When it’s below 20-degrees outside Chicago adventures don’t sound all that appealing. Unless of course, the Chicago activity involves something indoors…and free.

For the entire month of February, the Field Museum is opening its doors for free to Illinois residents. This Saturday was the perfect time to take advantage of this (warm) museum because my brother came to visit and we hadn’t been to the museum since grade school. We certainly weren’t the only ones who decided to take advantage of the free admission, so we spent the day shoulder to shoulder with other museum goers.

We opted to skip the special exhibitions that cost a little extra, but still had plenty to see. First things first, we had to greet Sue, Chicago’s famous T-Rex, who looked charming as ever. Then, we worked our way through the Ancient Americas exhibit. This started with the first people groups known in the Americas and progressed to the history of Native American and Arctic Peoples. My favorite part was taking a pow wow in the Pawnee Earth Lodge, the buffalo fur covered benches made for a perfect mid-museum break.

Our next stop was Ancient Egypt. Even though looking at actual mummies freaks me out a bit, I still enjoyed the exhibit. I always find myself amazed by the technology and innovation the ancient Egyptians used. We also made sure to go through the Evolving Planet exhibit, which had all kinds of animal fossils. My favorite creature from this section was definitely the giant sloth. Yeah, it looks exactly how it sounds.

By this point we had already spent nearly three hours in the museum and decided that Giordano’s was calling our name. I’ve always loved museums so I was glad to get the chance to come and visit the Field again. If you’ve never been or are in need of something warm and free to do, I would highly recommend paying the Field Museum a visit this February!

Until next time, Sue.