The Cup and a talk

Andy and I went downtown to the Field Museum tonight for a "behind the scenes" presentation of the museum's Pacific Anthropology Collection and reception. We even got free parking in the museum's west lot, a nice perk of being an Annual Fund donor. After the presentation, they took our group (about 40 people) up to the third floor where all the offices are to see the artifacts and hear how they're being cataloged digitally. None of the museum's 10,000 Pacific pieces are on display so they're hoping to create a searchable website.

Here's the part of the museum visitors don't usually get to see - the dreary hallways of the third floor. We walked quite a ways with our employee guide before she was able to find an elevator. It's kind of a maze up there.

We had reservations for the behind the scenes presentation long before the museum learned that the Stanley Cup would be coming to the museum that same night. We were given tickets for the 8 p.m. viewing. The museum was open to the public after hours for the viewing from 7 to 10 p.m. It was a sea of Hawks jerseys.

We initially got in this line to see the Cup. The line went down that corridor and wound all around the main entrance area. According to the museum, this was one of the last public displays of the Cup before it returns to its home in Toronto. The Blackhawks chairman, Rocky Wirtz, is a Field Museum trustee so that's how the Cup ended up at the museum. One guy we talked to in line said when the Cup was at the museum before the line was out the door, but this year they had timed tickets so when those tickets were gone, you were out of luck to pose with the Cup.

But because we were there for the earlier event, a museum employee flagged us out of line and put us in a "fast pass" line. We probably didn't wait more than five minutes in line to get our chance to pose with Lord Stanley. The museum's photographer was taking all the "official" pictures and will have them available online in a day or so. We got up to the Cup and it was "one, two, three, click." If my eyes are open and I'm looking at the camera, I'll be shocked. It was so fast. Makes me glad we didn't have to wait in the long line.

The people who got to see the Cup before us put their baby in it. Too cute!

And if that wasn't enough sports excitement for one night, outside the museum had a dinosaur dressed in a Cubs jersey.