Carolanne and Annie: Unleashed and Unsensored

This past week was quite the event - Mark's mom (Carolanne) and sister (Annie) came to Indy for a visit. Since it was Annie's first visit here and first vacation in a while, we thought she needed les voyage grands. We kicked off their visit with a two-day stay in Chicagoland, topped off by orchestra seats to "Wicked" the musical.

Here we are at the Oriental Theater in Chicago, just before we went into the play. The night was a bit stressful, in part because our wonderful tour guide and chauffeur (for the sake of anonymity, we'll call him Frankie) kept reminding everyone what time it was and that if we were late to the show, we would miss the first act. So after grabbing dinner, a sandwich from a local shop, and cramming in as much of it as possible in the two blocks between the "L" (the elevated mass transit in Chicago) and the theater, there we were at the show with at least 15 minutes to spare for a few pictures. Frankie would never forget to leave time for pictures. Thanks, Frankie...

Here are Annie and Carolanne outside the CHICAGO theater on our way back to the "L". Though she looks calm and collected here, Carolanne was terrified about taking public transportation. And as if learning to work the subway system wasn't enough (Wait, Mark! How do these dang cards open the gate?!), Carolanne had to buck up and brave the streets of Chicago, which were apparently swarming with shady characters. I mean look at all those scary people behind her; especially the old man to the right. I wouldn't want to be walking anywhere near those folks.


I guess Annie learned quickly that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. So here's her attempt to blend in with the rest of the weirdos running 'round Chi-town.


Safe and sound at last (at least until our train stop), Carolanne appears to have finally calmed her fears a bit and smiles for the camera.


The next day, we figured we should show Carolanne Chicago in the safety of daylight. This is the Museum of Science and Industry - luckily it was day time, or else you would not have caught us anywhere near this side of town. It was a really cool museum (although WAY out in BFE) with a special exhibit on glass. I think Annie was pretty disappointed though, as her special Siamese Twin and Fetus in a Bottle exhibit doesn't open until next year (You sicko!).

I guess you can tell Mark and I thought the glass exhibit was pretty cool. We especially liked these ones, although apparently not enough to recall what they were called. But they were really cool - when we looked at these, we were excited to find out if they had smaller versions of these available in the gift shop. Apparently, so did everyone else, because even the tiny ones were like $100. So we had to pass...

This was the best part: they did a live glass blowing demonstration. This guy made a vase for the audience, while the girl "worked" the crowd, explaining his actions step by step and answering questions.

This was one small part of the museum that we had to take a picture next to. It was representative of an old dentist's office. Mark and I were pretty surprised to see that many of the instruments look exactly the same today. Scary.

After a long cab ride back to downtown, we decided to check out the Art Institute of Chicago, which as luck would have it, was free.

This is the famous Seurat painting, "Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte." I couldn't believe how huge it was! Ha-ha, Ron... saw it before you did!

And this is a whole other story. (Check out Carolanne's face!) Ask me if you want details...

Extreme close-up. Again, ask if you want details. But be warned, this story is not for the faint of heart...

On our way back from Chicago, we just had to stop at the dairy farm. We bought tons of cheese (which is still sitting in our fridge), ate grilled cheese sandwiches, and finished with homemade ice cream. We thought maybe we should submit this little collage to the dairy farm to put on their website as an advertisement. Annie does such a great job portraying the "essence" of the farm...

Back in Indy, we did LOTS of shopping. And, as you may be able to tell, it was very humid. No, Annie does not have numerous bullous vesicles on her forehead. Those are, in fact, hundreds, maybe even thousands, of droplets of pure salty perspiration.

And here is a good old fashioned picture of the Circle in Indy. Notice I'm not in these pictures - I finally put my foot down.

Annie and Carolanne, however, were not above posing in the middle of the city. So here they are, carefully positioned against the backdrop of the State Capitol of good 'ole Indiana.

And here is our grande finale. This is art in its purest form. We call this piece "Sweat du Ass." I love how Annie was most willing to pose for this picture right in the middle of the customer service department of Nordstrom's. She seemed very comfortable with this recent finding at first, but soon found herself purchasing a new outfit to wear for the remainder of the day. Ask Annie for the full story - it's worth hearing.