July 25 Studebaker Museum in South Bend, Indiana

Good day everyone! Yesterday's post has been updated. Jon and I went to the Studebaker museum in South Bend, Indiana. It had 3 levels of cars and wagons ranging from the 1800’s to 1966. There were also really cute pedal cars for kids. We went there because Jon owns a 1951 Champion Studebaker which he and his grandpa restored. His mom also owns 1962 Hawk Studebaker too. It was interesting to see how comfortable cars were back then. Some cars looked like a sofa on the inside. I bought Studebaker t-shirt for $8 because it was a kid size 14-16. Jon bought a model car that looks like his 1951.

We realized that we lost another hour e.g. we’re 3 hours ahead now. Too bad we found out when we were at the Museum because we had one less hour to spend there.
After the museum, we went to Mcdonald’s to get a Oreo Mcflurry. We asked for the large one so that Jon and I could share but they gave us the normal size. Apparently, they don’t have large ones like we have at home. Surprising eh? We were a little disappointed.

We are staying at the Travelodge in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For dinner we went to a Chinese/Japanese Restaurant. We ordered potstickers, sweet and sour pork and house special fried rice. The potstickers were quite good. The others were “edible” as Jon describes. The owner of the restaurant was actually asian. She was from Taiwan. Earlier, I picked up a take out menu which said that the fried rice was $2.99. However, when we sat down, it was $7. The special was only for take out orders. However, we didn’t know it at the time so we decided to eat at the restaurant. When we were seated we looked at the menu and saw $7. As we were about to ask for take out, the Taiwanese owner came and talked to us. Jon and I felt bad so we just ate there. At least we have breakfast for tomorrow.

Jon attacked me with a Twizzler again. He tried to poke my nose. He was unsuccessful. Haha.

Have a good night!

Chicago day 2

Good Evening! Jon and I came back from a long day in Chicago. I will elaborate on what we did tomorrow as tomorrow will be a driving day and I’m tired. As a summary, we first went to the Science and Industry Museum which was fantastic. Then we were going to go on top of the Willis Tower, formerly known as the Sears Tower. However, due to weather conditions, it was closed. The weather when we went there was warm but not too hot. It wasn’t raining nor was there lightning but it wasn’t open. Afterwards, we walked along the Magnificent Mile which contained lots of high end stores. It was our Robson Street. As we were walking along there, we saw a group of street performers and decided to watch. They were a comedy/hip hop group. I was pulled from the audience to stand in a row with 5 other people while a member jumps over us. I was SCARED but I survived! Again, I will write more about today tomorrow. Thanks for your patience my lovely followers.

Edit: Yesterday, we went to the Science and Industry Museum. It was a large 3 level museum with several interactive displays. There was a display about science storms, the development of babies in the womb, planetary landscapes, science inventors/innovators, and Jon’s favourite, U 505 submarine. There were many more. The best part is that you can play and create what you’re learning. There was an area where you can create lightning, control a vortex/tornado, and much more.

The U 505 submarine is a submarine originally belonging to the Nazis and was captured during WW11. The exhibit explained how it was captured and the dangers of capturing an enemy ship. There was a submarine game that Jon and I played but lost. We had to control the submarine by lowering it in the water or raising it, depending on what the game wanted us to do. I think I contributed to our lost. Jon agrees.

I really liked the future exhibit which introduced us to many inventors. There was a person who lived in Africa that created a wind mill out of scraps so that his home can have electricity. It was very inspiring. I also liked the Science storm exhibit where you got to create your own tsunami

Jon really enjoyed playing with ferrofluid which are really tiny, nanoparticles of ferrous in liquid that has magnetic property. You can create little spikes with this fluid just by changing the amount of magnetism. He also liked the racing car exhibit. He was in his glory!

Afterwards, we went to the Willis Tower (Sears tower) but it was closed as mentioned. The Willis tower is 1451 feet tall and it has a glass ledge so you can see how high you are. It sounded really cool but unfortunately we couldn’t go. We then walked around the Magnificent Mile which are 8 blocks extending from Michigan Avenue from the Chicago River to Oak Street. This was where we saw the street performers and where we got 6 bottles of Cran-energy by Ocean Spray. It is a cranberry pomegranate drink with green tea. It tastes okay.

When we returned to our hotel, we watch Jerry Maguire. Jon also broke one of his flip flops. Now he only has 1 functioning flip flop. Haha. He started out with 2 pairs. The first pair was lost at Radium Hot springs. The second one is damaged. Poor Jon. We’ll go get him new ones later today. I did tell him to buy an extra pair but he didn’t listen.

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!

July 22 - Six Flags Pictures

Six Flags Chicago!

Good day everyone! Jon and I spent the whole day at Six Flags Great America in Chicago. For those of you who don’t know, this is a theme park with lots of roller coasters. There was also a water park attached called Hurricane Harbour.

