It all started when my youngest daughter Katelyn asked if I would like to do a roadtrip to Minnesota to pick her up from her fiance’s house where she was visiting. Roadtrip to Minnesota? Oh ya I am in. With an addition of a stop in Illinois to see my friend Dave and his girls, Molly and Maggie. This was going to be a fun trip.
Heading over the US border from Canada, I took the Bluewater Bridge from Sarnia, Ontario to Port Huron, Michigan. I like this bridge for a few reasons. It is not usually as busy as the Niagara Border crossings and the Duty Free has a little coffee shop with delicious Butter Tarts. Since I was stopping to see friends I knew I had to pick some up. They do not have Butter Tarts in the US. I know I feel bad for them too, that’s why I always bring some with me.
Crossing the border is always a roll of the dice on what questions they will ask. Pulling up to the kiosk, my passport ready, it was the general questions. Where are you from? Where are you going? It was funny when I told him Minnesota because I am sure most people in RV’s are going South not North. Then I got Why?? Lol. Do you have any food, as in fruit, vegetables or meats? I never bring food with me. My fridge is empty except for the odd can of ice tea. It just makes crossing easier. I guess I answered right because he handed me my passport back and said “Have a great trip”.
On down Highway 69 towards Flint. It was later in the afternoon when I crossed. Highway 69 between the cities of Port Huron and Flint in Michigan is what I call dead deer highway. I have never seen that amount of dead deer along one stretch of highway than this one. I have traveled this stretch many times and always, always make sure I am on one side or the other before dusk.
I stopped at Cracker Barrel in Flint because, well I am in the US and I can. It is one of my most favorite restaurants here.
I parked for the night at Walmart and met 3 other people from Ontario that are full time living an RV Life. They were on their way to Arizona. When they asked were I was going and I told them, they laughed and told me I was going the wrong way. We had a chat and then off down the road we all went.
It was a great drive to my friend Dave’s house. I had told Molly and Maggie I would take them to the Adler Planetarium the next time I came to visit. We planned on Saturday to make the trip to Chicago’s waterfront. I was so looking forward to it as much as they were I am sure.
Saturday proved to be a very windy day. With gusts of up 65 mph Chicago was proving itself as the Windy City. We parked at the Sharaton Hotel where my friend works and caught a cab to the Adler Planetarium.
When you walk in, there are blue walls leading you to an auditorium where we would watch a show later in the day. The main floor had planets hanging everywhere with story boards telling you about each planet. It was interesting to see the size differences from earth. They also had meteorites that you could touch. One exhibit let you see how a meteorite hitting earth would impact. It made me jump and I knew it was coming. It was very interactive.
I loved the Mars Rover they had on display. This full scale model is of the Mars Rover that landed on Mars February 18, 2021. It will gather samples, looking for “ancient fossilized micobial life” on this desolate planet. As it gathers, it will put it into tubes and leave it in a designated spot for a future mission to Mars to pick up and bring back to earth for further study. It is a cool looking machine.
On another floor was the history of telescopes and gadgets they used to see the stars. This telescope from the 1650’s is an example of the length of these devices. They discovered that if you increased the size of the length and reduced the curve of the lense, they could reduce the halos that they would see with the other, shorter telescopes. This one was 20 feet long. You could see Saturn! Lol
There are five different shows you can see. The theater is a domed theater. You sit back in your chair and looked up to the sky above. It was very cool. The movie we chose was Planet Nine. It was all about looking for the real ninth planet in our solar system. With the technology that is used today they can see farther and farther into space. They have discovered many other planets with strange orbits and even a planet that is egg shaped. It was very interesting to see what they had found and the equipment they used to find it.
It was a very interesting and fun day and I am so glad I got to share that with Molly and Maggie.
Tuesday I leave for Minnesota and my next adventure. Thanks for coming along on this Chipmunk Adventure.
See you next week
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