I really felt like a gamer-geek. Most of my fandoms don't have a community outlet (at least not collectively). LARPing however usually requires other people.
This LARP had a lot of elements. In fact there were a lot of good story lines and a number of ways in which the game could be altered based upon the choices the character made. This was both good and bad. I love storytelling which is what I think LARPs do better then RPGs and there were definitely a lot of stories. However, it was occasionally frustrating to try to accomplish my character's goals when they depended on others who decided they wanted to play a different game. The game was certainly not what I expected. I had a good time overall; I definitely learned some things about LARPs.
