Cheap Fun in Chicago : Chicago Tribune Building and McCormick Freedom Museum

I recently visited Chicago with my daughter. We are always in search of reasonably priced, yet interesting things to do. One highly recommended destination on this trip was the Chicago Tribune Building at 435 North Michigan Avenue. The building itself is impressive. (It's Gothic in design and was built in the 1930s.) It is made of limestone and has gargoyles and various ornamentation. Its old-fashioned look is a nice contrast to many of the ultra-modern buildings surrounding it.

The real point of interest to us, however, were the many stones and rocks embedded in the exterior of the building. These were brought back by Tribune correspondents from locales they visited while on the job. Robert McCormick, an early owner of the Tribune, began the collection with a stone he got while in France from a cathedral damaged by World War II shelling.

It is amazing to see stones from various states and many nations. There are stones from the Great Pyramids, the Taj Mahal, Petra, St. Peter's, the Great Wall of China - you name it, you'll probably find a stone from there. There is even a rock from the moon, but since NASA officially owns all of those, it is just on display rather than embedded in the wall.

Inside the building's entrance, you'll find the Tribune's McCormick Freedom Museum. The museum is dedicated to freedom and our first amendment rights. The museum is two stories full of things to do and learn about. There is a film about rights - asking questions about when do individual rights trump the common good and vice versa. There are various interactive displays where one can listen to our founders talking about rights and the debates that ensued as they discussed what would and would not be in our Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights. Touch screens let you explore various portions of our Constitution. There are computer stations where you can create your own Bill of Rights, personalized as you would like. Headphones let you listen in on video clips of comedy TV programs making fun of politicians, which might be censored in other countries.

When you enter the museum you are given a plastic chip. When you leave, you are invited to use your chip to "vote" for a presidential candidate. A white board keeps the totals updated so you can see who is winning. This was a fun way for us to exercise our freedom to vote!

Museum admission normally costs $5, but is free until November 8, 2008. My daughter and I found it an education, yet fun way to spend an afternoon.