Chicago!!!

Craig and I decided that we should spend some time in Chicago while the weather was still nice.  We had a really great time.  There are a lot of things I love about Chicago.  AND some things that are not so smurfy.  We bought a Chicago GO Card.  It was expensive, but we got into all the following attractions for free.  It paid for itself on the very first day.

Monday, we parked near the museums.  We visited the planetarium.  They have a gorgeous view of the skyline.

As you can see, the day was perfect.  There were several wedding parties taking pictures with this beautiful view.

And, it appears like science geeks also have a sense of humor.

We then walked over to Soldier Field, where the Chicago Bears play (for all you non-sports readers).

Please excuse the nice man sitting in our photo.

It is a beautiful stadium.  We wanted to go on the tour, but the next one wasn't until Tuesday and it was somewhat pricey.  It may not surprise you to know EVERYTHING was pricey.

We walked from there to the aquarium.  It is the second largest aquarium in the nation.  These were our favorite fish.

You can't read the sign above this exhibit, but it says Chameleons.  Do you see everyone intently trying to find them.  I mean, how would you know if there were any in there or not?  I didn't even bother looking.

Right next door is the Museum of Natural History.  We wanted to spend some time there, but had run out of parking time on the meter.  We were also running out of daylight.  Our GO pass didn't work after 5:30.  BTW, parking on this street was $2.00 an hour.  AND, we got ticketed by the rent-a-cop for not having a front license plate.  Really???  We stayed for four hours, then drove into "the city."

We found a self-serve parking garage.  The parking here is on a sliding scale, depending on how long you stay.  We decided to walk around and find a place to eat.  We ended up walking down to Trump Towers.  Craig was somewhat disappointed to see only "one" tower.  There are actually several towers, but only one tall one.

We decided to have dinner here just so we could say that we did.  There are two restaurants on the 16th floor.  One restaurant is a "tasting" restaurant, whatever that means.  We went to the other one.  We ended up having shrimp bites.  They were just that - bites.  Five of them about two bites each.  $23.  No potatoes, no salad, no veggies.  Just the shrimp bites, and a very, very small coke.  Let's just say, we won't be going back any time soon.

Here was our view from the tower.  It was beautiful, if not a little chilly.

We found the Miracle Mile (a mile of shops similar to Rodeo Drive).  We found the theater section.  "Newsies" was playing but the tickets were too expensive for our trip.  We saw lots and lots of people:  walking, riding bikes, riding on the "L".  You can tell the native Chicago-ans.  They don't believe in waiting for the traffic lights.  They just cross and dodge cars.  The traffic was crazy.  Dangerous.  We decided to have some dessert in a local sports bar because the football game was on 100 TV's.  But it was too crowded.  We ended up leaving the city to try and find a reasonably priced hotel.  We drove about 20 miles north to find a room less than $200.  Then we found a wonderful diner and had dinner - again.  Something more than 10 bites.

Tuesday, we returned to the city and got tickets for the "hop-on-hop-off" trolley.  We parked in another garage and rode the trolley around.  Our first stop was Navy Pier.  This is similar to Santa Monica Pier.  There are amusement rides, shops, restaurants, and boats ready to whisk you off for rides on Michigan Lake.  Just by chance, we stopped at Billy Goat Tavern.  Here is the view from the restaurant.  We had cheeseburgers.  There isn't anything else on the menu.  The only toppings were mustard, catsup, onions, and pickles.  No fries, just chips.  

I felt like I was in the Saturday Night Live skit.  

Craig is sitting just to the right of the doors.

From here, we went on the Architecture Boat Ride.  We learned a lot about the buildings as we traveled up the Chicago River.

It wasn't very crowded, as you can see.

 Another view of the tower.

By the time the cruise was over, it was getting late in the afternoon.  We had planned to go up to the top of the Sears Tower, also known as the Willis Tower, but the trolley tour was ending and we never got there.  We missed our chance to go up in the John Hancock Building.

I'm not sorry.  I get nervous up high.  Always worried about earthquakes - even in Chicago.  They assured me again and again that they NEVER have them here.  But you know, it only takes one to set the precedence.  

After the trolley dumped us, we decided to walk back to our car.  On the way, we stumbled across Millennium Park.  There is a hugh amphitheater.  It looks space-agey.  That row of red near the grass is actually dozens of rows of chairs.  It's HUGE!!  

 We also found "the bean."  It is a giant kidney-bean shaped, highly polished, piece of artwork.  It is highly reflective.  You can see the skyline reflected in this view.

Here is a picture of Craig and I.  We are together, right in the middle of the other groups.  I've got the camera.

Another gorgeous view of the reflected skyline.  Everywhere, people are walking around it, looking at themselves and the city.  It was really amazing.

We had dinner here at the park.

As we got up to leave, I noticed a stain on the back of Craig's pants.  He had what we thought were mosquito bites on his legs, but now they were apparently oozing through his slacks.  We found a CVS and bought some gauze pads to cover them for the trip home.  

(He went to the hospital today:  poison ivy)

We decided we weren't ready to leave just yet, but as we walked around we saw fewer and fewer people and it was unnerving.  We decided it was probably time to go home anyway.  It only cost us $40 to get our car out of the lot.  Sheesh.  No wonder people use public transportation.  Who can afford the parking?