Jon and I arrived at Six Flags at around 10:30 am; the park opened at 10am. In order to enter, we must go through a metal detector and have our bags searched. This is common practice. So Jon went through the metal detector first. He then got his bag searched. One thing you should know is that we brought snacks specifically, 3 slices of pizza, 2 muffin, 2 apples and 3 bottles of water. The security guard asked Jon if he brought any food because technically, you’re not allowed to bring food except baby formula and such. So Jon casually said that he brought apples. When the security guard checked and found the pizza and muffins, he said in disbelief,” You brought a whole pizza and muffins.” It would be funnier if you were there. Unfortunately, we had to discard the pizza and muffin before reentering or put it back in the car.

Before we even rode on any rides, the weather was pretty ugly. It started with drizzle and turned torrential. The rain lasted for 20-40 minutes and the day turned out to be sunny. Sadly, it is quite humid so your skin would feel sticky.

We rode on Batman the Ride. This was a ski-lift style (your feet are dangling and the top of your chair is connected to the track) roller coaster. We went on the Dark Knight Coaster which is an indoor roller coaster. We rode on one of Jon’s favourite, American Eagle, which is again a wooden roller coaster with high drops. We also went on Demon which is another roller coaster. We also rode the Giant Drop which drops you 200 feet above ground so that you’re free falling. This is similar to Hellevator except that the Giant Drop carries you up to the top then releases you. It lasts at most 5 seconds. We also went on Iron Wolf which is the tallest and fastest STAND-UP roller coaster. This one Jon and I didn’t like because the way the seats were designed, you would hurt your head against the harness. It was an interesting idea because it was a roller coaster where you had to stand. We also went on Raging Bull, Superman: Ultimate Flight, Vertical Velocity and Viper. They were all coasters. However, when you look at Vertical velocity, it forms a U shape. It rockets you forwards and backwards and 65 mph. Superman: Ultimate Flight was Jon’s favourite. You are initially in sitting position. Then your seat rotates 90 degrees clockwise so you’re facing the ground. You feel like you’re flying. This was pretty fun!

We didn’t take very many pictures because most of the rides that we went on did not allow bags. As a result, we rented a locker for $11 with unlimited access for the whole day. There was a funny incident that happened. Jon and I were lining up for a ride and the park attendant suddenly said “that’s almost a shirt” to a teenage wearing what looked like a tank top with the sides (where the seams would be) removed. It was random and rude but humorous at the same time.

At Hurricane Harbour, we went on lots of cool slides. There was a ride called Tornado where you sit on an inner tube and dropped 7 stories into a 132 foot long funnel. Vortex is a ride where you sit on an inner tube and get whirled round and round in a pool before dropping into the pool below.

Jon was a victim of 4 bug bites. He’ll manage though. It has been a long day. We were at Six Flags from 10:30am to 9 pm. It was a lot of fun!!! However, It’s late and I will upload pictures tomorrow.

Have a good night everyone!

Tomah, Madison, Milwaukee Wisconsin

Good day everyone! Jon and I have crossed the border to Wisconsin. We spent most of the day on the road, driving 5 to 5.5hours. We are staying at Milwaukee Econolodge for $44. Good deal! We drove from Minneapolis to Tomah, Wisconsin. There we filled up gas and shopped at Walmart. Jon bought a 10 piece car washing kit for $10. The kit includes all different type of cloths e.g. scrubbers, microfiber cloths, etc. to clean the car. There was also a bug remover cloth which Jon plans to put to good use. Since we’re driving quite fast on the highway, we have accumulated a nice assortment of bug both on the windshield and the front bumper of the car.

After Tomah, we stopped at the capital of Wisconsin, Madison. There we saw the state capital building. We didn’t spend much time at Madison because we wanted to go to the Chelsea Premium Outlet nearby.

The outlet had your typical stores like Coach, Nike, Adidas, Gap, and so forth. Jon bought 4 pairs of boxers at Old Navy for $15.99 which is a pretty good deal. I was going to buy a bag there for $3 but it was quite ugly. It was a light blue colour but it looked like it was worn out. They also had really cute shoes for $14 but I don’t really need it and I didn’t like it THAT much.

When we arrived at Milwaukee, we had dinner at Pizza Hut. Jon and I like to go to Pizza Hut for special occasion such as for New Year’s Eve, anniversaries or birthdays. We normally order Stuffed crust Canadian pizza (pepperoni, bacon, and mushrooms). However, they didn’t have that. Instead, the closest thing to Canadian was the Italian trio which had pepperoni, Italian sausage and mushrooms. It was quite good but the cheese from the stuffed crust was extremely stretchy. Also, the only size it came in was large. We also ordered cheese garlic bread. We were 3 slices of pizza short of finishing.

Our days seem to go by quite quickly. After dinner, Jon and I were talking about what we did today. We were trying to think of the places we went today. Jon said Mordor (the villain from lord of the rings which we finished yesterday), and Muckduck but he was thinking of Madison. I said Tador but I meant Tomah. Ha-ha.

Tomorrow, we get complimentary deluxe breakfast and we’ll be going to Six Flags Great America in Chicago. I’m so excited!

Have a wonderful night everyone!

Happy Birthday Lily

Hi Everyone!

Today is Lily's 22nd Birthday :D

We had mostly a driving day with a bit of shopping. Lily will blog more about it later, but I just wanted to wish her a Happy Birthday!