Oh man, we had a spectacular weekend.
It started Friday when I took the day off so we could get on the road early for Milwaukee. Spent the morning preparing for the trip. At about 1:30, went and picked up Tabby & Ben from schools, then hit the road.
We picked up Jack as we drove by Sheboygan and arrived at Sam's place about supper time. Becky, who had been preparing for the trip for weeks, had a lasagna to throw in the oven. Sam put his finishing touches on our new computer. We chatted for a bit. Jack & I hit the store for some last minute items we'd forgotten then we all crashed for the night.
Saturday morning we were up early, ate breakfast and hit the road for Chicago. Becky & I had given our family a trip to the Shedd for Christmas! We tried finding deals online and found several "deals" that really didn't amount to much. Best we found was that the cost of a Family Membership was $6 cheaper than full price, plus we could return any time this year for free! And Becky saw so many cool photo ops as we drove through Chicago that she is just itchin' to go back for our anniversary.
We had a great time there. I think the dolphin show was everyone's favorite, but there were a lot of cool displays. We must have spent 15 minutes right off the bat taking pictures at the Caribbean tank. We ate lunch at a booth right next to the Beluga whale display. We walked through display after display until our legs ached too bad to go on ... and we didn't quite see it all. Close .. but not quite all.
We stopped at Perkins for dinner just south of Milwaukee before dropping off Sam.
It turns out that Jack has been in the process of adopting a dog and its foster family was in West Allis, about 15 minutes from Sam's place. So we stopped there on our way out of town to pick up a cute little Jack Russel Terrier mix named Annie.
The weather was kind of sloppy from about the time we left and threatened to get worse as we drove north. Sure enough it did. By them time we hit Sheboygan the roads were treacherous enough we just crashed for the night at Jack's place.
We had a nice leisurely Sunday morning and drove home on well cleared roads. I spent most of the day setting up our new computer. Ben went in to work at 4:00. Tabby & I went to Yoga at 6:00.
There were some bumps this weekend. Our car died (temporarily), something went wrong with our computer while transferring files from the old drive and I had to reinstall Windows, the weather. But you know, those were all overshadowed by the good times. Yeah, it was a pretty spectacular weekend.
2 weeks ago
Ah, the Shedd Aquarium is great! I was partial to the nautiloids and jellyfish, myself. :-)
ReplyDeleteWe went there waaaayyyyyy back in the year in 2000 (Yikes! Was it really that long ago?) and vacationed a couple days in Chicago. We spent one day at the Shedd, and one day at the Field Museum to see the (then) brand new Sue the T-Rex installation. Our eldest daughter, Tara, was really into dinosaurs at the time, so she was really excited to see it. Alas, I regret not springing the money to see the "Star Wars" exhibit at the Field Museum. For some dumb reason, I was a cheapskate about it. Sigh.
When will I learn and why is the answer to that question always "Never"? :-)
Of the Museum Campus attractions, The Field, Shedd and Adler, I think the Field is my favorite ... and yet it's the one we never seem to get to. Becky & I went once, but arrived late, there was a long line and we only got, maybe, 2 hours in the museum. Not enough.
DeleteThe Adler Planetarium is cool, especially if you take kids. Lots of displays illustrating scientific principles aimed at youngsters. I think my family's favorite is the Shedd though. We've gone a few times and that's the one we seem to go back to when we want a day in Chicago.