We left last Wednesday around 6:30am after checking all the critters and making sure the house was ready to be left alone for a couple days. The weather was iffy when we started out. It rained sporadically and was cloudy. Traffic through Milwaukee wasn’t too bad. It was when we neared the state line and Chicago that it got messy. It took us 4 hours to get to the Field Museum. There was a ton of "start and stop" traffic and some "come to a dead stop" traffic as well. We finally got through it and downtown and parked. We walked the short distance from Soldier Field to the Field Museum.
I had a hard time avoiding all the puddles left by the rain and the bottom of my pants got soaked. Anyway, after getting our tickets (the cashier mistook us as students so we saved $6!) we started with the America exhibit. We didn’t hit school field trip congestion too much in that area. A group of elementary school kids were in the pottery room before us but they cleared out pretty quickly. We then headed to Egypt and were accosted by a swarm of rude and boisterous high schoolers. We let them get ahead of us for our own peace of mind. After Egypt we visited the Africa exhibit. After Africa we checked out the animal/wildlife exhibit. (We chose the “cat lover” door.) Somewhere along the line we broke for lunch at the museum’s Corner Bakery. I was unimpressed by both the prices and the quality of the food. Oh well. It was either that or McDonalds. We skipped the upstairs dinosaur exhibits and took a peek at the gift shop before heading to the aquarium.
The sun was out as we walked around to the Shedd. We got our tickets and wristbands and headed towards the fish. We kind of took the place in order, starting with rivers and lakes, spending some time circling the Caribbean Reef, seahorses. We went down to the Oceanarium and saw the dolphins and whales before their show started. Honestly, the whales were a lot less interesting now that we’ve seen them in their real habitat. We headed back upstairs and went through the special lizards exhibit. I’m not a fan. We then headed back out to the main area to finish our circle. We ended the visit with the Wild Reef exhibit. I was only spooked by one thing – a ginormous lobster that I didn’t notice until it moved right next to me. I might have let an “ahh!” out on that one. Adam took some neat pictures.
See them all here.
We decided to forego the Planetarium when Adam’s knee started giving him trouble on the way up from the Wild Reef. We did a lap through the aquarium gift shop and headed back to the car. We decided to head to the hotel and check in before heading out to find the restaurant for dinner. Turns out that’s a lot easier said than done. Being (relatively) small-town people, the whole parking in Chicago thing is always an adjustment. We pulled into the hotel’s affiliated parking ramp and when we asked if we could just go check in and then leave again we seemed to confuse everyone. Luckily we worked it out, checked in, and then headed back out into traffic. It was still a little early to go for dinner so we tried one of the Marshalls we had pinpointed. And, duh, it was on Michigan Ave, but it didn’t occur to us that parking would be a challenge. We drove past and regrouped. We decided to head to IKEA a day early to kill some time. Until we got on the highway and it took 45 minutes to go one exit. By this time we were both sick of traffic and getting crabby. We got off the interstate, turned around, and headed to the restaurant. Traffic was moving much better going the other direction and we were doing well until we got about 2 miles from our destination. All of the sudden traffic came to a complete halt. We were stopped for probably 5 minutes. Turns out there was a train and we had to wait for it, but we were so far back in the line we had no idea. So we finally got to The Frosted Mug and IT WAS CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS.
I’m totally serious.
By this time I’m bordering on psychotic and Adam’s just as frustrated as I am. We stopped for gas ($3.99!) and then headed back to the hotel. We properly parked the car, dropped our stuff in our room, and went to check out the restaurant in the hotel. Unfortunately they only took cash so we went across the street to KFC instead. We ate back in our room, I checked my email and did my IMA stuff, and we decompressed from the day.
