Dad's Route 66 Blog

Discovering Normal Rockwell's America

Chicago — Day 2

Written By: trevixan - Jul• 04•11

Ok .. it’s been a couple of days since I posted.  The hotel we were at was having massive wifi problems.  Last night it was fine.  Anyway, on to Friday’s activities.

First of all, because of the expensive parking in Chicago, we decided to get a CTA Fun Pass and take public transportation into the city.  This gives us access to all trains and buses in the city.  Makes things much less stressful for me, the driver.  This was our stop.

If you look close enough .. you can see our car. Look at the lower right corner of the Forest Park sign. It’s pointing straight to our Toyota.

Here comes our train.

Typical subway train.

Ok .. now we transfer to another train.

Now, we have this Go Chicago card that gets us many amenities. One of them is a hop-on-and-off trolley. For some reason, I don’t appear to have a picture of it. I know I have some pictures of when we were atop a double-decker bus. Anyway, we have to go into the Palmer House. This is a Hilton Hotel. Very swank. Anyway, I think I found my next job. Wanna move to Chicago dear?

Here are some things we saw from the top of the double-decker bus.

That’s the Art Institute of Chicago. The next one shows just how high we are in the bus.

And some random stuff.

It was extremely odd weather on Friday. Not really hot, very windy, very stormy looking. I hope those pictures turned out. Here’s one I particularly like.

Our first stop was at the Adler Planetarium.

Before we go in .. I had to get a picture of the skyline.

The planetarium was your standard planetarium. Nothing spectacular. We watched a 3-D show about the universe. There were the normal exhibits so I won’t bore you with the details.

However, when we got out of the planetarium .. what we saw .. wow. I hope you can see what I mean in the following pictures. Look at the clouds.

Next stop is the Shedd Aquarium. This is a nice aquarium. We almost didn’t go because the line was out the door, down the stairs, and way down the walk way. Then I noticed a sign pointing those with a Go Chicago card a different way. We went into the group entrance and got in line. The line was 2-3 people deep. Took us less than five minutes.

Here are some pictures. Caviar anyone?

And .. I think I found Nemo.

And what would an aquarium be without jelly fish?

All this walking around an aquarium, sure works up an appetite. When in Chicago …

That’s a Chicago Dog. It has tomato, onion, peppers, pickle, celery salt, and mustard. I made the mistake of putting ketchup on it. I’m sorry .. I didn’t know!

Now it’s off to the last museum of the day. It is a museum of natural history. Since it is right across the street from Soldier Field, where Da Bears play, it’s called The Field Museum. It’s your typical natural history museum and has the obvious exhibits. Here are a few.

This next one is sponsored by McDondalds.

So .. if you’ve ever wondered what went into a Big Mac .. now you know.

One final picture for the day. Look like anyone you know? (Inside joke with my family)

So .. after the Field Museum, we pretty much went back to our hotel. Next time it will be Chicago — Day 3, the Navy Pier and an architectural cruise on the Chicago River.

Until next time.

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11 Comments

  1. Annette Thorsen says:

    A sound idea all the way around taking the public transportation and allowing yourself a measure of safety and being able to relax. Kudos to you dear. Thank you so much for the efforts of the pictures and letting us enjoy it along side you. The clouds sure do look ominous. The museum pics were nice and the whimsy of the Nemo comment and McDonalds. Then rounding it up with what I assume is the three-toed sloth I thought was humorous. I was once told that a three-toed sloth is an animal some find worth emulating. For it has the ability to move quickly, but chooses not to. 🙂 Happy trails to you both!

    • trevixan says:

      Yeah .. driving around Chicago is worse than driving around New York City, believe it or not. It looks like they’re re-doing all of the roads in Chicago. Very difficult to get around. This forces all the cars onto the few streets that are still navigable.

      And yes, that is a 3-toes sloth. One of my favorite critters. Yes, again, it has been written that they have all of the body structure to move quickly, but just choose not to.

      No one I know exhibits this behavior! :O)

  2. Retha says:

    Hi Dale,

    What an awesome photographer you are! I loved the photos of the clouds. It actually seemed like a twister was forming. I guess you are in the “windy city.” My favorite pics are of the aquarium. I loved the beautiful and colorful fish, and I am so relieved that someone finally found Nemo! How smart to get a transportation pass and then you don’t have to worry about the driving and the cost of PARKING which can be atrocious in Chicago. I’m still waiting for you to say that you two had a good BBQ meal. Get a picture of it. I’m salivating already. They have great bbq there. Thanks for the pics. It’s been a great ride so far. Have fun and be safe you two. Retha

    • trevixan says:

      BBQ and Chicago don’t really go hand-in-hand. St. Louis, however, that’s another story. I will definitely have BBQ there. We expect to be in St. Louis tomorrow and you will most definitely get pictures!

      Thanks for the appreciation. I am having fun with this trip. It’s tiring so we’re relaxing a little bit today. Toured around Springfield and are staying at a cool hotel. Part of the hotel is the first Holiday on Route 66. You should see the Route 66 paraphernalia here. Don’t worry .. you will! :O)

  3. Tressa says:

    Great picture of the jelly fish. They are my favorite!

  4. Alexander Thorsen says:

    wow. the clouds almost looked fake. kind of looked like van Goughs starry night painting.

  5. Connie Wyatt says:

    I am really enjoying all the photos that you are including! The shots are so clear and crisp! I, too, enjoyed the pics of the stormy skies! Thanks so much for sharing! I look forward to seeing more!

    I think your idea of getting a pass for the transportation around the city is very wise! Driving and looking for parking in a big city is no fun. I think you will actually see more when you can gaze about freely and not have to keep your eyes on the idiot…uh, driver in front of you!

    Your hotdog looked yummy! Interesting mix of condiments! I’ll have to get more adventurous than just mustard, I guess! LOL!

    Have a great day!

    Connie

  6. Lorraine Albaugh says:

    The clouds sure look like something from a scary movie(Indiana Jones) didn’t know clouds could look like that. I like our California clouds–not so scary looking! Someone is taking great pictures keep it up. Am enjoying the ride.

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