Thursday, July 30

We had a really nice day. After sleeping in and missing the continental breakfast, we walked across the street to have a Starbucks breakfast. Then we went back to the Navy Pier and took a ride on the ship, The Tall Windy. It's the only sailing ship at the Navy Pier. It was an hour ride and it was really nice leaving a ship and not feeling like you are going to be sick! (Last year's whale watch didn't go too well!). While we were sailing, we listened to pirate stories of pirates on the great lakes. Apparently, pirates in this area got away with a lot, as the area was too large to patrol very well.

Then we rode to Millennium Park. We enjoyed walking under the "the bean"

(Cloud Gate sculpture) and seeing the reflections. Then the girls splashed in the water in the fountains in the park. Then we walked to our hotel. After resting for a while, we got a taxi and headed for Briar Street Theatre to see the Blue Man Group. As the girls have written on the blog, it was very enjoyable.  The group is very entertaining, and we all laughed out loud at times.

We got free tickets to go to the top of the Sears Tower when we bought the Blue Man Group tickets, so we put that off until tomorrow.

We got back by  a little after 10:00. We are 10 hours away from home according to Google Maps, so after we go to the top of the Sears Tower, we'll see how far we can get tomorrow.

Molly - Thursday night

The Blue Man Group is awesome. It just is. You should go see it. I love it. It is beyond words so I won't even try. I would only waste your time. 

Brooke - Thursday night

We just saw the blue man group!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love them so much!!!!!!!! They are so good!!!!!!!! I am really excited!!!!!!!!! They are the best band in the whole entire world!!!!!!! I know this sounds really weird but I got toliet paper from the show and a shirt. THEY ARE THE BEST AND FUNNIEST PEOPLE IN THE UNIVERSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You have to see how great they are because I can not tell you how great and funny they are. SO GET THERE PEOPLE !!!!!!!!!!!FLY THERE,DRIVE THERE BUT YOU GOT TO SEE THEM,JUST COME TO CHICAGO AND SEE THE BLUE MAN GROUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Okay so just COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Madison to Madison July 29 Day 40

Jerry...Got a late start again today because Brooke, Molly and I went to the pool while Beverly tried to figure out our La Quinta points. Do any of you get points or the equivalent when you stay in hotels, fly, etc? Our experience has not been great with things like that. The programs always seem to be designed to maximize the number of ways for you're not able to cash in. We were a few points short of a free night in a hotel last night, but were told that after we checked out of the hotel we would have enough (points are not credited until after checkout). Well, we checked out then Beverly tried to get us a free room for tonight. We were told that the points are not credited for 72 hours, so we can't get our hard earned free room until after we no longer need it. 

We left Madison, WI at about noon and drove toward Chicago. Upon entering Illinois we started to hit tolls. I don't know what they do with the money because they don't appear to use it to fix the roads. Anyway, we missed paying a toll so now we have to go online to pay it or get a ticket. I tried to pay extra to the next toll attendant after the missed toll, but she told me that can't be done. Great system.

We ate lunch/dinner at another place from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, a barbecue place called Smoques. It was good food

 and a third cheaper than the barbecue place in downtown Frederick. We made it to our hotel on Madison Street in downtown Chicago by 5:00 PM. After resting for a bit Molly, Blair and I walked around looking at things for an hour or so. We found the Millennial Park and saw the old Marshall Fields store. We returned to the hotel and got Beverly and Brooke then went out to the Navy Pier. We walked around until 9:30 then watched the fireworks. They were only ten minutes long but very intense and loud because they were

on the water. The large crowd clapped, and boat blew their horns when it was done.

I checked out getting tickets to the Cubs game tomorrow against the Astros. Wow, talk about expensive! The cheapest tickets here are about the same price as the most expensive in Pittsburgh. The Cubs aren't as expensive as the Yankees, but they are comparable to the Red Sox.

Tomorrow we plan to go to the top of the Sears Tower and go out on a boat on Lake Michigan.

SHOES!!!!!!!!!!!!- Molly, July 29th

Yesterday... We went to Mall of America & shopped & shopped & shopped! It was lots of fun. I got a dressy peasant shirt, a nice art shirt,  a Queen shirt, 3 knee high socks (1. grey with all color peace signs 2. black with all color polka dots 3. blue/black checker board),  1 necklace, 2 headbands (1. black bow with small black polka dot mesh 2. blue/yellow plaid bow) & THE SHOES. They're amazing knee high Chucks (look at pic for more, I can't even describe the awesomeness of them. They rock.) This is the shoe story, it happened today. Okay, since I got the shoes a lot of people have looked at them, & 7 people have talked to me - about them 3 of which have been pros at Nordstroms. So any way this is the best. Mom was looking for boat tickets for tomorrow on Lake Michigan and I hear this guy who must have worked one boat company and he says in a very loud theatrical voice "Those are the greatest Converse I've ever seen! Where did you get them!?!?!!?!!!?" He gets down on 1 knee to look at them, so I respond with "At mall of America yesterday in a place called Underground Station." As he starts to walk away he goes "My girlfriend is going to freak!".  We laughed about this for an hour. 

 Shout out to Nana & Pap whose anniversary it is today.

July 28

We went back to the Mall of America this morning. The first stop was Starbucks! Jerry and Blair had gotten a reusable coffee mug in Seattle, so they filled their mugs and enjoyed their coffees as they walked around the mall. Brooke and I enjoyed the Old Navy store. Blair and Molly enjoyed Underground Station, the Garage, Charlotte Russe, Ragstock, and Heritage 1981. Jerry enjoyed a place where he got 4 new ties. We all enjoyed Nordstroms and Barnes and Noble. Brooke made a puppy at Build-a-Bear. She named him Bartles. 

We were shopped out by 4:00 p.m., so we traveled on. We left the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and headed for Chicago. The distance between the two cities is 425 miles, so we thought we would try to make it part of the way. We drove to Madison, WI and got a hotel around 9:00. 

July 27 - The Big Mall

We're sleeping in more these days, having a hard time getting going in the mornings. Today we left Watertown, SD and headed to Mall of America. First we drove up to North Dakota and took a quick picture to say that we had been in that state! Then we headed to Minnesota, land of 10,000 lakes. We didn't get to Mall of America until around 4:00 p.m. Even after all of this driving, we're still surprised how close things look on the map, and how far they actually are when you drive.

We shopped until 8:30 and then found a hotel near the mall. We hope to head back for more shopping in the morning and then start driving for Chicago.