Scientific and Industrious, Part 2

As I mentioned several posts ago, the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry is the greatest museum ever. Yeah, that's right, I said greatest museum ever. Take that, Louvre. What does the Louvre have? Look:

Okay, you've seen the Mona Lisa. Now you've been to the Louvre. I just saved you thousands of dollars in plane fare. You're welcome.

But, see, the Museum of Science and Industry is a multi-sensory experience. You don't just look at stuff. You touch it, hear it, taste it, and smell it. (Okay, the tasting and smelling are largely confined to the museum cafeteria, the Brain Food Court.) But try to lick the Mona Lisa and you know where you'll end up? Right back here, reading this blog, you weird masterpiece-licking loser. Or else dead from The Plague, because they didn't really wash their hands in Leonardo da Vinci's era. And those germs still linger on the surface of paintings.

Anyway, yesterday Katie and I (plus Nathan) went to the Museum of Science and Industry. I call Katie "G-Money," but don't ask why (seriously, don't, because I have no idea why). Anyway, G-Money, the Monkey, and I totally ruled that museum. We saw almost everything.

Muppet exhibit? Check. Simulated combine ride? Check. NetWorld? Check, although it was pretty dumb, and don't I go out to museums to get away from the Internet? (Answer: No, because I have the Internet on my phone. Duh.)

We saw the disgusting video of pigs being born. We went in the fairy castle. We even got to see my favorite antique main street, where I learned they sell the cutest shoes for $1.85.

And the giant, human-sized hamster wheel? We kicked that thing's ass! Well, Katie did. She's a marathoner. I just took a photo.


Don't you guys think somebody should market a child-sized version to parents of overly-energetic children?

But my favorite part of this museum trip was getting to meet the museum "roommate," Kate McGroarty! So, the deal on Kate is that she was chosen out of 1,500 applicants to spend a month living at the museum. She has a blog, and a Facebook page, and a Twitter account about her experience. She lives in a little room outside the public viewing area, and then she has an office out on the main floor. And she's like a huge celebrity there. She posts her schedule, and everybody lines up to see her in her office. I was very excited to get a picture of Katie with her:

As you can see, Kate has an orange "Month at the Museum" shirt on. She has one for each day at the museum, printed with the day number on the back. She was on Day 25 yesterday, so she's almost done.

Kate has a to-do list for her time at the museum, the scariest of item of which is "hunt for ghosts in the U-505." The U-505 is a German U-boat captured during WWII, and it's one of the biggest exhibits in the museum (literally and figuratively). It scares the crap out of me. Seriously, it's Nazis. And dead people. And, on a lighter but no less disgusting note, the museum displays a can of bread that was found on the submarine. A can of bread. From 1944.

So, hunting for ghosts in the WWII German sub at night, alone in a giant cavernous museum, would not be at the top of my to-do list. (But if I did find ghosts, I would direct them to the Brain Food Court to get something to eat, because their bread expired a long time ago.) Generally speaking, there is a lot of stuff that I would find scary while alone in a giant museum at night, which is probably why they didn't pick me to be the museum roommate. (Also, I did not apply. Because, you know, my kid and all.) And I'd have to greet people and be all chipper, which ranks very low on my list of personal strengths.

But museum roommate Kate was very chipper, and didn't seem at all traumatized by the bread-hunting ghosts. And I was pleased to note on her recent blog that she went out running, because I was concerned about her Vitamin D levels holed up in that museum for 30 days. (I don't think the sun simulator in the solar-powered car exhibit would really get you your recommended Vitamin D.) But mostly she sticks around the museum and goes out on press junkets. And according to the literature on the Month at the Museum website, she has very limited contact with family and friends. Like, they confiscated her cell phone. Now, last night in the car I became panicked that I was like 4 feet away from my cell phone, so confiscating it for a month would be like OMG, life force removed.

And on that note, I am going to end my museum recap. Happy Sunday, everyone!