Thinking About A Trip II

I decided to take the midnight flight out of Portland (really 12:30 a.m. on Wed. July 22) to Minneapolis/St. Paul. I can get two hours of sleep in the 3 1/2 hour flight. Then, after a 90-minute layover in the Twin Cities, I flew to Chicago, sleeping the entire way. Thus, upon arrival in Chicago about 8:50 a.m., I had at least three or so hours of sleep. It would be enough to carry me through most of the day. I took the Blue Line from O'Hare to Lake Street (Loop), walked about four blocks to the Enterprise car rental near Millennium Park, and got a car for a week. I was off by 10:15, and then I drove out to my motel in St. Charles, IL. After a little nap, I showed up at the conference hotel. They had "preconference" seminars going on, so after checking in, talking to a few people and looking around, I retreated to my motel. It was only 3:00 p.m. I had a reception at 7:00 p.m., so I had nearly three or so hours to explore. I made my first visit to the Morton, about 15 miles from where I was staying. It was a great time.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday a.m. were taken up at the conference. Of special interest to me was a townhall meeting of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Council (IACC) Services Subcommittee. The IACC was appointed in the wake of passage of the Combating Autism Act of 2006 to recommend ways to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on autism research and services. I write about my reactions to their work here and here.

I broke away Thursday afternoon about 5:30, and headed back to my place, stopping at a local nursery in St. Charles to see what they had. I learned (wrote down) about 15 species of plants and trees, from a tamarisk to a papyrus plant, and then happily retreated home to look them up in the evening. This pattern continued Friday, though Friday night I visited Lowe's near my motel, to do the same investigation of plants. They had many prairie grasses there, as well as some more exotic tropical plants than I would have expected (a Curcuma and an Anigozanthus). I attended the "medical track" Saturday morning, chaired by the incomparably insightful Dr. Martha Herbert, but decided by late morning that I wanted to "move on." So, I did.

Saturday, July 25 saw two significant activities--visiting the Lederman Visitors Center at the Fermi Lab (about 12:00-2:30), and then visiting the Billy Graham Center Museum in Wheaton (about 3:00 - 5:00). The former included a prairie walk, where the lab folk had restored a prairie (seemingly a popular activity now in the Midwest) and the latter included both a brief walk around Wheaton College as well as a visit to a nursery in the town. There I saw some attractive servicberry trees, as well a jacob's ladder, forget-me-not and various kinds of allium. A quick drive through Naperville to a historic home district in Aurora (the Tanner District) and a return to St. Charles took the rest of the day. I also took a quick trip back to the nursery in St. Charles I visited the 23rd (they don't "lock up" a lot of the plants), thus giving me a chance to look more closely at Juncus effusus, smoky fennel, and the Viburnum trilobum (compact American cranberry). Study and looking at pictures took the rest of the night

On Sunday, July 26 I headed to church at Fourth Presbyterian Chicag at about 8:15 a.m. I was going to attend the Bible Study at 9:30, but I decided instead to go to worship at that hour. The sermon wasn't particularly good, and so I decided I needed to exposit the text better than he had. After chatting for a moment at coffee hour, I headed to the library, where I wrote two essays (out of the three) on the David and Bathsheba story. Then, at about noon, I headed off to Hyde Park for my 2:00 p.m. tour of the Robie House. I made it there in time to take the 1:00 tour, after which I visited the Rockefeller Chapel and stopped in at the Oriental Institute, where they were showing a film on ancient Mari. Maybe I will write on that latter subject, soon, since knowledge of Mari isn't very widespread in our culture. I kept moving because I wanted to make the Boerner Botanical Garden in Milwaukee by 5:00 p.m. A drive from Hyde Park through a the "South Side" to get to I-90/94 was eye-opening, but I managed to make it up to Milwaukee by about 5:30. The Boerner isn't that large, but it is precious. I will have to write about what I saw. Then, I left Boerner about 7:15, drove to Madison, arriving there about 8:30, and ate and studied for the night. I finished up my David and Bathsheba essays and posted them.

Monday, July 27 saw me visiting the Olbrich Gardens bright and early. I probably should have stayed around after the Conservatory opened at 10 in order to visit it, but by the time I worked my way through the outside gardens, stopping along the way to ask questions about plants of helpful tenders, to return to the Conservatory, there was a line of about 100 screaming kids and mothers (most of the mothers were calm, however..). I decided to head down to the University, where I visited the Allen Gardens, and then, the Arboretum. I still had a long drive in front of me, so I got on the road by 5:00 or so, heading down towards Downers Grove IL for my Monday night lodging. I took the "back roads," wending through SE Wisconsin and northern IL, arriving about 8:00 or so at my motel. Studying and more writing took up the rest of the night, until about midnight or longer.

On Tuesday the 28th I headed out bright and early to the Morton, since I had "divided" my visit into three parts and wanted to get started. By 1:45 p.m. I had done enough of the Morton. I had written down so many things that my head and plate were full for a while. Then, however, I drove down to the western part of Chicago to visit the very valuable Garfield Park Conservatory. Helpful staff explained a few things about the amazing tropical trees/plants that were on display. Truly a humbling experience--to see hundreds of kinds of ferns and know that I was largely a "fernner" to ferns. I made a sort of mental vow at the time that I would, in order not to embarrass myself, have to learn "50 types" of everything, from Hostas to Hydrangeas to Ferns to Grasses to Oak trees, etc. I made that vow in the Conservatory. Then, it was on to a drive through Oak Park to see the Frank Lloyd Wright home and studio (no time to visit) and up to my lodging north of Chicago. I was going to visit the Chicago Botanical Garden in evening, but time didn't permit.

I arose early on Wednesday, July 29, driving into downtown, returning the car, catching the Blue Line to O'Hare, flying to Minneapolis, where I wrote three humorous essays on what I saw there, and then flying back to OR. On the return flight I memorized the 16 particles, and their dates, in the Standard Model of fundamental particles. Much more to be learned on that one, to be sure.

Conclusion

I arrived home Wednesday night to 104 degree weather. But I was refreshed and energized. Thursday July 30 was my girlfriend's birthday, and so I took her to the "Abbey Bach Festival," at Mount Angel Abbey. Music was the perfect exclamation point to a wonderful week...

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