Shedd Aquarium

Two of the aquarium entrances.

J.G. Shedd wanted to give the city of Chicago a gift and wanted it to be the best of all the major cities in Europe and the United States that had aquariums. He donated the money and selected the architects and the project began in the 1920’s for educational and scientific purposes. However he never saw it open as he passed away before the project was complete.

He came to Chicago as a young man from New England and started as a stock boy in the company that would become Marshall Field & Company and became the president of the company.  His business colleagues became the board of directors and carried out his vision for this project. This is now part of the Museum Campus on the Chicago Lakefront and welcomes millions of visitors from all over the world.

The aquarium has grown and evolved over the years to educate and inspire people about conservation and protection of the Earth’s water systems.  Today with the quarantine due to Covid-19, the penguins are helping in advertising reminding us all how to stay safe.

The aquarium houses fish and plants from all over the world in very natural settings.  It also contains information and species from the mid-west as a part of the ongoing educational programs.  The day I visited (before the quarantine) they had exhibits set up where you could touch the back of a sturgeon as they swam in the water. Also another area where you touched a very large starfish.

 

While this was not my first trip here, as in the past, I saw new things and learned more about what the Shedd is doing to educate us about how fragile the natural resources in the world are.  When you visit I hope you leave understanding a little bit more about what we can do to protect the natural world.

This is currently closed to all visitors but they have online resources available to all.  I am only sharing a few photos from this visit and will have more information and photos to follow.  When travel returns this is a great location to add to your list of places to visit for travelers of all ages.

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Challenge #10 My Sailboat

This challenge comes from a small writing group.  We have a series of questions that we answer and share.  The goal is to answer at least one per week.

Question:

You have just bought a sailboat, and you have to name it.  What would you name your boat? Where is the first place you would sail to?

 

Our family had a sailboat when I was a small ( 8 or 9 y.o.) child, it was a 2 person boat that was named for our family by using the last name.  It was red with yellow sails and was a beauty.

We vacationed every summer on a lake in north east Wisconsin.  This was a good sized lake and it is 2 miles wide and 4 miles long the deepest part is about 50 feet deep.  There are at least 7 or 8 species of fish in the lake due to the diversity on the lake.  Our boat was stored there and we used it for 2 weeks every year.  We had been going to the same place for several years before the sailboat and about 3 or 4 years after we had it.  Lots of time was spent on the lake either in a boat not just in the water, great deal of swimming, fishing and water skiing and sailing.

After a few years my parents purchased a small tree farm in Central Wisconsin and that is where we vacationed after that.  The sailboat was left with the owners of the resort who were cousins and they enjoyed it for a few years after that.

In today’s world my first thing is to think about what I would name the new sailboat.  As a child I knew what I was going to name the horse I would one day own (that’s not happening).  I like the idea of naming it after me so maybe “Kathy’s Folly”, or “Kathy’s  Keep”, or simply “Kathy’s”.

Now that I have a name for my new sailboat, where will I go.  Since I am not a strong swimmer it will not be on one of the Great Lakes or into any ocean.  I would be very content to find a nearby lake, maybe the size of my childhood vacation lake.   I  have fond memories of hanging out on the lake for hours fishing or just sailing back and forth across the lake.

I can see it now, sailing around in Kathy’s Folly on Perch Lake or Silver Lake there goes Kathy70 drifting along with the breeze doing nothing all day.  Works for me.