Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (and Tanks and Rockets)

Although this trip barely involved an airplane, it was aerospace related so it just barely qualifies as blog-worthy.  Brenda had taken Owen to Fort Wayne for the weekend in a strategy designed to give each of our twin boys some alone time with a parent.   Since Elliot is a big fan of Buzz Lightyear, Star Wars and other space related toys, I decided to take him to a children’s planetarium show at the Cernan Space Center at Triton College.  However, the museum doesn’t open until 1:30pm on Sundays so we had to find a way to spend the morning.  The previous weekend, I had taken Owen up in the Cessna to see his school from the air and meet Cactus the airport cat at Cushing Field, so I felt I owed Elliot a trip, too.  Unfortunately, it was a bit bumpy so our flight lasted a scant ten minutes. Still, we had a great breakfast at the airport restaurant and Elliot thought the airplane fueling process was absolutely riveting.

Elliot in the right seat of 5492B

On the way home from Clow airport we had to wait at the railroad crossing through downtown Wheaton.  When the train finally crossed in front of us, it had three ore cars being pushed by an engine, and a caboose in front.  Although trains go by our house all the time seeing a caboose is quite a rarity.  Elliot actually managed to get a picture as we paralleled the train on College Avenue and I tried match speeds.  I was impressed, since my picture didn’t even get the caboose in frame.

Elliot's photo of  a caboose - a rare sight these days

After killing some time at home, we left for the museum. On the way down North Avenue we passed a tank that was ignominiously being used to advertise non-alcoholic beer.  It appeared to be an M-46 or M-47 Patton based on the small roller between the drive sprocket and the rearmost road-wheel.  Shortly thereafter, we arrived at the Cernan Space Center.

Gen. Patton would be rolling over in his grave if he knew his namesake tank was advertising non-alcoholic beer

The Cernan Science Center, named after the astronaut Gene Cernan who flew in the Gemini program as well as Apollo 10 and 17 and grew up in the area, is located on 5^th avenue just north of North Avenue.  Although the space center is part of Triton College, it is easy to spot by the outside exhibits.  The center’s outside display consists of a small rocket and a mock-up of an Apollo capsule use to train helicopter pilots for recovery missions.

Elliot in front of the capsule used for recovery training

 The inside of the science center has a few exhibits, the most impressive of which is an Apollo 10 spacesuit. There is also a display case with a variety of fossils, but not much else.  Almost out of sight above eye level, is a narrow yet wide poster of showing dinosaurs from various eras.   While the small version was unimpressive, it was exciting for us to see because we had been seen the sprawling, imagination firing,  original which graces the Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, CT.  If you are planning to visit the center, I wouldn’t count on spending much time seeing the displays.   There is, however, a pretty well stocked gift shop with a good selection of science related gifts.  It also happens to be a great place to pick up some freeze-dried ice cream to eat before the planetarium show if you have to keep a five year occupied.

An Apollo X space suit

The planetarium show, a story about the moon, was not exactly riveting even for the target audience.  Although the show was written for children in 1^st grade, I could tell Elliot was not the only kid who had mentally checked out of this activity.  To his credit, he did sit through the entire presentation and make it to the laser show, a cartoon projected on the planetarium dome telling the story of Perseus and Andromeda.  Despite my lackluster impression of this particular set of presentations, I have not written off the Cernan Space Center at all.  The Zeiss projector beamed a great view of the constellations on the domed ceiling, which unfortunately happened to be completely irrelevant to that day’s presentation.  In fact, I pretty much ignored the presentation about the moon and just zoned out and relaxed as I watched the Pleiades, Taurus, Orion, Leo, and Pegasus wheel overhead.  I will definitely be bringing the boys back, since the Cernan Space Center is much more convenient alternative to the Adler Planetarium in Chicago.