This was our final day in Chicago. We got up at a decent hour, met Josh and Jaime for breakfast, then packed our stuff up. We checked out of the hotel and then headed down to the Shedd Aquarium. I was fortunate enough to go to the Shedd Aquarium my sophomore year of high school on an NHS trip. I had loved it then...particularly the penguin exhibit! This time around, the lines were ridiculous. We got there and saw what was probably the longest line we've ever seen (we've never been to Disney World). Anyway, it took almost two hours to get our tickets purchased. We were tempted to spend an extra $20 a piece to skip the line, but instead just played a lot of back and forth Dice with Friends on my phone.
When we got in we got lunch from one of the concessions (not impressed). Then started walking around. Shedd has a great selection of animals and I was yet again, not disappointed. We saw Belugas, White-sided Dolphins, penguins, jellyfish, seahorses, and lots of other cool fish and sealife! My favoite was of course, still the penguins!
We got done looking around at 3:30 and walked solemnly back to our car, knowing we had nearly 10 hours of driving ahead of us. James drove most of the way home, which I appreciated because I got some reading time in. Dramamine does wonders for those who get carsick, by the way. We got into Lee's Summit around 12:45, picked up the dog and then headed home.
It was a great trip...a nice break from everything we had going on, but we sure were happy that night to get to sleep in our own bed!
Showing posts with label trips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trips. Show all posts
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Chicago Trip - Day 3
Sunday morning we were supposed to get up and join the bridal party and other friends and family for brunch at our hotel. Needless to say, getting out of bed was....hard. I was feeling pretty rough. But I powered through it long enough to go down to brunch, nibble on a bagel, visit with the newlyweds, then head back upstairs to go back to bed.
The rest of the morning/afternoon was a bit of a wash. James watched golf all day and I slept. It was seriously the worst I'd felt in a LONG time. Around 2:30, I forced myself into the shower. We took a cab back to Monastero's and got our car then went to lunch. We then went and picked Josh and Jaime up so the four of us could go downtown for an architectural boat tour.
Again, Chicago's parking situation got to us. Our boat was scheduled to leave at 5:00 and after driving around for nearly 30 minutes looking for parking, we found a garage at the Trump Tower. It was only about a quarter mile away from where we had to be, but at that time it was 4:45 and we knew they stopped selling tickets for the tour at 4:55. We booked it on foot to the Wrigley building. Found the Wendella ticket office and impatiently got in line. We listened as the lady taking tickets onto the boat called "Two more minutes to board the 5:00 tour!" At that point, we got to the front of the line and purchased tickets using one of the automated machines, which of course, broke midway through. So then we had to talk to an actual person at the time booth. Meanwhile, I hear, "If you want on the 5:00 boat tour, you have 30 seconds to board!" My heartrate was going double-time. I was just sure we were going to miss the tour, but we ended up getting our tickets and boarding the boat just in time.
And I must say, I'm glad we did. The boat tour was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Chicago is such a beautiful city and it was really cool to see and hear about all the cool buildings there. We did the combined river/lake tour, so the first half of the tour was along the Chicago River. We got to see a lot of Chicago's finest architectural structures up close and personal. We then traveled to the lock system between the river and lake. The locks are there to control the water flow between the lake and the river. I was actually quite fascinated by the locks and some of the information they shared about both the river and the lake. Did you know that the level of the lake is higher than the river? Also, did you know that the Chicago River's flow was reversed back in 1900 to keep the lake from being contaminated? Interesting, eh?
After going through the locks, we coasted along Lake Michigan and took in the beautiful skyline view. On such a hot summer day, it felt so good to be on the lake and having the wind blow on my face.
After the tour, we walked to the Dana Hotel which has a rooftop bar called the Vertigo SkyLounge. Josh and Jaime had gone there a few nights before and thought we might like it. The bar had a really cool atmosphere and an awesome view, though the drinks were overpriced ($14 for my mojito) and the customer service was lacking.
The four of us then met Emily and Johnny at a little tapas restaurant called Quartino's two doors down from Vertigo. We had a nice dinner with them followed by drinks at Rock Bottom Brewery. It was really nice to see Emily. For those of you who don't know, she's my friend that I've taught next door to for the last 4 years. She recently moved out to Chicago less than a month ago because her husband got accepted into grad school at Northwestern.
