Adler Planetarium

A couple of days ago, I called my sister, Pam, and asked her if she’d like to change our planned trip for today.  Instead of going to the Chicago Botanical Garden, we met at the Adler Planetarium.  Robyn was able to come also since she could postpone her life vest appointments until the afternoon.  The grandgirls just aren’t old enough for this kind of outing, so they spent the day at the day care place.

Robyn had stayed over last night, and we had a great time chit chatting without two little ones running us ragged.  She left the rig first thing this morning so she could stop at home before I followed to her house so we could travel together.

If you’ve been to Chicago, you know that many of the museums and such are located right along the Lake Michigan shoreline. 

                                                            That’s Copernicus, of course. 

I haven’t been to the Planetarium since I was a kid.  The inside has changed a lot, even though the outside still looked the same to me.  I knew Pam wanted to see the new “Deep Space Adventure” show, but what I didn’t know was that she is a member of the planetarium and had some free passes for Robyn and me. 

What that pass meant was it saved each of us $28 for admission and two shows.  Considering it cost $16 just to park the car, I was thrilled.  I guess, sometimes, it’s worth having an older sister. 

There really wasn’t much inside that lead itself to taking pictures of other than these two space travelers.  I twisted Robyn’s arm into putting her face into one of the kid’s displays…she’s still my kid, you know.

The Deep Space Adventure was not at all what I expected.  It is hard to describe.  When I was a kid, you went into the domed auditorium and gazed up at a 360* dome of the night sky and learned about the constellations.  This program today was a totally different experience, and brought to mind all the advances in movie technology.  At one point, I had to close my eyes because I was feeling a little dizzy from all the things whirling around me.  It was more of a production than a learning experience for me.  I enjoyed it, but left a little bit bewildered by the experience. 

Luckily, we arrived a little before Pam did, and I was able to get a much closer shot of the Chicago skyline than I was able to do yesterday.

As you can tell, the skies were very overcast, and the rains began as soon as we got inside the planetarium.  The rains continued for the rest of the day, and have only now taken a break.  More storms are forecasted for tonight.  Had the weather been better, I sure would have liked to go over to Buckingham Fountain and Grant Park for some pictures.  Guess I’ll have to do that on some future visit.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy