July 23 - Chicago

Boy was today hot! The temperature was above 90 degrees Fahrenheit or 32 degrees Celsius. Jon and I slept in this morning because we had an early and long day yesterday. So our day started at 11:30pm. We walked 2 Richmond-size blocks to purchase a “fun pass” which is an all day bus pass. That cost $5.75. Then we walked half a block to get to Arby’s where we had lunch. They had Jr. Deluxe sandwiches which had roast beef, lettuce, tomato and mayo for $1. I had 2 because for some reason I thought it would be small like the size of a mini hamburger. However, it was a decent size similar to the size of a Jr. Chicken at Mcdonalds. Jon ordered a Cheesy roast beef sandwich meal with curly fries and Dr. Pepper. He really likes Dr. Pepper now.

After we finished we walked another 2 Richmond-size blocks to catch the 54B bus to take us to Midway airport. This airport is the smaller airport. The larger one is called O’hare. From Midway, we took the Orange train to Washington and Wells. We walked around “the loop” which is in the heart of downtown and surrounded by the Chicago River on the west and north, Lake Michigan on the east and Roosevelt road to the south. It has been called the loop since the 1880s as this is where cable cars would turn around a pulley in the center (all the trolleys would converge in this area). In the loop, we saw a Picasso sculpture in front of the Richard J. Daley Center. We found out it was a Picasso piece after going to the Visitor’s center and reading about it. However before knowing what it was, Jon took a picture of it because it was large but thought it was an unattractive piece of art.

As we walked around the loop we were getting quite hot so we grabbed 2 ice-creams from Mcdonalds for $0.49 each. What a good deal! We then ventured into Millennium Park where we saw the Cloud gate, also known as the Bean. This gate is made of steel but when you look at it, you see funhouse mirror-like reflections (you may look smaller or bigger). In addition, we saw the Crown fountain which is a 50 foot tall glass block tower with an interactive panel. We also saw the Jay Pritzker Pavillion which is a unique structure that has very good acoustics. We also went into the Lurie garden which is enclosed by a 15 foot hedge. Last but not least, we walked on the BP Bridge which is a 925 foot long bridge that looks like a snake.

Before heading home, we went to the Navy Pier. This reminded Jon of Granville Island. It had lots of little shops and many places to eat. It also had a ferris wheel, musical carousel and other rides. As well, there was a movie theatre, Shakespeare theatre, stained glass windows museum, and a garden. When we arrived at the Navy Pier, the weather turned from sunny to mugly (mucky and ugly). It was windy and rainy. There was also thunder and lightning which was far away. Jon and I were taking pictures of the lightning.

We had to take the 29 bus to get to the orange train. From there we took the 54B bus. We found out that we could take another bus that would take us directly to our hotel. However, that bus was a PACE bus which goes to the suburbs and our bus pass only allowed us to go on CTA (Chicago transit authority) line (the major areas like downtown Chicago, airports, etc). The 54B bus dropped us off about 4 richmond-sized blocks away from our hotel. Fortunately, it stopped raining then. As we were walking, we saw a truck tailgate another car. He was ridiculously close, almost bumper to bumper. We thought he was an idiot.

For dinner, we went to a grocery store to buy a pre-packaged Caesar salad with the dressing, croutons, cheese, bacon, and sundried tomatos inside. We also bought 4 gala apples at $1.99/ lb. It worked out to be $3.49 for 4 apples. Expensive! We bought 473ml of chocolate milk for $0.99 and a block of focaccia bread for lunch tomorrow. We don’t want to eat out that often even though it’s super cheap. Yesterday after Six Flags, we bought 2 big macs, 1 small fries, and 4 pieces of chicken mcnuggets for $7.50.

Have a wonderful night everyone!