CHICAGO

On the last day of Angie's visit, we decided to entertain ourselves by taking a day trip to the Windy City. It was a beautiful sunny day without a cloud in the sky. We planned our trip the night before we left so that we could squeeze as much as possible into our short visit. The plan was to leave early, get to Chicago, visit the Lincoln Park Zoo, Navy Pier, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Science and Industry, and then end with famous Chicago stuffed pizza before our drive back to Indy. With all of these plans and schedules, you would think we had it down to a science, but alas, we quickly remembered that we are not schedule-type people... We did not even leave home until 9:00, which put us in Chicago by around 11:30.

So, instead we headed straight for Navy Pier (since there just happened to be a sweet, yet very expensive, parking space).

Whilst at the pier, we decided now was as good a time as any to try the infamous Chicago dogs we had all heard so much about. Here we are devouring our hot dogs, garnished with ketchup, mustard, onion, tomatoes, and topped with a pickle spear. At first I thought it was weird that it had the pickle on it, and then it occurred to me, what exactly is relish? Here's my sign... Mark ate a San Francisco dog as a tribute to Nikki. His had all the fixin's of the Chicago dog, but was also topped with chili and cheese.

After chompin' down on our dogs (and realizing that our plans would have to be altered) we began our forever-long walk toward the Shedd Aquarium. (It can't be that long of a walk, can it Smange; after all, you can see the top of the building from the pier...) On our way toward the elusive aquarium, Mark could not help but check out the Buckingham Fountain that he had been waiting so long to see. So we took a very short detour over to the fountain. Look at the gleam in his eyes - I guess it doesn't take too much to please him. At last, we finally had the whole building within our grasp, so we decided it would be appropriate to pose as two of the sharks we were about to see... Look at Angie's face - she really got into character.

Of course, it is always necessary to stop every 20 feet to snap a picture.

After about 4 hrs at the aquarium, and another good long time deciding how to get from the aquarium to our next destination, we finally settled down at GIORDANO'S... the BEST pizza in America. You have never tasted any pizza like it. Although Mark may now disagree, since he has tasted it in reverse... Hooray for food poisoning (but not from the pizza)!

And here we are, a little delirious from the long day, ready for the three hour drive home.

I guess all of Angies fears and worries about joining Dorothy on the other side of the rainbow via tornado will just have to wait until her next trip to Indiana.

Some good food?

Angie was WAY too excited to try White Castle - it was on her "to do" list for Indiana. When she first got off the plane, she said she had to try White Castle. Apparently, she is an avid Wayne's World fan, and because they eat at White Castle there, she just had to try it. We warned her that it would be gross (we didn't know just how gross), but she thought we were just being picky. So, inevitably we found ourselves at the White Castle drive in last night. We ordered two "slider" meals to split, complete with a famous White Castle chocolate shake. Angie was so excited... The girl at the window handed her the chocolate shake first, and all her dreams began to fade into the darkness... How can you mess up a chocolate shake? I don't know, but it was like a really bad, gritty, frozen slim fast. YUK! We were going to ask them to change it to vanilla, but Angie was too timid, so we just threw it away. Next, we were handed our "sliders" - which are tiny cheeseburgers, or so we thought. Because the shake was so nasty, we decided to go next door and order a new chocolate shake at McDonald's, since Angie didn't sign up for frozen slim fast. Meanwhile, sitting in line for McD's, we decided that we ought to try the sliders to make sure they were ok, since the shake was not. HOLY CRAP!!! Don't know what those were made of, but it was comparable to boiled cow udder or something. Maybe.

It is possible that it was actually carpincho or capybara, the largest rodent in the world. Marinated in carpincho droppings and drippings, and boiled until nice and grey.

Check this out. YUMMY! Needless to say, we threw ALL of our food away at the McD's trash bin and ordered three double cheeseburgers and a new chocolate shake. We should have ordered fries, too, because White Castle even managed to screw those up. If you ever get a chance to go there, pass.

Seriously? More pictures?

Mark likes to take pictures of everything, I think just because he knows I tire of it very quickly. We always have our camera with us whenever we do anything, even if it is just going downtown. Here we are standing in the circle of Indy - I felt like a tourist in my own city, which Mark knows is one of my pet peeves.

Angie and I decided that it wasn't fair for us to have to pose for every picture, while he only had to be the photographer. So here we are recreating a scene on the monument behind us. As we were doing it, a big group of people walked by us and laughed, so I think Mark was pleased.

Another photo? Come on, Mark...

A Day at the Gardens

After walking around Indy and taking a short trip up to Carmel to visit the Clay Terrace Mall, Mark decided he was not entertained enough and that the day would not be complete without a trip to the Lilly mansion. Of course, that involved a walking tour, or should I say hike, through the gardens.

As you can tell from the picture, we were both so happy to oblige Mark's relentless need to explore every last inch of the gardens. I think you can see that some of us were a little more excited about it than others.

After some time out in the fresh, misty air and a restroom break, it was time to get down with our bad selves. This included some great photo ops in the garden. Here, Mark and Angie thought I should give the camera a show. I am sure the other visitors to the gardens had a good laugh at these acrobatic skills.

You may have thought it ended there, but Mark took this when he asked us to "back out" of the picture frame so he could get one without us in it.

This is just a small part of the grounds at the mansion. We ended up having a sweaty, sticky, fun time, but it was nice to be heading home for a relaxing night at home.

Bat Man!

We couldn't just not show you the bat!

Marengo Caves

On day one of Angie's visit to our quaint town of Indy, we decided to take in the outdoors. We drove to Marengo Caves in southern Indiana and spent the afternoon spelunking. Southern Indiana is a cave crawler's paradise. We have over 2,600 known caves, including some of the longest in the United States. Marengo Cave is an old hag. It began forming over a million years ago. There is still an active river flowing through the lower levels of the cave. You can actually take kayak tours through the caves, but with the way Kristin swims, we thought it would be better to walk. Maybe next time, after Kristin has had proper training, we will be adventurous and take the kayak tour.



This is a picture just outside the gift shop area. Even though it was a humid 90 degrees, we knew the caves were going to be around 52 degrees. I guess the limestone keeps the temperature inside the caves at an average. In Indy we go from 0 to 100, so it makes sense that our average temperature would be just around 50. Since Angie can't tollerate anything below Las Vegas's average of what, 90? She requested a jacket to keep her happy.

This is just outside the entrance to the cave before we began our descent.

Over an hour later and more than 200 feet underground, we learned that stalagtites hold tight to the ceiling, stalagmites might reach the ceiling, and columns are what form when they do.

This is one of the last pictures we took before leaving the cave. We made jokes about bats the entire time we were down there, and just after we took this picture, we saw one clinging to the ceiling. So after that, it was definitely time to go. Fortunately, our mile and a half tour was over, the bat was asleep, and we were out before he woke up.

Tornadoes anyone?

Look at this picture Mark took from our back yard last night. I have never seen lightning that clear before. I thought it was awesome he timed it just right. Way to go, Mark! You are such a great photographer!


Gotcha! We got this picture off the internet. It sure as hell wasn't in our back yard, or maybe it was - we were in our closet...

This, however, was closer to home...

This is one of the covered bridges about an hour from us. Last night there were several reported tornadoes in the state. Don't freak out though, Angie... We know your prayers will save us all while you are here. We are actually looking forward to the additional protection. Thanks, Smange!