Starting the trip back home...

Today was our last day in Illinois and I am kind of sad. I was telling Mom that many of the days have lasted a long time, but the week has gone by so fast. We have done so many fun things here, ride 4-wheelers, gone golfing, hung out with Hank and Linda, drove a Corvette like a sissy, eaten a couple pork loin sandwiches, seen 4 temples, gone to 5 new states, ridden 4-wheelers, gone on a spur of the moment 1,410 mile roadtrip, seen 4 of my first cousins and their families, gone to a Journey concert, run to Wisconsin, gone to an air show, and ridden 4 wheelers. J It was busy and that doesn’t even take into account today.

I was going to go running this morning, but that didn’t happen because it was pouring rain, and I didn’t feel like doing a speed work-out in a downpour. So I finshed packing, helped Mom clean up the house, and then loaded up the car and we went and picked up Linda. Then we got Beth and took 2 cars into Rockford where we picked up Hank. Then we drove into Chicago.


By the time we rolled into Chicago it was lunch time and Hank took us all to Harry Caray’s. I got a Kansas City Strip medium-rare with garlic mashed potatoes. It was really good. It was better than any steak I have ever had at Outback, but I don’t think it was so much better to warrant the million dollar price tag. Having said that I would definitely go back for a special occasion. Linda let me try some of her sausage and peppers and that was really good. That may have been the best sausage I have ever had.

With lunch completed and enjoyed it was off to the Sears Tower (I refuse to acknowledge its new name). Today was another rainy day, and so there was a lot of cloud cover. Hank and Linda didn’t want to go up, so they hung out at a Starbucks. When we got there they told us there was zero visibility, so Mom decided she didn’t want to go. However, I didn’t care. I wanted to go, especially with their new skydeck where you walk into these little glass booths that actually hang out from the side of the building 103 stories up.

So Ellie and I paid for our ticket (She is still free, since she is only 2). Then we watched a movie about the history of the building, and took the 1 minute elevator ride to the 103rd floor. Once we got up there I was a little worried because the view from to the East was all cloud cover. However, as we walked to the West side, which is where these new viewing areas are, the cloud cover was less and we were able to see quite a bit. Ellie and I were able to go into these observation decks and it was a little strange to be able to look 103 stories straight down. However it wasn’t as freaky as I had expected. We took a bunch of pictures and then we met up with Hank and Mom.

Our final stop before the airport was the Navy Pier. It is kind of like the Santa Monica pier only cleaner and today it was way less crowded. There wasn’t a lot to do, so we just walked up and down it. We took a picture of us at the anchor of the USS Chicago, and then we got into the car and went to the airport.

Now I am back in Orem getting ready to go to bed. Tomorrow we are going to drive to St. George and on Friday we will drive the rest of the way home. It was a good trip but went by way too fast. Hopefully I can get to Illinois before another 16 years pass by.