I know this will be sacrilege to you Tim, but I can take or leave a Natural History Museum. I would like it very much, but, if there is a zoo to see, the dullest zoo would probably win out over the best museum - unless there were live animals on display, in which case it would become a whole other thing!
I've seen reference to the big crowds at Shedd elsewhere. As someone who subscribes to Jean-Paul Sartre's view that hell is other people, this is one thing that puts me off, a little. Are there any days that are better than others? Would a Sunday likely be less or more busy?
Depending on what days your going to be in Chicago, Sundays could work though going on a weekday would be how I go about it. Either way, I highly encourage you to get there early. Buying your tickets online gets you priority entry, so that is also recommended. As long as you get there before opening with your tickets in hand/phone then you should be fine.
If it were necessary to choose between the two then I, too, would much rather see live animals in a zoo than dead ones in a museum. However, given the opportunity, I would prefer to do both. I would be reluctant to miss a great natural history museum like the Field Museum so, since it is close to the Shedd Aquarium (my all time favourite aquarium incidentally), I would visit both on the same day.
Day #1 Please forgive brevity, and any typos – this is being written on my phone, and I’ve been up for what seems like about a week and a half. Indianapolis Zoo Having landed in Chicago, made it through the traffic, and driven a reasonable distance, this was a perfect sized zoo to see. Two hours was enough, really. It’s an interesting place, totally unlike anything in the UK: it’s all immaculate, and really rather nicely done (I didn’t even object to the rollercoaster as much as I thought I would). But it’s possibly all a little dull – even with a collection that includes walrus, dolphins, and – well, that’s it really. Most of the rest of the mammals (and there aren’t very many of them – it can’t go above 25 species I would have thought), even if really interesting, is pretty unremarkable. The African area is nicely done, but nothing revolutionary. The orangutan enclosure is truly bizarre (but, as an indoor house, I’ve seen a great number worse). The birds collection is really tiny. The reptile collection a little larger, but mostly seen in the desert house which looks as if it might once have been a bit more interesting than it is now. All in all, a nice way to start things – but I’m hoping, and expecting it, that the zoos of Ohio will be a great deal more interesting. Unlike my friend @snowleopard, I couldn’t possibly countenance sleeping in my car. My attitude towards hotels, certainly on a trip like this, is the same as my attitude towards wine in the supermarket: find the cheapest one, and then go for the next one up. What luxury! Other observations from half a day in the USA: Billboard advertisements for dodgy-sounding lawyers are everywhere – I thought that Better Call Saul was an exaggeration, but I don’t think it is. Driving from Chicago to Indianapolis to the outskirts of Cincinnati presented some surprisingly attractive countryside. I had expected it to all be a great deal more industrial, but instead it feels a bit like rural East Anglia. World Cup fever does not appear to have hit the country. If any Americans reading this can tell me where I might be able to watch highlights of World Cup games, I would be very grateful for the confirmation!
Great post! Very exciting stuff! I’m fairly certain you can find highlights on YouTube. I hope you’ve seen the highlights of today’s games, I won’t spoil it in case you haven’t seen them, but 2 exhilarating matches.
What did you think of the Long Tailed Macaque exhibit? Did you also see the Oceans area with the aquariums/neat penguin exhibit?(Personally, I think they should get out of the bear business, send their brown bears away and convert that area into a gorilla exhibit.)
Indy Zoo in 2 hours must be a record for you, if one considers that a year ago you spent 3 full days, from open to close, at the mighty San Diego Zoo. Of course San Diego doesn't have the 'Red Ape Rocketship' to grace its skyline.... You didn't want to toss a full mattress into the back of a minivan? That's the way to travel, my friend! I saved $1,500 on last year's California trek just by spending 75% of the nights in the family van, but then again I do go on fairly lengthy journeys. Crazy, isn't it? Billboards everywhere!
Thanks. This is, indeed, what I have had to rely on. I never thought I would miss the insightful punditry of Rio Ferdinand quite so much! Yes, I thought the macaque exhibit was rather nice. In common with a number of enclosures at zoo, however, it suffered from scratchy/dirty glass, which was exacerbated by it being a very sunny day. Photography was all but impossible. Penguins: fine, but, again, visibility compromised. I would agree about the bear enclosure – the worst thing at the zoo, by some distance. Very barren. I’m not sure that Indianapolis and San Diego can really be mentioned in the same breath – I was genuinely surprised at just how small Indianapolis is. Nice, certainly, but really small. And they’re so incongruous! As I drove through the verdant farmland yesterday, the three that caught my eye were for a firework supermarket (!), an “adult“ superstore (what every farming community requires), and, of course, a gun shop (I think that’s what it was at least). ... And after a very hot day, I would have gladly paid the $1500 that @snowleopard saved last summer simply to have the shower that I enjoyed in my motel room! Worth every cent.
