I will say now…Well done Chicago, well done.
They had a Coal Mine Experience. We signed up and climbed up several flights of stairs where we were greeted by Miner Sophia. Since there was just two of us so we got the personal tour and a one on one experience. Brilliant! We were taken 600 feet underground in the dark on an open elevator where we had to hold on to suspended chains so we would not fall off.
Once in the mine we learned of the many hazards that face miners on a daily basis. We experimented with methane gas, learned about canaries in coal mines and discovered that the mine in the museum has been there since 1933. We learned about several types of equipment used as well as how the phrase “don’t yank my chain” came about. Coal miners carried a small length of chain with them for a very unique purpose…
The portable potty that was used in the levels of the mine was a wagon on wheels on a track so it and the waste could be moved out of the mine when it was full. A common practical joke was to unlock the break and push (to use a phrase my father used from his military flying days) the "honey pot" down the track while someone was sitting on it. Because of this possible very messy incident miners carried a length of chain to lay in front of one of the wheels to act as a brake in case someone decided to pull this prank. Creating the phrase, "Don't yank my chain?"
The original tour guides for the mines at the Museum were the miners who were out of jobs when the original mine shut down.
There we were minding our own business looking at a display on chemical elements when we were approached by a student from Chicago University and asked if we wanted the chance to get a piece of candy. Sure! Off we were ushered with another man and his daughter (she decided to observe not participate) into a room where a camera was set up and another student then took charge. We randomly chose to be a worker or a manager. I proceeded to act like myself (which could be an experiment in observation by itself) and asked questions, challenged authority, attempted to create a bond with my more serious co-worker who seemed to lack a sense of humor but not adventure. It was a timed 3 minute experiment and before I knew it we were done, given a questionnaire and won not only a piece of candy but also a pen. I guess that makes me a cheap lab rat to maintain.
Farther into this adventure we entered a capsule and were whisked off like a speck of dust and hurled into the middle of a tornado. I am now very over tornadoes. It was like a crazy amusement park ride. We were slammed into an airborne truck, whacked by a whirling telephone pole, tossed through a barn, smashed into a windmill that disintegrated as we connected with it. Flung into space where we passed though some aurora borealis, a huge airplane and gazed into space.
We decided on a more sedate activity after that and wandered into a forest of human bodies all dissected into layers. A life size view of human nerves, and in case you want to know we look like a tree with roots and branches. Our veins are formed all over us like we are covered in mesh netting.
Yes like the hairnets worn by lunch ladies. Wish I could get these images out of my head now.
The next thing I know we are face to face with a very large Tesla Coil, a 20 foot suspended coil and rings to be exact, and a timer giving us a countdown to a 1.5 million volt electrical discharge. We sat down and looked up waiting. The electrical arc crosses from the coil 10 feet to the waiting rings. There was a hiss in the air, a loud buzzing and a long zapping sound as the lighting bounced around the coil.
AMAZING!!!!!
Again, Well done Chicago.
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