This is the second in my now-officially-a-series lunch break postings… Today’s post was inspired by an article I saw in my Facebook Newsfeed as I ate breakfast this morning.

“McDonald’s museum in Des Plaines will be demolished next month”

I was immediately transported back to May of 2014 when I was in Chicagoland for one of my many visits with Emily when we were in our “long distance” phase. She had to work so I borrowed her car and drove to Des Plaines to see this museum. The museum was not open on the day of my visit. It was not until later I would learn it hadn’t been accepting visitors for a few years due to some flood damage. Despite being closed and only a replica built in 1984, I still felt a connection to this place. While it is fashionable to crap all over the golden arches now, as a kid getting a Happy Meal when my mother would go into Lethbridge on Saturdays to do the grocery shopping remains a cherished childhood memory. Even today, there are times where “You just want to inhale a Big Mac, you know?”, as Emily had heard me say more than once.

The restaurant is a recreation, but the sign is original, albeit not in the exact location where it was when Ray Kroc opened on this spot in 1955.

It’s too bad the McDonalds corporation has become so large that it lost focus on its humble past.

Farewell little museum.

More Information: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald%27s_No._1_Store_Museum