Because it has been a while since going to Chicago, I have gotten days mixed up. So for the rest of the trip, here it is:

1) We went to the Museum of Science and Industry. If you have never been, you should go. Airplanes, trains, and yes, automobiles are on display for the interested. There are different exhibits about the solar system, antimatter, coal, and just about anything that can be called industrial. You can have a blast for hours.

A German U-boat captured by the USS Chicago

2) We ate at a great restaurant called Hugo’s Frog Bar. It was very appetizing. Pricy, but great food. Things were definitely big enough for the price. The atmosphere was pretty cool…not too pretentious. I would go back there.

3) We visited Millennium Park. We wanted to go to Grant Park but Lalapaloosa was in town and people filled the park. The “stadium” at the park is one of the most fantastic ideas I have ever seen.  The metal bars expand out over the green grass. The speakers are attached to these bars and angle down. The stage is of a considerable size for an outside audience. It’s not Chastain, but it will work just as wonderfully. I like Chastain in Atlanta because of the concrete levels with the picnic tables and chairs sat up so that a family can have a wonderful meal while listening to returning artists like Hootie and the Blowfish and KC and the Sunshine Band. I saw Hootie there, thanks to a good friend we hardly get to see, who had tickets. YAY! The Bean is located in Millennium Park and I couldn’t wait to see it. I have seen it in so many pictures that people have taken when visiting

The Bean in Millennium Park

the city. I had to go and get my version of the pictures! Travis and I flashed away! Not privates…just pictures. You can walk all around it and through it. The inside is pretty neat since it is concave and you can see yourself in a couple different locations. Of course, there were a ton of people at the bean, lost in it’s shiny beauty! I know, it’s just a sculpture. In the park, there is a water fountain unlike any other. About 1,000 pictures were taken of people’s faces in the city. These pictures were used to broadcast onto these large cubes, shooting water out from the tops so that it will flow down the sides. Every now and then, the picture’s lips will purse up and the eyes will close. At that moment, this whole opens and water is shot out the lips. I’ve been told that the pressure of the water is compared to a fire hose. The water shoots out a good distance from the block. I did not partake in the water fun, but there were quite a few people of various races having fun together. It reminds me, on a larger scale, of Centennial Park in Atlanta. Or better yet, the redneck water fountain at the Mall of Georgia. You always see people bringing their children to the mall water fountain instead of taking them to a water park.

Well, that is the trip to Chicago. Thank God this part of the blog is over! I know it has been dragged out too long. So it was good, nice places to stay, and we’re back!

The elevator ride in itself was something to write home about. A screen advises you how high off the ground you are compared to other large buildings in the world. At story 103, we hear, “DING!” and the doors open up to a large lounge type room that wraps around the building floor. Fantastic! We saw terrific views of the city and its amazing architecture. The amazing thing to me is how you can look down and see the tops of large

View of Chicago from Skydeck

buildings surrounding the base of Sears Tower. Just minutes before, I was looking up at these buildings. It’s just me. I think of things that way. We continued around the building, pointing out things to each other that we just really want the other to see. It was so very cool. We went by a counter that was selling overpriced memorabilia. It’s touristy. We found this amazingly cool Lego set of the Sears Tower. How awesome is that? We put it together as soon as we got home! Did you think it was going to stay in the box as a collector’s piece? No way, babe! LOL. We walked around more and found our way to the new installation, officially known as the Skydeck. These creative glass boxes stick 4 feet out from the building. ALL GLASS! You can walk into the boxes and look straight down to the ground. Over 1,000 feet above ground, watching birds flying underneath you. I was completely psyched. Travis and I took turns going into the box and taking pictures up, down, and all around. You can find the video clip I made of our experience on YouTube. If you have a fear of heights, it would not be something I recommend. But, if you ever want to do something to help that fear, scare the shit out of yourself and walk out onto the platform. It should be an instant cure! My cousin is one of those people and got a little flustered on the second floor of Phipps Plaza in Atlanta. Of course, he would get freaked out.  But I digress. It was a great experience that I will remember for a lifetime. But there are other great things to talk

Me out on the Skydeck

about like our trip to Shedd Aquarium.

I didn’t get that many pictures of the aquarium. It was a nice one, but it wasn’t like Chattanooga. Theirs even overwhelms Atlanta Aquarium. Don’t get me wrong, Atlanta’s has the most water in it. I just think there wasn’t much thought placed into decoration and setup. When you are in the one in Chattanooga, you are in a large darkened room, on different ramps and walkways, looking at the large tank of fish. They didn’t make some overwhelming “TA DAA” kind of thing where you enter this room with bleachers and there’s a whale shark swimming around. It’s calm and collected. I like that.