Anyway, by the end of the night Mr. Asher had had far too much to drink. I drove us all back to the hotel, proud of myself for being the responsible, sober one.
The rest of the morning/afternoon was a bit of a wash. James watched golf all day and I slept. It was seriously the worst I'd felt in a LONG time. Around 2:30, I forced myself into the shower. We took a cab back to Monastero's and got our car then went to lunch. We then went and picked Josh and Jaime up so the four of us could go downtown for an architectural boat tour.
Again, Chicago's parking situation got to us. Our boat was scheduled to leave at 5:00 and after driving around for nearly 30 minutes looking for parking, we found a garage at the Trump Tower. It was only about a quarter mile away from where we had to be, but at that time it was 4:45 and we knew they stopped selling tickets for the tour at 4:55. We booked it on foot to the Wrigley building. Found the Wendella ticket office and impatiently got in line. We listened as the lady taking tickets onto the boat called "Two more minutes to board the 5:00 tour!" At that point, we got to the front of the line and purchased tickets using one of the automated machines, which of course, broke midway through. So then we had to talk to an actual person at the time booth. Meanwhile, I hear, "If you want on the 5:00 boat tour, you have 30 seconds to board!" My heartrate was going double-time. I was just sure we were going to miss the tour, but we ended up getting our tickets and boarding the boat just in time.
And I must say, I'm glad we did. The boat tour was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Chicago is such a beautiful city and it was really cool to see and hear about all the cool buildings there. We did the combined river/lake tour, so the first half of the tour was along the Chicago River. We got to see a lot of Chicago's finest architectural structures up close and personal. We then traveled to the lock system between the river and lake. The locks are there to control the water flow between the lake and the river. I was actually quite fascinated by the locks and some of the information they shared about both the river and the lake. Did you know that the level of the lake is higher than the river? Also, did you know that the Chicago River's flow was reversed back in 1900 to keep the lake from being contaminated? Interesting, eh?
After going through the locks, we coasted along Lake Michigan and took in the beautiful skyline view. On such a hot summer day, it felt so good to be on the lake and having the wind blow on my face.
After the tour, we walked to the Dana Hotel which has a rooftop bar called the Vertigo SkyLounge. Josh and Jaime had gone there a few nights before and thought we might like it. The bar had a really cool atmosphere and an awesome view, though the drinks were overpriced ($14 for my mojito) and the customer service was lacking.
The four of us then met Emily and Johnny at a little tapas restaurant called Quartino's two doors down from Vertigo. We had a nice dinner with them followed by drinks at Rock Bottom Brewery. It was really nice to see Emily. For those of you who don't know, she's my friend that I've taught next door to for the last 4 years. She recently moved out to Chicago less than a month ago because her husband got accepted into grad school at Northwestern.
Anyway, by the end of the night Mr. Asher had had far too much to drink. I drove us all back to the hotel, proud of myself for being the responsible, sober one.
Chicago Trip - Day 2
Saturday morning we got up and had breakfast at the hotel. We then got ready and headed down to Lincoln Park for the morning. We took a stroll through the Lincoln Park Zoo, which was nice. Then we walked down to the beach. We didn't lay out or swim, but enjoyed dipping our feet in the water and taking in the beautiful view. We then went to Portillo's for a Chicago-style hot dog. It was at this time that we started to realize the true joy (note my sarcasm) of Chicago parking. Not only is parking in this city expensive, but it's incredibly hard to find places to park. By the time we actually got to lunch (around 2:00), we both felt like we might eat our own arms off.
After lunch, we decided to head back to the hotel to take a nap before the wedding. When we got up, we called our friends Josh and Jaime to see if they wanted to ride with us to the wedding venue. We met them downstairs and headed to Monastero's Ristorante. It was a nice, short but sweet ceremony. I was excited because it was my first (semi) Jewish wedding and they did the whole stomping on the glass at the end, which was cool to see.
After the ceremony, we proceeded to the banquet hall next door and began to take advantage of the open bar. The night went on with the dinner, cake cutting, dance, photobooth fun, and a trolley or some sort of shuttle ride home that I don't really remember. Despite the hangover I had the next day, it was a lot of fun!
