Get ready for Part IV of our cross country road trip recap: Illinois!
In May 2012, we drove 3,815 miles through 12 states, coast to coast. Our route took us through New York, Ontario in Canada, Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, to Portland, Oregon. Check out the route:
Hey guess what? This blog on Illinois is only about one thing in one city. But it was one of the highlights of our trip so it gets its own blog.
In September 2011 John and I heard that the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry would be hosting a Mythbusters Exhibit. We had already started planning our road trip so the exhibit immediately went on our itinerary. As our planning went on we realized we’d only be able to stop in Chicago for the exhibit and that was it. We were sad because we love Chicago but we know we’ll be back.
The Mythbusters Exhibit combined the show’s trademark extreme science approach with hands on interactive displays. The demonstrations were awesome and let you test the myths live like they do on the show. Experiments covered topics such as flight, friction, gravity, speed, and combustion.
Here are some of the best displays:
Tablecloth Chaos (where you set a table and try to pull the tablecloth out from under the dishes without moving anything)
Cliffhanger (where you see how long you can hold on to the ledge of a building)
Dodge A Bullet (a high speed camera measures your reaction time when trying to dodge a bullet)
My favorite part of the exhibit were all the props from the show. The main room of the exhibit is filled with gadgets, props, and, of course, blueprints used on Mythbusters.
Christmas tree lights test and duct tape canoe!
Arrow machine gun and phone book torn in two!
So cool.
Afterward we walked around the rest of the museum for about an hour. It’s such a great museum, you could easily spend an entire day or two in here.
When we were finished at the museum we said goodbye to Chicago and headed to Wisconsin.
Stay tuned for Part V – Wisconsin!
Domestocrat 
What a great post! First of all, I love the road trip. So many people forget about the beauty and awesome places to see in the US. Secondly, Chicago is one of my favorite cities. Lastly, it looks like you guys had a blast and I appreciate the personal touch! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much for commenting! We are now die hard road trippers, it really does get in your blood. I love Chicago too, I cannot wait to go back! Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the rest!!!
Great photos of what looks like a great trip to Illinois! I’d love to take a road trip someday to visit the museum. It looks like it was a lot of fun!
We did a lot of other stuff on the trip but the museum was definitely a highlight!!