southie3

I finally booked my trip to Boston for October 2007. I love everything historical and I cant wait to go. October cant get here soon enough!

I am in love with nature! And this is one of nature’s amazing wonders. You have to go down in the falls and take the boat tour. If youre lucky, you might even see a rainbow actually in the falls.

There isnt much else to do so dont plan on a week’s vacation. The nightlife is limited to dive bars and the casino in Canada.Can someone tell me what their obsession with horror houses and creepy scarry stuff is all about? They have a wax musuem of famous serial killers and a bunch of haunted houses all within a 4 block radius.

My idiot boyfriend at the time and I drove up from Phoenix and as we came closer to the Canyon we got into a fight. I was trapped in a car with a moron. My vacation was ruined. As soon as we got out of car and I got my first look, that fight didn’t matter anymore. I was swept off my feet by the beauty of the Canyon. I took 4 rolls of film and we weren’t even there 24 hours. My only advise is to take the advise on the signs seriously if you plan on walking around in the Canyon. The altitude can have adverse effects on even the healthiest of people.

House on the Rock blew my mind. It is one of those things that is hard to describe. Many many years ago this man started these crazy collections in his house which eventually morphed into addition after addition of rooms to house his collections. This guy was a total nut! In addition to crazy collections there are orchestras where the instruments play by themselves (guided by wires of course)and the infinity room is something to see… I highly recomending taking a trip up there.

Teen Chicago

The Teen Chicago exhibit at the Chicago Historical Society is a wonderful interactive experience for all generations. The mission of this exhibit, as indicated by the wall placard near the entrance, is to pay serious attention to the history of teens across the 20th century and help us understand the complexities and joys of growing up in Chicago. Representing the city’s rich diversity is a 15 member Teen council, trained by Chicago Historical Society staff, interviewed over 100 people from many generations and different backgrounds to create this exciting exhibit. It is educational and the eye-popping displays keep visitors interested from beginning to end.

Just about every other display which pinpoints different teen topics such as working and family life or the history of a teenager’s bedroom has a video screen. Some video screens have just a start button where you can hear and see timeless video clips telling of days gone by. As I always look for and remember most the funnier side of things, the informational video that stood out was all about Social Guidance Films. According to the video, these films started in the 1940’s and as America realized that teenage problems were no longer easily fixed in a cheesy 20 minute video staring Darin #1 (a young Dick York), they were phased out in the 1970’s. Chicago public schools had the largest collection of Social Guidance Films in the country.

Other video stations give visitors the choice of hearing from several different people from different generations discussing the same topic. You can hear from a 1930’s teen, a 1950’s teen or a 1960’s teen talk about how their generation spent their money. You could hear a 1930’s teen tell how family life was back in his day and then hear a low income family 2000’s teen tell practically the same story. It seems that low income families are living now how most families lived 70 years ago; in a crowded apartment making many sacrifices.

Visitors can learn things about their parents and even grandparents high school days. Older visitors might learn thing about their kids they didn’t even want to know. It is a great way to bring generations closer.

The teen council who put this exhibit together did a fantastic job at gathering “artifacts”, if you will, for the individual displays. Items such as report cards, autograph books, a graduation cap and gown, a zoot suit or family pictures and other items that commemorate the past really brought to life things I might have already known but had never given much thought to.

The feminist in me took great interest in the display showing the difference in boys and girls education with a focus on the 1940’s. In the 1940’s, Lucy Flowers was one of many all girls technical high schools. Girls took classes such as hat making, laundering and beauty culture. While girls were learning how to make the home a better place, boys were off learning how to make the world a better place with classes such as auto mechanics and photography and joined programs like the ROTC. Chicago Public Schools first offered Home Economics in 1899 and used these classes to reinforce “proper” gender roles. Boys wore suits to school and girls always wore dresses. I knew that boys and girls did not receive the same education but I never really knew how extreme it was.

As I entered the exhibit, nostalgic tears welled up in my eyes as I watched a large screen displaying a video montage of teenagers across the 1900’s and reminisced about my own tumultuous teenage years. I really got lost in the exhibit as I slowly strolled around from display to display listening to songs from the Breakfast Club soundtrack, Frank Sinatra, and everyone’s old school favorite It’s Time For The Percolator playing in the background.

Teen Chicago is colorful, well laid out and laced with items and quotes that let the visitor know that teens are not all hoodlums and hooligans. We were all teenagers at one point which makes this exhibit relatable to everyone in an entertaining and educational fashion. They have made an impact on Chicago, and this is their story as well as your own.

I’m am going to cry the day they take Marshall Fields away later on this year. New York can keep Macy’s!

Lou’s has the best pizza in the world! Mmmmmmmmmmm!

This was place was great. If you go there at the right time of the year, it is supposed to be a simulation of a functioning town or village. I went in late fall and most of the town was shut down. There was, however, a woman using the weaving loom and a man making candles and each person gave a great information and background of the building that we were in.

This is the saddest place I have ever been. The downtown area is freaky. There are beautiful buildings next to boarded up buildings. A pawn shop with bars on the windows next to a Starbucks. This was not a normal layout. There is nothing going on, its desolate. What happened to the Motor City? I will say that the Motown museum was very cool. We stood inside the actual recording studio where legends have recorded their music. It was pretty cool.

If there was a top 10 list of coolest museums in the country, this would be on it. I love anything that is interactive. You can design a city, walk through a beating heart, check your health, tour a coal mine and so much more. We actually used to cut school and go here back in the day. I might have been missing school but I was still getting an education.