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!

Mall of America, Minneapolis

HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY KAITLIN!

Sunshine lollipops and rainbows everywhere! Today, Jon and I woke up at 8:15 am to get our free continental breakfast. They had donuts, bread, cereal and waffle batter to make waffles. We went back to sleep and officially woke up at 10:00 am. We arrived at Mall of America at around 11:20am. The mall had 3 levels, one of which is where the movie theatre was. This is the largest mall in America, containing 520 stores, 50 restaurants, a theme park (Nickelodeon Universe) and an aquarium. The theme park was very cute and very child-oriented. Of course, Jon wanted to go on the rides but he was too cheap to pay. We’ll also be going to Six Flags which is a roller coaster filled park quite soon.

The mall is divided into North, East, South and West quadrants. The major department stores included Sears, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s. There were several Gap stores e.g. Gap Women, Gap maternity, Gap, Gap Body, Gap Kids and Gap baby. There were also several Caribou Coffee stores which Jon thinks is the American version of Tim Horton’s.

When Jon and I went into Abercrombie and Fitch, we saw was seems to be smoke coming from a vent. It was perfume that was being sprayed into the store. Jon kept on saying he was having a lung arrhythmia because he was suffocating from the fumes. It was quite stinky. As we walked into Gilly Hicks Sydney, a lingerie store from the Abercrombie family, the salesperson standing by the door was literally shouting at us. She was telling us about the sales and so forth but she was speaking so loudly it was disturbing. Jon had the idea of saying GOOD BYE really loudly as we left but he didn’t get a chance to as she was talking to other customers. Ha ha! I bought a navy tank top at Hollister for $8. Jon bought socks at Marshall’s for $8 as well. We also bought a Lindt Amarena Cherry Creme. It’s a new chocolate bar with a cherry crème filling. I have never seen this in Vancouver and I would bring it back but this needs to be kept no higher than room temperature which is not possible. We’ll let you know how it tastes.

For lunch, we ate at Auntie Anne’s Pretzel. They had a deal where if you bought 3 items, you would get 1 free. So we bought 2 hot dog pretzels, an almond pretzel and Jon’s favourite pretzel sticks with cheese dip. The total came to $10.

We came across a store called MagiQuest. It is an interactive wizard game. You walk around with a wand and you point it at the screens to kill dragons and perform magic spells. It was an interesting idea. There was also another store called A.C.E.S. Flight simulation where you pay $29.95 for 30 minutes in a mock aircraft. You are fighting people in the air in the plane and it simulates that experience.
We found out that there is no tax on clothes and shoes here. Pretty cool!

After we left Mall of America, we drove to the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. We saw a large spoon with a cherry as well as others. As Jon was driving on the freeway, he kept on getting lost because of all the construction. Sometimes, the exits would be blocked so we couldn’t leave the freeway. Other times, the freeway splits off into left and right and his GPS is not that clear on which lane to stay in. We
found our way eventually.

We bought groceries at Cub Foods. Food there is quite cheap. We bought grapes for 78 cents/ lb. Bananas for 48 cents/ lb. Shredded cheese (2 cups) for $1.99. We’ll be making pasta tonight with Caesar salad. We’ll also finish watching Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Rings.

Good Night!

Minneapolis

Greetings from America! Jon and I crossed the border into North Dakota at around 2pm. Early this afternoon, we drove to Altona where we saw a large painting on an easel. I think it was copy of Vincent Van Gogh’s work. It was pretty cool because it was so large. In addition, Jon and I had a twizzler sword fight. I was victorious. MWAHAHAH!

When we were crossing the border, we had our car searched because we had so many things in the truck. Fortunately, there was no line up. We used our Nexus’ which SHOULD allow you to go through the border faster but there was no line designated for Nexus holders. All the lines had a nexus scanner but you would have to wait in line like everyone else. So I’m not sure what the point of having a Nexus is when crossing at Pembina. When Jon’s wallet was being searched by the border guard, the guard liked Jon’s Ray Ban sunglasses. Ha ha. All is well and we made it through.
As we were driving in Grand Forks, Dakota, we saw a Little Caesars. Earlier in the day, Jon mentioned that he wanted crazy sticks which are breadsticks from here. So we bought a large pepperoni pizza, crazy sticks with pizza sauce and a 2 L bottle of Crush. The total came to $9.62 USD!!! It’s so cheap! Jon and I ate half of the pizza. We’re saving the rest for dinner.

Yesterday, Jon and I watched half of Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. It was quite good. However, Jon kept on saying “my precious” like Golem in the movie. If you know me, you’d know I’m terrible with names. MOVIE SPOILER: I was asking Jon if Dumbledore dies because he lost the fight to the wizard with iron-straighten white hair. He kept on laughing at me because the wizard’s name isn’t Dumbledore (Harry Potter) but Gandolf. I would also call Gandolf, Gandwarf. Ha-ha. Jon had to prep me on the names of the character before watching. Funny! Hopefully we will have time to watch the rest of the first movie.

We arrived at Travelodge Minneapolis. There was lots of driving involved so not many pictures today. We stopped at McDonalds in St. Cloud and ordered a strawberry banana smoothie. It was quite tasty. We also saw a McDonald’s gas station. As we were pulling into the Travelodge, we saw the restaurant called Hooters. We’ve both never been. Jon asked me if it was on the same level as Moxy’s. I said that I didn’t know but it looks like it would be similar to church’s chicken. Ha-ha. Tomorrow, we’ll spend the whole day at Mall of America, the largest mall in America. We also get complimentary breakfast but we have to wake up before 9. Tonight, we’ll watch some more Lord of the Rings.

Good Night!