I Love Exploring Museums

When I was a little kid (and things were much cheaper than they are now) we had a lot of field trips. Mostly, they were to famous buildings or museums, where we brown-bagged a lunch of some kind and bought a small carton of white or chocolate milk in a milk machine in the lobby.

That was the advantage to going to a public school in Chicago. There was the Adler Planitarium. The Chicago Art Museum. The Museum of Science and Industry. The dioramas displaying Chicagoland history (including the Chicago Fire of 1871) in an unnamed building behind the Lincoln Park Zoo. There are others that have sprung up since my early school days.

But we don't have field trips these days anymore. Which is very sad. I realize things have changed, and not for the better. We were allowed to bring cameras and take pictures, the flash bulbs going off like visits of celebrities all over the place. Teachers (and some mother chaperones) were nearby, but they didn't have to worry about any of the kids getting robbed or accidentally shot in the head like they are today. We were allowed to explore the stores and stands and buy things. And the adults always took head counts going out and coming back.

It was a fun time, every one of these trips. I loved them all and wish I had the time,money, or transportation to go back - and take a child or two with me to see these things again - and maybe introduce my companions to those places I once experienced and loved.