One of the family traditions my wife and I have tried to establish is the “trip for 9-year-olds.” Here’s the way it works. When a grandchild reaches the age of nine, Becky and I will escort him or her on a trip to a large city.  This journey will be fun, educational, and ultimately memorable. Becky and I believe that nine years is the best age for this trip. By then, children are able to take care of their basic needs. They’ve been to school for a few years and know how to interact with both their peers and adults. Yet, nine-year-olds can still look at the world with both wonder and amazement. Moreover, they aren’t burdened by the assumptions and prejudices that often cloud the thinking of adults. For Naomi Yensel, who turned 9 in April, and her cousin Evelyn Welsh, who is actually ten, the time was perfect for a trip to Chicago.

The trip began on Friday, May 28, with seven hours of driving through heavy rain and numerous construction sites, ending at the Drake Hotel just off Michigan Avenue.  Because the hotel couldn’t give us a single room with two king-size beds as we requested, they gave us two adjoining rooms, each with a king-size bed.  After settling in, all of us went straight to bed, even though we gained an hour when we passed into the Central Time Zone.  On Saturday, we started things off with a visit to the Shedd Aquarium.  We did our best to see at least some fish in each of the aquarium’s sections, which included the Caribbean Reef, the Wild Reef, Amazon Rising, and the “Polar Play Zone.” We watched beluga whales dive and surface; we laughed at frolicking otters; we stared in awe at floating, alien-like jellyfish. When we were “fished out,” we went to the aquarium’s gift shop, where both Evie and Naomi chose souvenir gifts for their respective brothers.

Our next stop was the Field Museum, just a short walk from the aquarium. Highlights here included the Hall of Birds, Ancient Egypt, and the Ancient Americas, not to mention the huge fossilized titanosaurus in the main hall.  The girls enjoyed the museum as much as the aquarium, but I left with a feeling of sorrow over the harm selfish people have done to past civilizations and the natural world. One display in the Hall of Birds featured several species of birds — the passenger pigeon, the great auk among others — that are now extinct. In every case, the cause of their extinction was excessive hunting and/or destruction of habitat. In the ancient Egypt section, we learned that the mummies of Egyptian rulers typically were adorned with beautiful jewelry. But while some mummies could now be seen in museums, only replicas of the jewelry could be displayed, the originals having been stolen by grave robbers centuries ago. My negative feelings were offset by a special program the museum had on Jane Goodall. Through artifacts, photos, and videos, this program traced Goodall’s life from childhood through her present-day activities on behalf of the animal kingdom. Besides offering some insight to her research on chimpanzees, the program showed us how Goodall lived in the African wilderness. One section showed her tent, cot, eating utensils, lantern and typewriter. Another showed the journal she kept. Most humbling for me was the display of her Ph.D. dissertation; it was easily twice as long as mine.

After the cultural enrichment provided by the museum and aquarium, we were ready for some peace and relaxation back at our hotel.  The “high tea” at the Drake’s Palm Court restaurant gave us all the peace and relaxation we needed.  First, we selected the flavor of tea we wanted; there were 17  flavors from which to choose. Then we read about the delightful treats that would come with our tea. While we waited for our refreshments, we listened to music flowing from the fingers of a harpist and admired an incredible floral arrangement at the center of the Palm Court. Not only were the flowers beautifully arranged, but they were circled around a sparkling fountain.

When our server arrived, the fun really began. Each of us received our own teapot with our selected tea steeping inside. When we poured our brew into our cups, a small metal strainer caught the dregs before they went in, too.  Complementing the tea were at least two dozen little morsels — muffins, finger sandwiches, scones, petit fours — arranged on a three-tiered plate. Later, all of us agreed the high tea was the best part of the trip. There were no crowds to navigate, no worries about getting somewhere on time. We could just relax, sip our tea, munch on goodies, and listen to harp music.

Sunday morning found the four of us riding an elevator to Chicago’s Sky Deck, some 1,350 feet in the air. Once there, we had a panoramic view of the city as well as the part of Lake Michigan that borders it. The Sky Deck amplifies just how big Chicago is and how many different things are happening in it at any given time. Before heading back down to earth, we had our picture taken on “the ledge,” a transparent outcropping from the deck that gives you the feeling of hanging suspended in the air. Our next stop was the Chicago Art Institute. The girls seemed to like the Impressionist paintings, especially Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. They also spent some time admiring Asian art, including statues of Indian deities. But the highlight of the art museum for all of us was the miniature rooms. There are 68 of them depicting European interiors from the Middle Ages up to 193o, and American dwellings from the 17th Century to the mid-20th Century. The intricate detail that went into each room was almost unbelievable. Imagine a chess set small enough to fit on your thumb nail or a spinning wheel no bigger than a quarter with a tiny knot of cotton wrapped around its spindle. Portraits in some rooms looked like they were painted by a skilled artist, and chandeliers in other rooms seemed ready to light up everything around them.

Our Sunday concluded with a brief walk along the beach — both girls proved they are not too old to build sandcastles — and a dinner at Italian Village.  I should emphasize that not everything on this 9-year-old trip went smoothly. Finding a cab was nearly impossible. After finishing our visit to the Field Museum, we had to walk over a half mile before we found a cab that could take us the rest of the way to the hotel. We also couldn’t get as close to the famous “Bean” as we hoped.  A barricade kept everyone at least 50 feet away. And while our dinner at the Italian Village was tasty enough, we had to wait about an hour and forty minutes before our main dishes arrived. Evidently there is a shortage of restaurant workers in Chicago as well as a shortage of cab drivers.

Time will tell just how memorable this trip to Chicago was for Evie and Naomi, but it’s clearly having an influence on them in the here-and-now. On the drive home, the girls eagerly planned a “high tea” of their own for their mothers and grandmothers. The event is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, June 26. Between now and then, I need to find some way to get myself invited.