Chicago - Road Trip Day 6

Chicago is a pretty cool town. I wish we had a bunch more time here. Our friend Rich got us some free tickets to the Shedd aquarium. But first we were on a mission to get a new iPhone for our friend. There was an Apple store in downtown so we headed there.

We headed into town on the El. Again, I love mass transit. It doesn't solve all of life's problems, but at least we didn't have to drive or park around downtown. Our man picked up a new iPhone and we headed to the aquarium.

The Shedd was pretty cool. I love going to a place where I can learn new things. Upstairs they had a bunch of Sea Dragons. Those were very cool. They look like almost mythical creatures. Downstiars they also have a bunch of ottters. Otters are so neat an playful. They seem a lot like people in a way. They also had a couple of Sea Lions from the Columbia river. I guess they were removed from the Bonneville dam becuase they were feasting on all the Chinook salmon in the fish ladder. Also the Wild Reef was great. I was very impressed with the Sawfish. The only bad part about it was the croud. If you can, I suggest going on a weekday rather than a Saturday. It was really packed.

From there we met back up with Rich, and were going to head back to his place. But back on the El we met some girls who were just getting back from the Sox game. They were having a post-game party and invited us to join them. A big thanks to Amy for having us over at her place. As she explained it, from all her travels the best times were from hanging out with local people she just met. I couldn't agree more. We had a blast. Most of the time was spent on the roof of her building right off of Lake Michigan (nice view). Laurie taught us how to play "bags". By which they mean bean bags. For the game there are two boards set about ten paces apart. Each about eighteen inches by two and a half feet. There is also a five inch hole in the boards. There are two teams of two based on color of bean bags. Each pair stands opposite of each other. Each side takes turns throwing the bags onto the opposite board. Landing on the board is a point, in the hole is three points, and hanging into the hole is 2 points. You have to get exactly to 21, and going over drops you down to 13 points. I guess this is a midwest thing, but it was a lot of fun. Our poker playing friend picked up a new nickname as Laurie kept calling him "Stranger". Again thanks to Amy and Laurie for showing a great time.

As were we getting hungry we decided to head out and get some Chicago style pizza. So we got back on the train and headed over to Pequod's Pizza. Now there is some great pizza. This is the thick kind that really makes meal. I think we were all groaning on the way back from being too full. The only bad thing is that you basically have to eat it with a fork and knife. I always thought that looked and felt weird. Then again, it does look better than trying to jam a fistful of thick wadded pizza into your mouth. So I let it slite.

We headed back to Rich's place to crash again. Big thanks to him for letting us stay. He is super cool guy to hang out with. All in all a great day. Now to get some sleep. Another big day tomorrow.

-Dravis