Day 141 & 142- September 4 & 5 Michigan City, IL to DuSable Marine, Chicago, IL

 


Time to leave Michigan City, yay! On to Hammond, IN for one night.

I am always amazed at the size of the 'stones' it takes to make a jetty.

The cooling tower was emitting a hazy cloud.


US Steel, Midwest Division

Commercial traffic.


The Indiana shoreline is full of industrial plants. Steel Mills. Hot Mills. Lime Plants.








Chicago is in site! Tomorrow.

Did I mention, we were in the marina next to the Horseshoe Casino?

We really don't know what there is to see or do in Hammond, Indiana.  All we could see, besides the Casino, was industrial stuff.  Why did we stop there?  Logistics, naturally.  We needed groceries and the next stop was downtown Chicago where groceries were going to be a challenge.  In Hammond, there was a Walmart barely a mile away.  It also looked, on the map, that Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry was closer to Hammond than Chicago.

So, we planned a two night stay, groceries the first afternoon, the Museum the next day.  So much for a plan.  A peek at the weather showed that the weather was perfect for us on day two, but on the planned departure day it would be hooting out of the North and unpleasant.

Thus, we resolved to leave the next day.  The next challenge- how to get to Walmart.  While only a short distance away, there was no obvious way to get there on foot or by bike.  I asked the harbormaster, Julia, if there if there was Uber available.  Her reply:  "It's probably easier if I just take you there."

We've met a lot of friendly, helpful people along this trip, but this was a first.  Thanks, Julia!! 





How close is Hammond, Indiana to the state line?  I can tell you that it is just about 1.5 miles, as I found out on my morning walk!

Al has been there more times than me...

The state line power plant, but I love how many of the buildings we have seen allowed the brick mason's to do lovely work.


Remember all those steel plants and mills? 
Guess what the bridges in this area are made of!


Are we there yet?


How about now??

Soldier Field. 
I am told that many Super Bowl winners have come here to beat the local team.
Hey, hey, we won in 1986!!


Solider Field, The Planetarium and the Shedd Aquarium.


I think we are THERE!

Yes, we did make it to the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry and it is fabulous.


A U-Boat in the basement!!  How cool is that?  The U-505 was the first enemy vessel captured by the US Navy since the War of 1812.  The pictures below will tell you a lot of the interesting story of her capture.

The German submarine is a 252' vessel. Very interesting story about the submarine, its capture, movement, camouflage paint job and final movement to the Science and Industry Museum.
Click here for details.











Definitely worth seeing if you are in Chicago.


There was also a World Premier exhibit of James Bond science. Fun!!


Actual gidgets and gadgets from the movies along with info as to whether it is actually available. Also many cars cars, motorcycles, etc. with movies clips showing the thing in use. Very nicely done.




These pictures are a small sampling of items. 
The exhibit took up two huge areas of the museum.


There is a large cross country model railroad with 190 buildings.
Read more about it here.  Check out the size in the next video.





An entire exhibition called Farm Tech. Showing how food goes from field to table. The next video shows the inner workings of the combine.

Real airplanes were overhead. Including part of an actual 737 airliner.










The museum's upper floors were cut to go around the 737.
In case you were ever curious about those jet engines...
here is a cutaway of the real thing.


The orange sign said- 
"Touch the Screen if you Dare"
I touched it.... watch to see what happens.

We didn't get to see every display. 
We were wore out before that was accomplished.
Hope you enjoyed the Griffin Science and Industry Museum. We did!!
More touristy stuff tomorrow.

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Comments

  1. Bob the DuckSeptember 8, 2024 at 2:15 PM

    Hope on the way to the museum (one of the best ever) hope you found a Chicago Dog. Looking forward your next installments. You going to be river rats soon enough. Safe travels.

    ReplyDelete

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