One of the real highlights of a solo road trip is being able to listen to the music of your own choice, without needing to take account of the (almost certainly very dodgy) taste of any fellow travellers. Yesterday, I had the pleasure of driving past the town of Wanamaker, just outside Indianapolis, just as I was listening to the brilliant, and heavily bearded, Otis Gibbs, son of that town. Today’s album of choice - already lined up - is Joan Baez’s new one - it seems right for Ohio, somehow....
If an international event is happening and the United States is not participating, is it really happening at all? I’m guessing you will be in Columbus, perhaps, by tomorrow? There’s a major league soccer (not football) team there so I imagine there’s at least some interest. Find a sport (not sports) bar in the city, and ask them to put it on at least one screen if it isn’t already. 2PM Ohio time. I see no reason why you should miss out on savouring England’s ignominious defeat along with the rest of us.
Day #2 Apologies - I have just been watching highlights of the Belgium Japan game, and the excitement might be too much for me! Cincinnati Zoo What a fantastic zoo! If Indianapolis was a little bit underwhelming yesterday, this place made up for it. Not perfect, of course. In many areas (dodgy elephant accommodation, tiny indoor enclosures for small cats, fairly poor reptile house, and the rather sad sight of “wildlife canyon“ looking rather bereft of animals) a long long way from perfect. But, so much to love here. Lots of character in the place, thanks to all the old buildings, or remnants of old buildings. Beautiful grounds, some stunning displays (even those dodgy small cat displays are part of a genuinely exciting house, and then there is very impressive gorilla accommodation, a very good hippo pool, the outstanding invertebrate house, and, possibly my favourite thing – the birdhouse, which I thought was tremendous). And a really lovely atmosphere in the zoo as well. The whole place just feels as zoo should feel. So, I loved it!l
Billboard of the day Several contenders here, all with a religious theme. I particularly appreciated having the ten commandments (on two separate billboards) somewhere outside Cincinnati. And I noted the implicit homophobia of a series of billboards advising that marriage was between “a man and a woman“. But I think my favourite was the bald proclamation: “Hell is real“. Well that’s okay then.
Random observations of America of the day The politeness of Americans never ceases to amaze me, and also thrill me. I’m sure that our American friends might disagree, and point out that their countrymen and women are capable of rudeness every bit as much as their counterparts in Europe, but it really does seem, as a visitor, that 99% of people here are exceptionally polite and well mannered. Which is what Makes the extraordinary ill manners of the president so hard to understand. Those who assuage their own feelings of inadequacy by commenting inaccurately on the inadequacy of American television are clearly woefully incorrect – if American TV is so bad, why is it that every show worth watching, pretty much, comes from America? But watching 20 minutes of the local TV news, while getting dressed in the morning, was quite an education. This appears to be a country obsessed by weather reports, traffic reports, and stories of puppies being rescued by the Fire service. Wonderful! Mind you, that obsession with the weather is understandable. At the moment it is extraordinarily hot and humid, and then, out of nowhere, just as I was looking to see if there were indeed Thomson’s gazelles in the African exhibit at Cincinnati (I didn’t see them if there were – although I did see and roll my eyes at the large number of birds mutilated in order to keep them within the exhibit) the heavens opened and rain of the Oh-my-God-we-are-all-going-to-be-washed-away variety suddenly appeared for 15 minutes, by the end of which my hiking boots - which have withstood an English winter – were soaking wet inside .
Interesting review, I’ve heard lots of comments on Cincinnati, some good and some bad, so it’s interesting to hear that you loved. What do you think was the most interesting animal house, historically and architectural speaking? About the soccer p) game, what a splendid match! I don’t have a true favourite team (Canada isn’t in the Cup), but I was rooting for Belgium, although I admire the Japanese team and couldn’t help but root for them at the end.
But I’ve not come halfway around the world to sit in a bar listening to Tony Meola and Cobi Jones offer completely banal comments on England’s stuttering 1-0 victory against Columbia. I’ll just have to wait for the quarter-final, and enjoy that properly when back in England. And watch your colonial cheekiness about England’s sporting giants, young man! I didn’t see Australia rampaging through the group stages with free flowing football and attacking integrity...
The birdhouse is fantastic. Quite old-fashioned, and not enormous, but several really lovely displays – a walk in South American enclosure, and a walk in Australian/Southeast Asia thing as well. And then a few nice Avery’s as well. Really pretty simple, but well done. And how can anybody not be impressed by a zoo with five penguin species, and two puffin species as well (rise say nothing of four gibbon species as well!). The invertebrates house is fantastic as well, although, sadly, some of its integrity is lost by the inclusion of half a dozen reptile displays in there as well. Why? Focus on what it is there for!
Cincy Zoo helped invent the modern invertebrate house. My understanding is that reptile exhibits have been part of it since the beginning to emphasize the importance of invertebrates as the foundation of food webs and ecosystems.
