Illinois museums

While driving thru Illinois, I searched for a place where we could stretch our legs and Asher could fish. I found two museums in Rockford which share a good-sized parking lot along the Rock River! Perfect! Our first stop was the Burpee Museum of Natural History where we stood face to face with the cast) fossilized skull of a Dunkleosteus! (Pictured above and below.) These prehistoric fish were somewhere between 16-27ft long and with jaws like a snapping turtle, their bite force was likely on par with giant crocodiles! Remains were first discovered in Ohio's Lake Erie shore in 1867. As massive as these are, consider it's size was estimated to be 1-4 tons, while a megalodon was 65 tons!

Next we met Jane, a juvenile Tyrannosaurus Rex, rebuilt with bones found in Montana. We learned you can tell the age of a dinosaur much like a tree. When you look at a slice of bone under a microscope, you can count the growth rings. It turns out Jane was around 11 years old when she died.

Their skull collection was impressive. It's amazing to see the armor these beasts wore.

Here we saw the comparison between prehistoric species and their modern-day ancestors. From left to right, see the white skulls of today's Black Bear, Cougar and Gray Wolf compared to the Short-Faced Bear, Smilodon, and Dire Wolf!

This area was my favorite part. There were live animals and deceased specimens to check out. 

Insects and nests

Next door is the Discovery Center, which is also part of our ASTC membership. We spent time learning about our bodies and organs, participating in challenges and testing our athletic abilities.

Asher went thru a really crazy growth spurt while we were in the center!

Afterwards Asher was able to throw a line in to fish in Illinois' Rock River.

Lake County Museum, Wauconda, Illinois

One of my MOM friends, Liz, along with her husband and kids, met us at the Lake County Museum in Wauconda. Her twin boys, Camden and Dean, were due the same month as mine.  Even though we've been interacting online since we were pregnant (over 4 years ago), it's the first time I've met her family and only the second time I've seen her in person. She came out to Vegas a couple years ago for our wild and crazy MOM getaway. It was really nice meeting her husband, twins and new baby, Milo.

This is a small museum with a gallery of Presidential photos that were very intriguing regardless of your political affiliations. It also holds a display explaining the history of the postcard as well as an archive holding, I believe, millions of postcards. The most interesting part for me was learning about Curt Teich, a German immigrant who came to America and started his own post card business. He took a train from Chicago and headed west, stopping to photograph each of the different towns along the way and sell his prints as postcards to the local shops. He sold packs of 1000 cards for $1. He sold $30,000 worth in just 90 days! The shops then sold those cards for 1 penny each and the cost to mail them in 1905? Just one more penny!

They found the playroom:

The museum is surrounded by lakes and nature trails which makes it extra fun when you explore outside after seeing the indoor exhibits.

The boys ended up throwing stones in the lake, of course. 

 Afterwards we enjoyed lunch at Lindy's Landing at a table ON the beach! So fun and perfect for the kids to play instead of having to sit thru the whole lunch.

Then it was time to say goodbye to their new friends, with hugs.