After lunch, we decided to head back to the hotel to take a nap before the wedding. When we got up, we called our friends Josh and Jaime to see if they wanted to ride with us to the wedding venue. We met them downstairs and headed to Monastero's Ristorante. It was a nice, short but sweet ceremony. I was excited because it was my first (semi) Jewish wedding and they did the whole stomping on the glass at the end, which was cool to see.
After the ceremony, we proceeded to the banquet hall next door and began to take advantage of the open bar. The night went on with the dinner, cake cutting, dance, photobooth fun, and a trolley or some sort of shuttle ride home that I don't really remember. Despite the hangover I had the next day, it was a lot of fun!
Chicago Trip - Day 1
My husband and I went to Chicago last weekend for a friend's wedding/anniversary getaway. The trip came at the perfect time. I had had a really rough week leading up to the trip and needed an escape.
***Note: Because I tend to get a little wordy in my blogs, I'm breaking our trip down into day by day posts
DAY 1:
We left at the crack of dawn Friday morning. We decided to drive to save some money since we had just flown to South Carolina earlier in the month. The drive really wasn't bad until we got into the Chicago area. It was then that we discovered the dreaded Chicago highway tolls. Where we live, tolls aren't really a big deal. If you drive on I-70, you pull up to the toll booth, take your ticket, then an hour or so later, you pull up to another toll booth...give the cashier a dollar or two and you're done. Chicago must not believe in the simplicity of this system. First off, we were unaware that the highway we would be driving on was a toll road. We were also not aware that in Chicago, you have to stop roughly every quarter mile to pay yet another toll. Oh, and they don't have people at the booths. Instead, you have to put change (coins only) into the little bucket. We pulled up and paid 60 cents to the first one. Then shortly after, paid another $1.50. Then we had to pay another shortly after that. At this point, after looking under the seats and emptying out my purse, we realized we didn't really have any coins left. We pulled off the highway and both searched our phones' GPS for an alternative route. In the end, we finally got to our hotel, but needless to say, the whole thing probably added another hour to our trip and quite a few gray hairs to our heads.
By the time we got checked in to our hotel, we had about 20 minutes to freshen up and change before heading to the rehearsal dinner. We met our friends Chrissy and Ben (the couple getting married) and road over to Hota for a cocktail hour and dinner. The cocktail hour lasted quite a while and the hubby and I may or may not have had a few too many drinks. It was a fun evening though, and we ended up crashing pretty hard once we got back to the hotel.
***Note: Because I tend to get a little wordy in my blogs, I'm breaking our trip down into day by day posts
DAY 1:
We left at the crack of dawn Friday morning. We decided to drive to save some money since we had just flown to South Carolina earlier in the month. The drive really wasn't bad until we got into the Chicago area. It was then that we discovered the dreaded Chicago highway tolls. Where we live, tolls aren't really a big deal. If you drive on I-70, you pull up to the toll booth, take your ticket, then an hour or so later, you pull up to another toll booth...give the cashier a dollar or two and you're done. Chicago must not believe in the simplicity of this system. First off, we were unaware that the highway we would be driving on was a toll road. We were also not aware that in Chicago, you have to stop roughly every quarter mile to pay yet another toll. Oh, and they don't have people at the booths. Instead, you have to put change (coins only) into the little bucket. We pulled up and paid 60 cents to the first one. Then shortly after, paid another $1.50. Then we had to pay another shortly after that. At this point, after looking under the seats and emptying out my purse, we realized we didn't really have any coins left. We pulled off the highway and both searched our phones' GPS for an alternative route. In the end, we finally got to our hotel, but needless to say, the whole thing probably added another hour to our trip and quite a few gray hairs to our heads.
By the time we got checked in to our hotel, we had about 20 minutes to freshen up and change before heading to the rehearsal dinner. We met our friends Chrissy and Ben (the couple getting married) and road over to Hota for a cocktail hour and dinner. The cocktail hour lasted quite a while and the hubby and I may or may not have had a few too many drinks. It was a fun evening though, and we ended up crashing pretty hard once we got back to the hotel.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Things I'm thankful for - Day 8
Day #8 - I'm thankful that I have the time and money to go out and do fun things. I often complain about being "broke" but really I'm lucky to have enough money to pay for the things I need (and sometimes the things I just want). This past year I've been fortunate enough to be able to go on a couple mini weekend vacations (Colorado, Table Rock Lake, Chicago, float trip) and I've gotten to go to a couple concerts (Dixie Chicks & Zac Brown Band) and a few ball games (Royals and Chiefs) this year as well.
