Today we braved (I felt light headed and nauseous from worry the entire drive) the snow and drove to the Chicago Botanic Garden to see the Wonderland Express.
A designer and crew was hired to build an elaborate backdrop for model trains to run through. The first room contained four beautiful Christmas trees and two towns made from candy and gingerbread which Holiday themed trains ran through.
The next, large atrium was just spectacular. I'm not sure why we didn't take more pictures. But the backdrops were all Chicago landmark buildings and structures made from all natural materials, wood, nut shells, dried leaves, etc... Many live plants were added to fill in the landscaping. The most amazing was all of the skyscrapers near Michigan Avenue and Navy Pier. Through all of these landscapes, miniature trains ran. Oh, and I must not forget... the best part of all. There were snow machines in the atrium. So it would snow on the whole scene, and you, every once in a while.
In the last hallway, yet another naturally landscaped and built train scene was set up with landmarks from near northern suburbs.
There was also a room showing a looping film of the making of the exhibit, including a snipet from a PBS show narated by Jason's former improv teacher, Geoffrey Baer. The library had a cute exhibit of figures from childrens books, which were made of felt. And yet another area had a little cafe, gift shop and area for kid's activities. The kids (and maybe us) made "tree jewelry" for the birds to eat outside as well as paper snowflakes. The third generation of kids at the holiday party we are going to on Christmas may or may not be getting all train themed gifts. Hee hee.
It was a scary drive (for me), and Jason drove not me, but ended up being a good family event.
1 ripples:
Sounds and looks like a fun family outing. When I drove home from work, I was surprised how clear most of the roads were. Thankfully, people were driving safely, so my commute wound up being very easy.
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