Back to missionary work.  Woke up this morning and while Craig was mowing lawns, I prepared my Seminary lesson, reviewed and made suggestions for the Primary Sacrament Meeting Program, spent some time looking for Primary crafts for "after" the program, and started my lesson for Sunday.  

I wanted to share some of the service that's been keeping us busy, but that will have to wait for another post.  

Anne was right - Chicago is a wonderful place -- expensive, but wonderful.  I'm glad we got to spend some time there.  

It's September Already

Our current release date is March 10.  That means that September 10 will be our 1/2 way mark.  The time has gone so quickly.  Here are a few things we've done in the past two weeks or so.

I helped Stacey with her garden.  Her squash was infected with powdery mildew.  I tell you that stuff is really hard to get rid of.  Almost every garden has it.

Even with the mildew, her squash gourds are overrunning the garden.  They have totally overtaken the strawberries and are creeping out everywhere.

 The sisters were there helping us pick beans.  Some of the beans had this white fuzzy stuff.  At first, I thought it was cocoon stuff, but no, just some kind of fungus.

Gross, huh.  You can see how tall her corn is.  It must be 12 feet high.

This is Hermana Ramirez and Hermana Escobar.  We LOVE them.  

It seems like the fungus in the beans was finally the death of them.  I helped Stacey pull them all up.  It still seems weird to me that you can just dump this stuff at the curb.  But that's what they do.

Our good friend, John Luzer, had some major surgery on Thursday.  Before he went to the hospital, Craig, Brother Swope, and President Portwood went over to his house to give him a blessing.  After the blessing, he invited us to pick corn.  He MOSTLY grows field corn, but had several rows of sweet corn.

Can you see how the sweet corn in front is shorter?  Anyway, we loaded up the car with corn.  It was delicious.  We gave lots away, but it was funny how many people said, No Thanks, they already had corn.  After all, it's plentiful in these parts.

Here is Sister Swope with her arms loaded.  You can see Craig behind her picking away.

We have an alfalfa field nearly across the street from us.  Having never seen alfalfa grow, I was kind of surprised.

It's a low growing bush, no bigger than your knees maybe.

The man who owns this field has already harvested it three times.  It's like grass.  It just keeps growing back.  Not a bad return for your investment.  They cut it, let it dry, then bundle it up.

We had our "Day of Service" today with the Branch.  We went to a nursing home in Francesville.  One of the things they wanted done was to repaint the shuffleboard courts.  

Here are the before pictures:

We restriped the lines, washed windows, and cleaned up the yard some.

The courts look great!  Then we enjoyed a wonderful pulled-pork lunch.  Good times.

Last Monday we went to the temple with Jay.  He is a newly baptized member and wanted to do baptisms for the dead.  Both sisters who worked with him were able to go as well.  Robert Wagner and his family also joined us.

This is Robert Wagner, his wife, Pam, and son, Daniel.

We stopped on the way up to meet others and carpool, and look what we saw in the MacDonald's parking lot:

They were on their way to a car show.  The police pulled them over just to look at the car.  Too funny.

After the temple, we crowded into Giordano's for pizza.  YUM!!!  It was a small room.  Everyone there was with us.

Last week, Craig and I went to Indianapolis.  We looked up some of the tourist spots.  We saw the Lucas Oil Stadium where the Colts play.

Not too far from that is a State Park.  We rented a tandem bicycle (that was an adventure) and rode down the canal.

We then stopped at the NCAA Museum.

Of course, we had to go to Indianapolis Speed Way.  It was huge!  The track is a mile long and a quarter mile wide.  In the center is a museum.  You cannot see the whole track, only a section at a time.  It just looks different on TV.  Anyway, the museum had some really nice cars.

 Cars used in the beginning of the raceway.
Cars that look just like pinewood derby cars.

AND, the Spirit of America.  Even "I" knew what that was.

 They also had this really cool quilt on the wall.  I loved it.

The names were signed and then embroidered.  

The morning of the drags it was rainy.  The races were delayed three or four hours.  It gave us time to walk around and get signatures.  The drivers are really good about standing by their trailers and talking to fans.

This is Craig talking to Erica Enders.

And posing with .Jeg Coughlin.

Don Garlits was charging money for a picture with him.  Whatever.

It wasn't super crowded, but then again, it was qualifying only.  I guess the weekends are really crowded.

It wasn't too loud until the funny cars ran.  Oh my gosh!  Really, really loud.  You can see we both had plugs in our ears.  And even then, you had to put your hands over your ears when the cars ran.

The flames look totally cool.  It was getting evening when this first group ran.

By the time the top fuel dragsters ran it was about 10 at night.

 Please excuse the two men who stood up and walked right in front of me just as the race began.  Grrr.

One last bit of service, we fixed the roof leak on the Rodriquez home.  YAY for Craig!  They thought it was a miracle.  Seriously, he just climbed up there and sprayed some Flex Seal.  He let it dry and gave it a second coat.  IT WORKED!!!  They were so grateful.  Now we just need to help them repair the damage done by the rain.  We love them.  They are a wonderful family.  If only they knew how much they needed the gospel and how much we need them.  Well, maybe, some day.