Field Museum of Natural History

 

Our walk through Grant Park concluded at the Field Museum of Natural History. This enormous institution ranks among the largest museums in the world, with a collection totaling around 24 million specimens.

The Field Museum is housed in a grand building with striking architecture, most evident in its vast Grand Hall, surrounded by the various exhibition wings.

The largest exhibit in the Field Museum, Máximo, a 27-metre-long titanosaur and one of the largest dinosaurs ever discovered, dominates the Great Hall.

Despite its vast collection, the exhibits on display are thoughtfully curated, reinforcing the museum's reputation as one of the most important scientific centres in the United States, and arguably worldwide.

Much of the museum is devoted to seemingly endless displays showcasing an extraordinary range of animal life from across the globe.

Alongside its extensive animal collection, the Field Museum also houses a vast array of artefacts from civilisations across the Americas, including exhibits that trace human migration across the two continents.

The Field Museum features an extensive dinosaur collection, with a particular focus on Tyrannosaurus rex. SUE, the most complete T. rex skeleton ever discovered, is the centrepiece of a vast dinosaur gallery.

The only more impressive collection I’ve seen is at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta.

The Field Museum is the most impressive natural history museum I have ever visited. We spent nearly five hours there and still didn’t see half the exhibits, it became overwhelming by the end. As a Chicago resident, it would probably take at least five visits to feel like you’d covered it properly. For local teachers, it’s an incredible educational resource.

Grant Park

 Millenium Park.

Our Chicago experience started at Millennium Park, the northernmost portion of the larger Grant Park complex. This area is also the most elaborately designed, featuring a maze of walking trails, a skating loop, carefully curated gardens, modern pavilions, and eye-catching public art displays such as the Crown Fountain (above).

Harry was delighted to uncover a bouncy ball that his aunty had secretly stashed in the park for him a week or two earlier.

The park is home to the Millennium Monument.

The Jay Pritzker Pavilion (above) is a renouned outdoor concert venue.

Sadly, we couldn't fully enjoy the iconic Cloud Gate, as it is currently a construction site.

Grant Park is a vast green space set between Chicago's towering skyline and the shores of Lake Michigan.

Grant Park extends southward from Millennium Park and incorporates major landmarks such as the Shedd Aquarium, the Planetarium, and the Field Museum at the southern boundary.

The park offers a diverse mix of well-kept gardens and recreational spaces, with the spectacular 45-metre-high Clarence Buckingham Memorial Fountain at its center.

Good-bye Yellowstone

 

We were all a little sad to be leaving the wildlife and scenery behind, but it was time to move on.

Our exit from Yellowstone National Park proved memorable in its own right. It was dark and gloomy in West Yellowstone when we departed, though still relatively mild at around 18°C. As we headed north toward Bozeman, the weather quickly turned, with rain setting in and making for a tricky drive through the mountain passes.

By the time we arrived at the airport nearly two hours later, the temperature had dropped sharply to around 5°C. We were more than happy to get inside the Bozeman terminal and warm up.

We landed in Chicago just as evening set in, only to find it surprisingly warmer. Somehow, we’d managed to outrun winter once again.

After a bit of back-and-forth sorting out local transport cards, we hopped on the Chicago "L" bound for the city.

By the time we checked into the ACME Hotel Company and found something to eat, it was already quite late. Tomorrow, we begin exploring Chicago!

Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center

 

With Grand Prismatic Spring officially ticked off our list, we made our way back to West Yellowstone for a relaxing lunch and a couple of well earned, very large, thickshakes. Afterwards, we took our time wandering through the souvenir shops.

Please view the public service announcement above.

Later in the afternnon we visited the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center.

The Center was our final Yellowstone stop, a rescue and education facility home to wolves, bears, otters, and birds of prey. Since we hadn't seen any of these animals in the wild, it was a great opportunity to observe them up close and learn about their conservation.

We began our visit at the Eagle Aviary, where the magnificent Bald Eagles are the main attraction.

Other raptors are also on display, including the Great Horned Owl (above) and Northern Harrier (below), each offering a glimpse into the region’s diverse birdlife.

The North American River Otters were particularly active, making the most of their complex enclosure and providing plenty of entertainment.

The undisputed stars of the centre, however, are the Grizzly Bears. They are rotated in and out of the main habitat, where they forage for food in ways that mimic natural behaviours in the wild.

The centre also runs an innovative product testing program, allowing manufacturers to trial bear-resistant food and garbage containers under real-world conditions.

Beyond the bears, the centre is also home to a more elusive resident, a pack of Grey Wolves. These beautiful and secretive “ghosts of the forest” have long been misunderstood, historically demonised and persecuted to the point of being eradicated from Yellowstone National Park.

Around 30 years ago, wolves were reintroduced from Canada, marking one of the most significant conservation efforts in the park’s history. Their return has played a crucial role in restoring ecological balance, alongside the quiet resurgence of Cougars, which naturally found their way back into the ecosystem.

Such beautiful and mystical creatures.

Grand Prismatic Spring

 

We reserved one of Yellowstone's most iconic sights for our final day in the park, the breathtakingly vibrant Grand Prismatic Spring, the largest hot spring in North America.

Arriving early, we hoped to stroll along the boardwalk encircling the spring before the crowds arrived. While we managed to secure a park and beat the rush, the cool, still air combined with rising steam from both Grand Prismatic and Excelsior Geyser blanketed the basin in a dense mist, obscuring the spring’s famous colours.

The outlet cascades from Excelsior Geyser were particularly dramatic, with thick clouds of steam billowing above the rushing water.

We completed a lap of the boardwalk, though at the time it felt like we were circling little more than a steaming lake.

Anticipating these conditions, we had planned ahead with a hike to Fairy Falls. Kerri opted to sit this one out while we followed the pleasant 4 km trail winding behind the basin. The falls themselves were a highlight, gracefully plunging 61 metres down a natural amphitheatre into a tranquil, shallow pool below.

On the return, we took a short detour up the hillside to the Grand Prismatic overlook, where we reunited with Kerri. By then, the mist had lifted, revealing the spring in all its brilliance. The vivid colour gradients seen in smaller pools across the park were now displayed on a grand scale. From this elevated vantage point, Grand Prismatic Spring is far more impressive than at ground level, regardless of the conditions.