Thursday morning we were up around 6:30 although the alarm was set for 7. It wasn’t a very restful evening. The bed was way too soft, our room looked out over an El line, and the air condition fan didn’t work so it was hot and muggy all night. In any case, we got up and showered. We went to Dunkin’ Donuts for breakfast. I’d never been to one and I really don’t understand the hype. But whatever. We checked out of the hotel and headed to a second Marshalls that happened to be a block away from a Trader Joes. Parking for this was easier to find since we planned ahead knowing we’d need to park somewhere. The Marshalls store was much like the others we’ve been to. I did find some underwear though, so yay. We checked out the Trader Joe’s as well. I’d also never been there but a lot of the blogs I keep up with are by people who live in areas that have Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s around so I wanted to see what the buzz was about. It’s a neat place and I bought some apple rings and chocolate and Adam got a baklava sampler. Once again this prompted him to suggest that I make baklava. And once again I had to bring up the international meal that forever tarnished phyllo dough for me. Anyway, cool place. Too bad there aren’t any in the Fox Valley.
We hit another Marshalls out in Skokie (it had a parking lot! For free!) before heading to the Kohl Children’s Museum and the Kim and Scott’s Twisting Café (we had decided to forget trying to get to IKEA.) I’ve got to say that this was my favorite place we went. Even though we were only there for maybe 20 minutes, it’s such a neat concept and the atmosphere was so friendly. I got the chocolate pretzel and Adam had apple cinnamon. We also picked up a bunch from the freezer to bring home. The flavors available locally (at Walgreens) are limited, so it was good to find some of the other flavors we’d wanted to try. Yum. After the pretzel pit stop we went to one last Marshalls before heading back home. The drive back was pretty smooth. I don’t remember any horrible construction delays, but as it’s now construction season there was plenty encountered. We got back home around 3.
I unpacked, started laundry, caught up in Money on our vacation spending. Then we headed back out to Appleton and the PAC. We submitted our season ticket request for next year. We stopped for dinner on the way back home. Friday we ran a few other errands: got my ring inspected and re-tipped, went to Target, went grocery shopping, went to BBB. Saturday was a lazy day for me. Adam spent a good deal of it working outside. He filled in the garden patch in the back, added mulch to the front, put weedkiller on the lawn again, mowed the lawn. I’m probably missing some stuff. Sunday we went to another movie (Baby Mama - not as good as I expected, but ok) and spent the evening inside.
Monday night I had dinner at Culver’s with the ladies from bells. It’s such a fun group of ladies and everyone came, which was surprising. It was a good way to wrap up the year although there’s an “appreciation brunch” on June 1st as well. Tuesday night was the last IMA meeting of the year. It was a good meeting – interesting speakers, in fact so interesting that the second presenters went well over their hour and no one cared. Board meetings start June 3 so things will keep busy there. The rest of the week should be boring.
Movie-wise I watched two: The Golden Compass and Mad Money. The first was on the Oscar list. I’m not sure what to think. I know there was all kind of controversy over its subject matter and the Catholic church was all up in arms about it. Were they also against Harry Potter? I mean, he’s a wizard. Anyway, the movie itself was not terrible but really, not much happens, and without the sequel(s) it’s kind of a throw-away movie. Meh. Mad Money was not on the list but I had intended to see it eventually anyway. It got panned by critics but really, it’s a pretty funny movie. One of those “what ifs” played out for you. I’ve always enjoyed Diane Keaton and even Katie (oh, excuse me, Kate) Holmes’ airhead character provided some good moments.
I also started watching Romeo + Juliet (again) after rediscovering the soundtracks while cleaning out my CD library. I’d say that this film and The Wedding Singer have two of the best soundtracks ever (perhaps excluding films that are musicals, that is. And maybe A Beautiful Mind is one the list too.) Both required two discs, and both remain in my favorites, 12 and 10 years out respectively (oh my God, really? I suddenly feel old.) Anyway. I’ve got I’m Not There waiting to be watched and after that I’ve got 13 to go. Doing well.
So, that about gets everyone up to speed. Our holiday weekend looks to be pretty normal and boring. We've got some projects on the list (rearrange garage, rearrange rodent room, etc.) but nothing too exciting. Just hoping for decent weather so we can grill out at least once.
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