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.