Road Trip Day 3

On day 3 we woke up a little after 6:30. We got ready and checked out of the hotel. The plan was to go back into the city and sightsee  for a bit in the daytime. The 2 to 3 hours that we had planned turned out to be about 7 to 8 hours. 

Let’s get started…

While at the hotel Jason asked around and found two things people voted they would see in Chicago. Go to The Willis Tower skydeck formerly known as The Sears Tower and go to Millennium park and see the giant bean. I’m not a fan of heights so I wasn’t going to pay to hang out of a building.  I’m slowly doing things I never would have done in the past but hanging out of a building isn’t happening anytime soon. I volunteered Jason to go with the kids though. They decided we should all go to Millennium park together. We went to a local grocery store and then went into the city.

I found some of my favorite pictures from our trip on this day. I think it's that I love the different architecture within the city. 

The park was quite large and seemed to be a place that is always busy and used for different purposes. It had a fountain for kids to play in, the giant bean, amphitheater, bike rental center and other things.

 As I was taking this picture I told Jason I didn't like how the amphitheater took away from the city buildings in my picture. He told me he thought it would add to the picture and make it better. I didn't think so at the time but once I got home this ended up being one of my favorite pictures. 

It was a hot and sunny day!

We got to the bean!!!

I guess it's cool in some ways and people were just swarming it but it just wasn't for us. Jason's opinion it was free.

The Bean.

The Bridge.

Happy.

More.

Water.

After cooling off we walked along the river walk. Next thing we know Jason is buying tickets for a boat tour. 

Happy campers waiting for a boat ride.

The boat ride.

Fun facts. 

A lot of buildings have a historical/architectural background. The city of Chicago was able to reverse the flow of the Chicago river. Most people might not impressed by this but  we were.  

After the boat ride we discovered how late it was. Oooopppsss! We stopped got my post cards bought Korbin a Chicago t-shirt and a small souvenir for Mads at a Walgreens and hurried to the car. Once we got into the car we googled places to get a Chicago style hot dog. We  found a place drove to it and it was just packed. Jason dropped me off about a  block away and the plan was for him to go park or drive around somewhere and wait for me while I bought the food. Our parking cost for Millenium park was $20 so we felt we reached our parking limit. The wait for the hot dogs was so long I decided it wasn't worth it even though it smelled delicious. We entered our new destination into the GPS. It told us we wouldn't get to Bliss NY until 2/3 am. Yes. I had to call Jason's aunt and explain our situation. Jason hurried got on the freeway and tried to gain time while I made sandwiches and then we ate on the road only stoping for gas. 

 Memories of Indiana...toll roads and  Bop it!

We went thru a few tolls the day before that seemed a little expensive compared to what we are use to at home but we didn’t realize it was going to get worse.

  The first set wasn't bad,a dollar here, fifty cents there then it got steeper and closer together. Next thing we know we got a card at one of them.  Well that little card was more than what we had planned. We had to it give to a lady down the road aways and she told us a large amount of money we owed her. At this point we wasted about 25 dollars on tolls. Yikes! I took toll roads off our GPS routes.

We weren't going to make it to Bliss so I spent a lot of time trying to find a place to stay at using my phone when I could get service.

The next part is what I refer to as the emergency stop in Ohio. It cost more than what we wanted to spend and it wasn’t the nicest place either but what do you do. We checked in, we slept, we woke up, got ready and had our free continental breakfast. 

This is the end of Day 3. It didn't end like we had planned but we had a great time during the day. 

Post 4 of 16.

Location: Illinois,Indiana,Ohio

As I wrap up this day all I have to say is I really liked Chicago! Jason said he really liked the pizza! It was expensive though and not a place I could live in.