Meredith: Hannah and I have wanted to go on a trip together for some time now. I told her a year ago to start researching, up to one state over, a place she would want to go on vacation with me. She of course tried to get away with Paris, London and Hollywood. I don't think so, not unless you're payin' girlfriend. She looked into Cleveland, Cinnci, PA and Chicago and decided that Chicago was it. I thought more than one state over was ok for Chicago considering that the three main attractions that she wanted to see when all with in a few miles of each other. We ended up making it a vacation for three. I wanted Tommy to come along to be there with us. It was still "our trip" we just had our security with us! Lol.
We were going to leave at 4 in the morning on Tuesday, After some thought we decided to add an extra day to the trip so that we could leave around 10am on Monday. That way we wouldn't have to "rush" the activities we want to hit in Chicago. It's a fairly long ride. I used to go on long vacation rides with my rents when I was younger but it had been a while since I was in the car for 8 hours at a time. Although we had a lot of fun in the car and on our stops.“So far we've been jamming to Miley, Taylor and Michael Jackson.” Hannah says, “Duh, It's the way to go!” We drove hundreds miles (lol) before we stopped for lunch. Although we were only in the car for twenty before we needed a bathroom break! Hello, two girls in the back seat, who was Tommy kidding?!!! He ended up going to Chicago with us as our chauffeur... no to be confused with chaperone, Hannah. Hannah packed Oreo's and Gold Fish. We were golden! No pun intended.
Hannah: I swear the goldfish I packed taste just like the "Manna from Heaven" lol. I've got bwanky (childhood blanket) in the backseat with me (:. 1:39 are we there yet?
Meredith: For lunch we stopped at a rest stop around 4 pm. Sounds more like dinner but wansn't. All three of us packed lunches and ate outside at a picnic table. Guess who comes walking by? An American Bull Dog named Stella. We of course said, “Hi!” and took pictures! Lol. Stella's Mommy and Daddy are getting married 09-10-11. We are already booked but we're going to refer them to friends of ours. They even live in Cleveland. Too funny that we met in near South Bend, Indiana. Hannah took the profile picture of her, herself and I got one of the two of them.
Hannah: OMG!!! WE SAW THIS DROP DEAD GORGEOUS AMERICAN BULLDOG AT A REST STOP!!!! She was so pretty we got pics of her lol. Meredith noticed her mommy's ring and she said she was a wedding photographer and the lady was like, we need a photographer, so Meredith went to get a business card and they seemed to really like their photography. The dogs name was Stella. She is stunning :)
Meredith: For a little while Hannah slept and I played on my phone and talked to Tommy. We also played the license plate game on the way. The pic below was taken only after an hour in the car. We got so many by the end of the our day trip!
We made it!
We pulled up to the first Toll Booth and saw this. Yes we were confused! Why did we have to pay $15 on our trip? We didn't budget for that! LOL!
Booooooooooooooo!
So we see our first veiw of the city and it's foggy but cool! Hannah was so excited, "We Made it to Chicago! We Made it to Chicago!" is all we sang the whole way into downtown.
So we played the license plate game and I saw this Montana Van. I told Hannah that I should ask Jill if it counts, cause we don't have Montana yet? She laughed. As we're driving on we check the vans plate anyway it's Illinois like the rest in rush hour traffic, oh no, it's Rhode Island! Sweet!
I took this picture for Mom. She's from Cumberland! Love you!
I thought this was funny. "Fabulous Retail Coming Soon... Like What?"
Meredith: When Hannah planned our trip we had not idea that the Aquarium was free this week. It turned out to be great because we budgeted out $35 each for admission. The only bad part about free admission... the line to get in. We got there an hour and half after they opened and we had, no exaggeration, at least 350 people in line ahead of us. So, one hour and ten minutes after we stepped into the line, we got to the front door. While in line we met a girl named Destinee and her mom; Crystal. By the time we got in, the four of us had mapped out our entire day together! Well at least til 5 when we were off to the Navy Pier to find some pizza pie!