After we left the aquarium, we headed down the street and entered Adler Planetarium. That I would have to say was really informational. They had a ton of rockets and space travel equipment that blew my mind. But, that’s not a hard thing to do. We saw two presentations that were nothing less than amazing. The first was the constellations and how these can be found. I had no idea the artistry the Romans/Greeks went through to get these names. The lights were turned off and the stars came out. Oooooo! Then the presenter sat the stars to where they would be in the night sky of Chicago…minus all the lights from the city. He said the constellations came from art and then turned the ceiling into all the drawings organized in the layout of the stars. At one point, the presenter made the stars rotate in the opposite way and said, “If you ever see this happen, go seek shelter. This is NOT good!” I just had to giggle. No shit, Sherlock! I also found that the sun will never and can never be in your house, meaning your horoscope, in the month of your birthday. Who knew?! Probably my friend Michael, who knows all about space and weather stuff. I will get more info from him. The next show we saw was about asteroids and comets. The way the ceiling/screen was shaped was something to behold. You could literally sit in the chair and look out and see nothing but elliptical screen. The movie was informative and in a way a bit scary. There is crap all over the universe that could head our way at any moment. Yeah, your welcome for that feeling of complete helplessness! And this isn’t Armageddon, so forget the nuclear bomb. I can’t find the pics of the planetarium.

After a day of tourist activities, we went to have Chicago style pizza. OMG, this was fantastic! If you haven’t had Chicago pizza, you have to try it. So not something you just buy in the store. You have to get the experience in the restaurant. After eating, I believe we went back to the hotel room and stayed there the rest of the evening.

(to be continued)

My partner and I took a trip lately to Chicago. We called it our second anniversary trip! The first trip was to Disney World back in February when our official anniversary took place. They were both fantastic trips and ones that I will never be able to forget. We went along with our friend Nick to Florida, but this time, I….yes I, the boy that hasn’t gone to many places in my life, got on a plane in Atlanta and flew alone to Chicago. to meet Travis who was already there. I found my way from Midway (on the orange line) to Grand (on the red line). Then, I walked a couple of blocks to the hotel to meet Travis outside the Wyndham Hotel on St. Clair Street. It was a cool little walk…going underneath Nordstrom and then getting across the streets. I was relieved when I saw Travis, but I wasn’t the slightest bit nervous. Actually, I put my case in the room and, after grabbing something quick to eat,

$320 Prada Sneakers...will never be mine!

I went out into Chicago and walked around. It was so awesome! I loved being able to walk around and check out stores on The Magnificent Mile. I even found a pair of $320 Prada sneakers at Needless Mark-up, more professionally known as Neiman Marcus. It was worth a look, I guess. The men’s department majorly sucked. The underwear collection was  very sad. I guess men that shop in Neiman Marcus don’t pay attention to what they wear underneath the $400 jeans they buy there.

One thing I got from walking around while Travis was finishing up his conference is I got a taste of what it will feel like when walking around with a huge pack on my back. I took my backpack with me, containing my laptop, so that I could stop at a Starbucks and post to the blog. It didn’t happen, but I worked off what I had for lunch. I did find a Starbucks, about 1/4 the size of the ones we have in Atlanta. It was a very small hole in the wall. I was asked, when ordering my green tea frappuccino, if I wanted the syrup. What the hell? I didn’t know there was another way to make it. So I just answered with, “Make it the normal way?” Obviously, some people in Chicago don’t like the syrup in there because it tends to make it harder to drink….? I didn’t understand that, so I got it and proceeded out the door. I drank it like I do in Atlanta, by sucking….on a straw. I found a Marshalls with a HUGE escalator. Not that I found anything worth buying inside, but the entrance was pretty nice. I kept feeling that some people were looking at me strange since I had this really big bag on my back. “Yes, I just stole a bunch of granny panties from your racks! Thanks!” I scurried out and returned to the rushing on the street. I caught the eye of this businessman as he walked by. I did one of those….step-step-step-turn…moves and caught him looking back at me. I smiled and carried on. Yay for me! I still have it! I walked on to the hotel room and rested my feet till Travis came into the room. We had much to do and there was no time like the present to begin.

The Lighthouse off Navy Pier - Chicago

Our first outing together took us to Navy Pier. This is such an awesome idea. It’s right up there with our experience at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. Lots of seagulls and music and boats. No sea lions , however, to drown out all the noise. We walked down to the end of the pier and saw this beautiful lighthouse. It is the first real lighthouse I have seen. It now holds a special place in my heart! It’s the Guiding Light of my life. LMAO! Some will get that.

There are so many things to do there. We ate at Bubba Gump, having fish and chips and a tasty mixed drink. We rode the world’s slowest farris wheel, giving us a view of the city while at the top. That ride also allowed us to rest our feet. There was a lot of feet-resting during our trip. There was never a reason to drive. We either took the L, a bus, or a taxi to get everywhere we visited. Atlanta could learn a lot from Chicago transportation. Primarily, how to spend money wisely and how to set up their bus routes. The bus routes…..hello Gwinnett County! Send the buses where the people are! Got it?!

While at Navy Pier, we went on an architectural river tour. You get on this boat and it travels up the Chicago River, providing you fantastic views of the buildings lining the river. This really nice lady spoke the entire trip…bless her heart…and told us interesting details about the architects, types of construction styles, and about the Chicago fire. No, it wasn’t Mrs. O’Leary’s cow, kicking over a lantern, that started the fire. They’ve not made a decision on what started the fire. Who knew?!

After the boat ride, we got back to the hotel, stripped to our normal lounge wear…aka NAKED…and nestled into a very comfortable bed so that we could be awake and ready to get out of the first hotel and move over to the second hotel. Travis was in the hotel till Friday for the conference and then we had our room from Friday till Sunday. The move and the rest of the weekend will be shared later.

(to be continued)