I'm going to try to appreciate these things while I can, because I'm sure things will be MUCH different when we have kids.
I'm going to try to appreciate these things while I can, because I'm sure things will be MUCH different when we have kids.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Visiting Baylee
Yesterday James and I drove down to Hesston to see our new niece Baylee. 6 hours of driving in one day is never fun...but she was worth it.
So precious...I didn't want to put her down
Baylee with her very first stuffed animal
She woke up for Uncle James
Friday, January 1, 2010
Top 10 Memories of 2009
In chronological order:
1. Engagement photos - We did our engagement photos in January, I think. It was on a day that was 9 degrees outside and of course we decided to do all of them outdoors. STUPID. We completely froze but somehow managed to get some good pictures. It was definitely a memorable day.
2. Dad's 60th birthday party - We celebrated Dad's 60th birthday in April out at Spring Lake. There are two parts of this day that were particularly memorable. First off, I caught my first fish ever. Well, kinda. Martin and Eric were fishing and Martin had one on the hook. He let me real it in. I was very excited. The other memorable part of this day, was when I dropped Dad's birthday cake. Luckily I have a dad that loves me even when I ruin his birthday.
3. Float trip - Over Memorial weekend, we went on a float trip somewhere in Missouri. We met Josh and Jaime and some of there friends there and spent a couple days on the river. It was a good time and is something I hope we'll do again.
4. 5K - This was a super busy day for me as it was the same day as my bridal shower and bachelorette party. I woke up at like 5:30 in the morning to go run the Hospital Hill 5K with Diane and Jenna. I didn't do fabulous, but I was proud of myself for doing it. I got 270th place overall (out of 1156 runners), 81st in the women's division (out of 722), and 14th in my age bracket (out of 142). I'm hoping to get back in shape and do another one this spring.
5. Bachelorette part(ies) - I had two bachelorette parties before getting married. They were completely different but both were really fun. The first one was about a month before the wedding. It was on the same day as my shower. We got a room at Harrah's and opened gifts (mostly stereotypical naughty bachelorettey things) and then went to the VooDoo lounge and gambled. Nicole, Margie, Lisa, Diane, Jenna, Jenni, and Paige were all there and it ended up being a great night with friends. An extra perk...I wasn't hungover the next day. My second bachelorette party was in Aggieville. It ended up just being Piper, Catie, and me (Adrienne came out with us for a bit before she had to work). It was in Aggieville, so it's a given that we had a good time.
6. The day of my wedding - I know everyone says it's supposed to be the best day of your life, but mine truly was. Things went smoothly, I felt beautiful, and I was surrounded by the people I love. Everyone seemed to have a good time, which should matter to me...but it does. It was perfect.
7. Our honeymoon - Our honeymoon was a great mix of romance, fun, and relaxation. I'm the type of person who typically tries to do as much as possible while on vacation. However, a lot of this trip was spent relaxing beside the beach or hanging out at the swim-up bar. We also took a tour of the island with Lloyd and Shal...some very fun locals who took us around in the back of their land rover jeep. This trip was our first time out of the country, so it was fun for us to get to use our passports.
8. Backyard football - This isn't very significant, but James and I bought a football in the early fall. We spent quite a few Saturdays out in the backyard throwing around the football. Nothing like good weather and fall leaves and a football!
9. Pumpkin patch - We went to the Johnson's Farm Pumpkin Patch this fall with Rory, Jenn, and Juliana. We usually take our first graders there every year for a field trip, but this year we didn't have the funds. This totally bummed me out, so I suggested we take Juliana. She was adorable there and we had a blast.
10. Our trip to Reno - We spent this Christmas in Reno with James' mom's side of the family. His grandparents were very generous and paid to fly us out and put us up in a hotel. We were there for 4 days. It was really nice to get to know his aunt and uncle and cousins. It's funny how similar James is to his family...even though he doesn't really know them. The last night we were there, James, Rory, me, and his cousins Ashley and Meghan went out. We had a really good time.