Of course there are always extra things, you can pay for, to do. We were so happy because it only costs $24 for all four of the “extras” that they have to offer. Since we had $35 in our budget we decided to spend $24 of it on the extras! SO WORTH IT! My favorite was the “4D Experience of Happy Feet”. Never have I had such a roller coaster feel in a theatre before. If the screen showed the penguins trying to walk through a snow storm, fake snow came blowing out of the sides of the theatre. If the fish were swimming fast, through the ocean, in the movie; the bubble machine came on at full blast etc.
Hannah: There were about 10,000 people in front of us in the line to get in. We waited for like 5 hours but it was worth it! Might be a lil bit of an exaggeration. I met a girl named Destinee. She's about the coolest 10 year old I've ever met in my life. The best animal there were the sharks. I loved them because they were cute and cuddly looking with their big sharp teeth. Yes you read that correctly.
Meredith: After the Shedd Aquarium we said goodbye to our friends and headed over to the peir. We asked someone how to get there and they said it's best to take the boat. If you take a taxi it will coast at least $12. If you take the “Water Taxi” it's only $7 and you get a great view of the city from the water. Sold! We really enjoyed our selves on the 2nd floor looking out at the water and back at the city. Once we got to the Pier, we stepped off the boat right in front of the “Harry Caray's Tavern”. I was so giddy inside. I didn't know it existed. Of course I got my pic taken there, we walked though and looked at the baseball memorabilia.
Hannah: We took the Water Taxi “boat” from the Shedd Aquarium to the Navy Pier and I sat upstairs with my pop from the bar on the boat. The boat was very rocky and not so smooth sailing like the one I took to Oakercoke. It was gorgeous to see the Chicago Sky line on the water too.
Meredith: We walked the pier for hours just exploring each and every nook and cranny. The weather was a little showery but that's ok. We knew that it was going to be and that's why we planned mostly indoor things for the day. I should mention that you can walk the mile of the pier either inside or out. We just walked the inside on Tuesday. With in there was a Stain Glass Window Museum. I thought that it was going to be small. Oh no! Lots to see. I took tons of pix. I narrowed down for facebook and the blog. They were all so beautiful. Lots of angels and biblical figures were displayed with intricate detail in a few. Wow. So glad we took the time to walk. After that, as we continued down, we found pizza. Hannah will tell you more. It tasted great. I got a deep dish of pepperoni. I was really happy that it was only $4.50 too. I was afraid that they were going to be asking 7 bucks or something. Hannah and I split a pop and sat out on a bench and faced the water. Walking back we stopped at “The Maize – Fun House”. Hannah found it on a web site while she was researching. We had great expectations and high hopes. Parts of it were a little lame but for the most part really really well done. I screamed at least three times and was a little nervous the whole time. It took about 14 minutes to get though and $10. Hannah was “my older sister” the whole time. I was holding on to her for dear life.
Hannah: We walked the Pier and all of its stores. I got an adorable new necklace there. We went to the Stain Glass Window Museum and it was very cool. I loved how some of them had super bright colors in them. We were walking up and down the pier asking people where to get Chicago style pizza and NO ONE KNEW!!!!! Isn't Chicago supposed to be all about Pizza? Hello? Finally after walking a mile down the pier we saw a sign that says FOOD and we were hoping that they just might have pizza, they did! Sausage Pizza so I got it and it was Delicious! We sat outside, “On a bench, facing lake Michigan, eating Chicago Style Pizza, in the typical Chicago weather... in Chicago!” We are like Chicagoans! The Fun House was way cool and I enjoyed it a lot. My favorite part was the Spinning Bridge (in the dark).
Meredith: We played Jenga and I won. The plan was to play three or four rounds but the first game took forever and by the end of it we were tired. LOL! We also got ice cream and two spoons and passed a pint of chocolate back and fourth. Totally just like us!
Hannah: When we got back to the hotel the front desk dude complemented Meredith on her Pop-tab Purse (Just one more person of the 5,280 other people on our trip that already had). After talking to him we bought Ice Cream at the front desk and took it back to the room and played Jenga. See video below!
End of Day One and Two! Day Three and Four will Follow Soon!
I love the ceiling tiles in the lobby of the shedd aquarium too! got pics of it I liked it so much. Glad you looked up and noticed them but with that horrific 5000 people line (LOL) you'd have to! cant wait to see the rest. the eople on the pier didn't know where the pizza was cuz they are all TOURISTS!!! :)
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