Day Seventy-Five

Day seventy-five and I had to hop a plane back to FL for a couple of days to take care of some business.  Jim and Sam dropped me off at the airport in the morning, and then headed back to the coach and went back to bed!  J  They spent the afternoon doing some shopping and chores.  Jim got Sam a REALLY late Christmas present – a Flip Video Camera.  He said Sam spent the rest of the evening making movies!

Day Seventy-Four

Day seventy-four we headed to Chicago to visit the Field Museum, home of Sue the T-Rex!  Sue is the most complete dinosaur skeleton ever found to date, and on display at the Field Museum.  We drove to the Rosemont train station, and took the train into town.  Sam loves to ride the train, as do Jim and I, so that was part of the attraction for us!  Sam has ridden on more trains and subways at only eight years old than I did before I was 40!

The Field Museum was HUGE!  We didn’t realize how extensive it was, and we bought tickets to see the 3D movie as well as two special exhibits they had on display.  By four o’clock, we were racing around trying to get to the Whale Exhibit, but didn’t realize it closed at four.  The staff was kind enough to make a note on our tickets to honor our visit for another day during the week.

The Field Museum is located right on the lake, next to the Shedd Aquarium, and just down the way from the planetarium.  We snapped a few pics of the gorgeous Chicago skyline, which included the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sear’s Tower).

Before hopping on the train for the journey home, we stopped at Giordano’s for their famous deep dish pizza!  Yum yum!!  It was delicious!

Day Seventy-Three

Day seventy-three we packed up and headed south toward Chicago.  We camped at a KOA campground in Union, IL about an hour’s drive from the train stop at Rosemont.  Right next door was a wild west place that had shows on the weekends, so we could hear them shooting their guns that night during the show.  Buster doesn’t like loud noises, so he immediately jumped into my lap!  Ha Ha!

Day Seventy-Two

Day seventy-two and the last day of water park fun in the Dells!  Sam and Jim went back to the park while I went to the downtown area to walk around and check out the shops.  I also walked the short “River Walk” as it was labeled, to check out the downtown view of the river.  A couple of hours browsing and strolling on a nice afternoon!

Day Seventy-One

Day seventy-one was another water park day for Sam and Jim while I lounged around the coach and caught up on some reading and laundry.

Day Seventy

Day seventy we all headed to Mt. Olympus for some rollercoaster and go kart action!  There is one go kart track that goes under a huge Trojan Horse, and Sam and I got the slowest car – boo!  J  Another go kart track we drove on was one that goes under a pond, and Sam and I got the lead car AND the fastest car that time!  We smoked them all!  Woo hoo!

After lunch, Sam had to spend some time back at the wave pool, and he spent a couple of hours running like crazy!  We all went back to the coach for some down time for a couple of hours, before our next adventure – Monster Truck Ride!!  They have this HUGE monster truck that a driver takes you zooming around a course of hills, bumps, curves, and mud through the woods.  Oh boy!  It was definitely a thrill ride!  Sam was clutching the sides of his seat pretty good, and his eyes were VERY big!  J  We had a blast, though!

Day Sixty-Nine

Day sixty-nine Sam and Jim hit the water parks again – Sam just LOVES Poseidon’s Rage, which is a wave pool.  They spent three or four hours sliding and swimming.

Later that evening, we went to the downtown main street area to check out the action.  We stopped for some ice cream at the Dairy Queen, then sat at an outside table at a bar and grill for a couple of beers while we watched the crowds walking by.  There are lots of interesting places to go in the area, and it was busy!  We just people watched for a while and let the sunset happen.