1. Engagement photos - We did our engagement photos in January, I think. It was on a day that was 9 degrees outside and of course we decided to do all of them outdoors. STUPID. We completely froze but somehow managed to get some good pictures. It was definitely a memorable day.
2. Dad's 60th birthday party - We celebrated Dad's 60th birthday in April out at Spring Lake. There are two parts of this day that were particularly memorable. First off, I caught my first fish ever. Well, kinda. Martin and Eric were fishing and Martin had one on the hook. He let me real it in. I was very excited. The other memorable part of this day, was when I dropped Dad's birthday cake. Luckily I have a dad that loves me even when I ruin his birthday.
3. Float trip - Over Memorial weekend, we went on a float trip somewhere in Missouri. We met Josh and Jaime and some of there friends there and spent a couple days on the river. It was a good time and is something I hope we'll do again.
4. 5K - This was a super busy day for me as it was the same day as my bridal shower and bachelorette party. I woke up at like 5:30 in the morning to go run the Hospital Hill 5K with Diane and Jenna. I didn't do fabulous, but I was proud of myself for doing it. I got 270th place overall (out of 1156 runners), 81st in the women's division (out of 722), and 14th in my age bracket (out of 142). I'm hoping to get back in shape and do another one this spring.
5. Bachelorette part(ies) - I had two bachelorette parties before getting married. They were completely different but both were really fun. The first one was about a month before the wedding. It was on the same day as my shower. We got a room at Harrah's and opened gifts (mostly stereotypical naughty bachelorettey things) and then went to the VooDoo lounge and gambled. Nicole, Margie, Lisa, Diane, Jenna, Jenni, and Paige were all there and it ended up being a great night with friends. An extra perk...I wasn't hungover the next day. My second bachelorette party was in Aggieville. It ended up just being Piper, Catie, and me (Adrienne came out with us for a bit before she had to work). It was in Aggieville, so it's a given that we had a good time.
6. The day of my wedding - I know everyone says it's supposed to be the best day of your life, but mine truly was. Things went smoothly, I felt beautiful, and I was surrounded by the people I love. Everyone seemed to have a good time, which should matter to me...but it does. It was perfect.
7. Our honeymoon - Our honeymoon was a great mix of romance, fun, and relaxation. I'm the type of person who typically tries to do as much as possible while on vacation. However, a lot of this trip was spent relaxing beside the beach or hanging out at the swim-up bar. We also took a tour of the island with Lloyd and Shal...some very fun locals who took us around in the back of their land rover jeep. This trip was our first time out of the country, so it was fun for us to get to use our passports.
8. Backyard football - This isn't very significant, but James and I bought a football in the early fall. We spent quite a few Saturdays out in the backyard throwing around the football. Nothing like good weather and fall leaves and a football!
9. Pumpkin patch - We went to the Johnson's Farm Pumpkin Patch this fall with Rory, Jenn, and Juliana. We usually take our first graders there every year for a field trip, but this year we didn't have the funds. This totally bummed me out, so I suggested we take Juliana. She was adorable there and we had a blast.
10. Our trip to Reno - We spent this Christmas in Reno with James' mom's side of the family. His grandparents were very generous and paid to fly us out and put us up in a hotel. We were there for 4 days. It was really nice to get to know his aunt and uncle and cousins. It's funny how similar James is to his family...even though he doesn't really know them. The last night we were there, James, Rory, me, and his cousins Ashley and Meghan went out. We had a really good time.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Top 5 Quotes from the Reno Trip
Number 5 - "Hey Kenny (Rogers)!"
Number 4 - "Would you like some Roaring Rion?"
Number 3 - "BTW...LOL...OBGYN!"
Number 2 (runner up) - "Take off your pants!"
And the Number 1 quote from the Reno Trip (in a Jersey accent, of course) - "Forget about it!"
Number 4 - "Would you like some Roaring Rion?"
Number 3 - "BTW...LOL...OBGYN!"
Number 2 (runner up) - "Take off your pants!"
And the Number 1 quote from the Reno Trip (in a Jersey accent, of course) - "Forget about it!"
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