Yesterday, we went into Chicago. It was pretty amazing, even though we didn't have time to do much.
We took the Metra Train into Chicago. That in itself was so surreal for me. When we approached the train platform, it struck me just how similar to Cal-Train this was. When the train pulled up, it was the same train. Different place, same train. I spent so many years in my 30's commuting to and from work, and from San Francisco to Santa Clara. It was a like a trip back into my life. Except this time, I was one of the tourists, with the small children I used to look at like..."ha...please don't ask me to sit next to me."
Even the yellow bumpy tile next the train platform looked just like Cal-Train, it was just weird to me how familiar it all was and I had never been there before.
On the actual train ride, the kids were so excited that they both ate their way through their snackpack back packs that I had fixed for them. Luckily for us, both food and drinks were allowed on the train. The ride into town took about 90 minutes and we picked up a friend along the way.
Once we got into Chicago at "Olgilvie" Station. I'm not sure I spelled that right, but oh well. Right off the bat, I saw several places I would have liked to have lunch at. Places I haven't seen since I left CA.
Because we had already decided to have lunch on Navy Pier, we walked past all of these places and headed to Sears Tower. It was really fun. The kids got an absolute kick out of being up so high, but I'm not sure they got as big of a kick out of it as Rick did. Here are some pictures that we took up at the observation deck.
After the Sears Tower, we took a taxi over to Navy Pier. First stop on our list, Bubba Gump's Chicago! This was one of our favorite places to eat in San Francisco, and it didn't let us down here either, except they didn't have the "Shrimpin Dipin Pot" on the menu. That is the dish Rick and I both like best, but they said it was seasonal. Maybe because San Francisco has such cold summers, a pot of hot shrimp is more appetizing in the summer time there. It was so hot here, it is understandable why we were not able to partake of this, but at the same time, we had a great time. I had my 2nd favorite dish, the coconut shrimp. It is so good. I could have eaten an entire 2nd course of them. I didn't. Rick had the stuffed shrimp and the kids had typical kids fare consisting of Mac and cheese and Cheese Pizza.
After lunch, we just wandered around for awhile. I took Brian up on the Ferris wheel. I got some great pictures, but would have liked to go around a few more times than we did. You only get to go around once.
So this was our trip into Chicago. We had planned to meet my friend Bernie for dinner when we returned to Crystal Lake, but we were still too full from lunch, and too tired from our day. We took the train home, and both kids were asleep as soon as it started moving. All in all it was a super nice day.
I really enjoyed walking over the bridges, think Julia Roberts in "My Best Friends Wedding", hearing the street musicians, seeing all the people and especially spending the day with a very dear friend.
Today, we had planned to hit the beach in Crystal Lake, but for the first time in 30 odd years, it was closed because of bacteria. So we ended up hanging out at Bernie's, going to Sushi, and then coming back and taking a long nap. As I sit here, watching the fire flies and waiting for my last load of laundry to get done, I really think I'm ready to head home.
Tomorrow we will head through Wisconsin to Minnesota to camp in Minneapolis. Saturday, we will hit Bismark ND...Sunday night will be in Billings MT and then home finally sometime very early afternoon on Monday. Yeah! It's always nice to vacation, but I really think the best part is actually getting back home again.
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