One Short Day in the Windy City

So today was the day Carl and I planned as cushion room in order to properly spend time exploring Chicago like the cute tourists we are. We started the day by waking 20 minutes later than we planned (because someone accidentally left their phone on vibrate all night (which I find odd - the fact that his alarm doesn't ignore the "vibrate" mode - mine does)). We dressed and downed some corn flakes - Carl thought I should add the fact that I felt it necessary to explore the kitchen for a pyrex in order to measure my cereal/milk. Hey, a girl's gotta do what she's gotta do. We then walked to the L (yes Josh, I checked, it is proper both as L and El) only to find that we needed to walk a few more blocks in order to obtain our "day passes" so of course, we did that and then backtracked to the station and boarded for the day ahead.

After transferring lines, we ended up near Shedd Aquarium - only not near enough Shedd to know where we had to go. We guessed which direction to walk and walked the wrong way 2 - 3 city blocks (to Target!) and then a nice lady on a bike told us we had to turn around - so we did. At Shedd, we of course saw plenty of fishes and other interesting animals (including a PYTHON and Iguanas). Here is Carl standing next to a replica of the biggest fish ever caught - he is a 10 foot long, 350 pound Arapamia fish that was caught in the Amazon (if I am not mistaken). We also saw sea otters which were actually very playful and were as always very cute (at the Zoo, they're usually pretty sleepy...). We saw dolphins (but not the dolphin show because I dunno why...), some beluga whales, sharks and plenty of penguins - but these weren't as cute or as lively as the ones at the zoo. They didn't swim at all and they just sat there. But there were two penguins in particular that were actually the most adorable ones I have ever seen...

After Shedd, we made our way over to Bin 36 - a restaraunt Aunt Jenny shared with me on my first trip here with her. We had some delicious Hummus and both had a wonderful corned beef sandwich with their excellent fries and (hard not soft) bread sticks. I'm pretty sure Carl really enjoyed it (I know I did). We decided we would then walk our way down to Navy Pier (mostly because everyone is always ranting and raving about it - we wanted to see what all the excitement was about for ourselves!). The only thing that was particularly interesting to us (and worth the walking - our feet were TIRED by this point) was riding on the ferris wheel - so we did. Carl was a little uneasy about the trip up to the top of the wheel (he's a little afraid of heights) but it was still a pretty enjoyable ride with a beautiful view. The wheel apparently runs nonstop so you have to jump on and off while its still moving ... that was great fun! It was in the plan to show Carl Millenium Park but after the Pier, we lazy Michiganders decided we would rather just head back "home" so we contacted Ted and set up a key exchange in the lobby of his work so the two of us could do that. Then Carl and I watched some CASH CAB (HOORAH!) and waited around for Ted to come home which then began the evening of Hockey (via my laptop because no channel is showing it here?) and chinese food for dinner (dispite our HUGE lunch and lack of extreme hunger) which is ALWAYS good.

Now, showered and exhausted (with pains in my head), I believe I leave the world to the hands of others while I attepmt to sleep for about 7 hours (for we are leaving at 6 tomorrow morning and needless to say will be getting up before then...). Who knows how long it will be before the next post ... hopefully not too long :)