A Day in Chicago

Wowsers, what a day!

We did sleep in a bit, til nearly nine o'clock. The boys didn't even move until I clicked on the telly to see if there was anything newsworthy. There wasn't, but we accidentally ran into the last hour or so of "Revenge of the Sith", and watched that instead of eating breakfast.

That's guys for you. Entertainment before sustenance.

Finally checking out of the motel, we headed downtown (after a quick stop at Dunkin Donuts, which is where Real Men eat breakfast!) to start our tour, and quickly discovered that all of the metered parking on the Lake Shore was "disabled"; that is, all the meters were covered with little hoods, and there were orange cones all over the place to say, "No, you can't park here, either." Everyone was being directed to park at Soldier Field. Actually, it wasn't too bad. Only $15 for the whole day. But - Cash Only. No cards, no checks.

That took care of all my real money. Turns out that there was just enough change in the car to get us a parking spot. So we parked. And walked. Luckily, it's just a short walk from Soldier Field to the Aquarium.

Adam had been to the Shedd before, so there wasn't much to surprise him there, but James was totally thrilled. He got to see the big sea turtle and the octopus and the dolphin show and the penguins and the huge lobsters and crabs and the bird-eating spider of the Amazon and the Komodo dragon. And the Gift Shop. Especially the Gift Shop. Where he found a cute little sea turtle beanie baby.

Then we walked down to the Adler Planetarium and saw the Stars of the Pharoahs show, of particular interest to Egyptologists like James, and then Adam found all sorts of fun things to do in the hands-on exhibit section, like making impact craters and watching the mars rover and creating his own solar system (trying to set the orbitals so that the planets don't crash into the sun).

On the way out, we stopped by the little beach which is right next to the Planetarium, and I inadvertenly stepped into Lake Michigan with my sandaled foot, which meant that for the next hour or so, I had to deal with a wet foot. But it did keep me cool!

It was time to head home by then, so we got into the I-94 traffic and spent the next couple hours trying to get out of Chicago. Finally managed to get to Michigan City where we stopped at IHop for dinner. Or breakfast. Whichever. Then we drove over to South Bend to visit with Sue Gaub's mom, Mrs. Rice, whose husband is in the hospital with pneumonia.

Then, finally, home.

Today, the kids are getting together with some of their friends to play for awhile, then we're heading out to the company picnic at the zoo, and then it'll be time to try and re-establish normality again. School is on the way. Fall, too.

And I'm ready for another vacation!