Good morning from a cool Lansing, MI. I'm getting real tired of this colder than normal weather. Today is going to reach all the way to 65. About 10 degrees cooler than normal. That seems to be the weather here this spring. A couple of nice days, than a week of cold.
But anyway, back to our trip. Sunday was by far the nicest day of the weekend. Which was good since that was the day we went into Chicago. Now Chicago has something going on nearly every weekend, and this was no different. There was a street festival called 'Do Division". It was on the west side of the city. An area we had never been to, so I thought it would be an adventure.
Well, Craig doesn't like 'adventures', but reluctantly went along.
So we drove into the city and got off the Dan Ryan Expressway onto Ohio St. drove a couple blocks past Lasalle St. and found a parking garage. We knew a subway station was only a block away which we'd take to the festival. We hopped on the red line to the loop, about 3 stations away, and transferred to the blue line which goes to Ohare Airport, and of course about 5 stations from the loop to Division and Ashland where the festival was. Well, the 'adventure' begun! The train stopped 2 stations out, and we had to depart the train for shuttle buses. Apparently there is summer work on the blue line and they are running
shuttle buses on the line instead. So everyone climbed the stairs, walked to the end of the block, and boarded a line of buses. Craig was not amused. He hates surprises. But off we went, snaking through an unknown part of the city. We finally reached Division St. and departed. The street festival was just down the street. I told Craig, "see, it worked out fine!" As we wandered down the street, we came upon this restaurant in the first pic and decide we'd have lunch. Craig had a Sirloin Wrap, and I had grilled Tilapia Tacos. Yummuy! And you can see Craig with a smile now that he's
got something in his tummy, and a drink in his hand.
This was an interesting area. Very wide sidewalks which were put in use by the many restaurants that lined the street. And a lot of new buildings mixed with the old ones. What was most interesting was everyone we saw, and I mean everyone, looked to be in the mid twenty's to mid thirty's. I swear, we were the oldest people we saw! We first noticed that at lunch. All the tables were filled with younger folks. And that made us aware of that fact as we explored the rest of the festival. It was really odd! But anyway, after an afternoon of wandering, we walked past this building. Click on the pic to see the name. They even had a sign on the door listing the days and hours of operation. So as old as the building was, it was still being used as a Turkish baths. Interesting! So, upon leaving the festival, we decided against taking the shuttle bus back, and grabbed a cab instead. Cabs are very available
everywhere in the city, and very cheap too! And as we spent so much here, instead of Michigan Ave. shopping, we went straight to Navy Pier. The cab ride cost a total of 10 bucks!
Now any of my regular readers know we enjoy Navy Pier to end our afternoon. They have a beer garden at the end, with great views of the city, free live music, and a great place to relax and people watch! Which is exactly what we did. Found a nice table with an umbrella and enjoyed a Latin School dance and music entertainment.
Then it was about an 8 block walk back to the parking garage, just enough to work off our beer buzz, and back to the campground where we fixed grilled sausage wraps. We've decided wraps work so much better than buns. Buns get so messy with the topping spilling out. But in a wrap, they stay all nice and tucked together. Wraps are the way yo go!
And of course, we awoke on Monday with rain, so what do you do on a day like that? We go to the casino! I know, you ask why, cause we always lose, but I guess we'll never learn.
We did spend a couple of hours there with spending very little.
And back to the campground, we hit a White Castle for lunch. Love those little burgers! And the weather had cleared, so we hiked down to the beach for a bit, and ended the day with Pork Chops, Parsley Garlic Potatoes, and Marinated Grilled Zucchini on the grill.
Got up at the crack of dawn to head home. Drove the mo-ho to the dump station, where we emptied the tanks, and loaded the car on the Kar Kaddy. Checked the lights, and no lights, just brake and turn signals. God, I just hate trailer wiring! So after screwing around with that, we still can't get the lights to work, but with brake and turn signals working, it'll have to wait till we get home. Just outside the park, we stopped to re tighten the straps, and I noticed the front car wheels were turned, I had to loosen the straps so Craig could straighten the wheels. Drove a little further, and realized the Kaddy was tracking about a foot to the left. Stopped and decide we need to unload the car, straighten out the kaddy, and reload. Glad we started out early!
But we arrived home safe, so a good trip!
I am glad that you arrived safely after you adventures and misadventures.
ReplyDeleteGlad it all went well! :)
ReplyDelete*hugs*
Sis
It sounds like you guys had an eventful trip. Tell Craig I don't like surprises either and there is no way you two skinny boys ate all that food on those plates! :-)--Randy
ReplyDeleteQuite an adventure! Sounds like fun - Chicago is a great town.
ReplyDelete