Saturday, July 23rd, 2005:
I must go down the the sea again...
Day three of the trip to the age of Wind and humidity. Everyone got up early and I was told Khatie was initiating
some kind of trek down to the Shedd Aquarium. I ended up taking a cab with Ran, Anna Kat, and Ran's Dad I believe. :D
We met up with K'laamas and Tresah and some of the others there and started taking pics. I took pics of the aquarium
exterior, the gardens surrounding them, and this nifty "Man with Fish"
fountain statue. They had an area with cactus and stuff that made me laugh a bit. I wondered how that would survive
for very long in a northern clime. :D
We meet up with Khatie and everyone, take a group pic and go to the group entrance. I didn't know why since I hadn't heard about any group
rates or anything having been planned ahead of time. I guess Khatie had done this on her own so when we got there we
were already set up and just had to put in the cash for it. It was pretty cool. There were these German I guess tourists.
I'm not sure what sect they are but they always dress very much like they're going to church. The girls and women wear their
hair up in a bun or such with a kerchief of some kind over it. I was remarking about them quietly cause I always
find them really interesting. I know they have a sect here but I've never quite known what kind of religion or group
they were. Someone told me German maybe or Mennonite. So it was funny I was watching them, then I saw them in the middle
of our group and they were silently trying to read my shirt. LOL I had my Mysterium shirt on and I saw the mother reading
my shirt and said in a friendly way "Oh it's Mysterium group. We like a certain game and met online and meet offline
in a city every year." She didn't say anything but she nodded in a friendly way. After that I lost track of them and by then
we were all headed inside the aquarium.
First place we all stopped at was the Dolphin Show. The island in the middle reminded me of a very rough version of Relto.
I took a few pics but not of the dolphins. My camera is slow. I'd never have gotten a good shot. I needed to move since my
feet were barking loudly and we started moving a bit more and tried to take pics of the BIGGEST crab I'd ever seen. Not sure
what kind it was. Then we walked around the dolphin pool area a bit and took in the sites there. The area was set up to
look like you were in the great northwest or something but I thought it looked a little off with dolphins around. They're
much more southern then northern. At some point we broke off into group and off and on we'd bump back into each other. I
took some pics of the smaller aquariums with things like crabs, lobsters and all. They had a huge spider crab. Made me feel
right at home. I remember handling those in the touch pool back in CC at the TX State Aquarium. I did a quick explanation
of them to my friends and then to a lady and her daughter that came by and were interested. I felt right at home. :D
Eventually we notice we weren't seeing as many people and went outside the aquarium for some air. Anna Kat called some people
and we found out they were at the Planetarium. We walked on over and I got a pic of a huge gull. These were as noisy as the
ones you find in TX. I'm guessing they weren't Laughing Gulls like the Gulf Coast has. Plus they were ALOT larget than I
was used to. I tried a laughing gull call on them but nothing happened. LOL Everyone was like "whoa it does sound like a gull!"
We made it to the planetarium and met this guy who was the "Wizard of Science." He noticed our shirts and kept coming over
and telling us he was a huge Myst fan. It was cool! We kept finding people asking us about our group and who were fans of
Myst. :D He had this neat outfit on of black with shimmery stars and a huge pointed hat. He kind of looked like
the younger brother of Atrus with a beard and mustache. He was really friendly. We stood in line and and got a ticket to see
"Stars of the Pharoahs" I think. I was really tired by now and we walked around the museum waiting for the show to start. I
sat at a bunch of the games areas and demos on PC to rest and had fun playing with things. Then it came time to go to the
show and we managed to get seats together. The show was actually really cool but I was exhausted and kept passing out thru
parts of it. Reminded me of Mystic Port. My folks and brother actually let me talk them into the planetarium there. I was all
awake and hyper about it. They were all asleep. :P I was mad about it at the time but now when I'm tired and thought about it
I could actually related. LOL I really wish I'd stayed awake for more of it. John Rhys-Davies (Sallah from Raiders of the
Lost Ark narrated.) I Think I'd seen this show before on Discovery or something. I know it was something I'd seen or
heard about before.
After that we made our way back to the hotel via cab again I think. People also made plans to go to
Navy Pier. I know we got back pretty early for it. Scraper asked me but at the time I was so tired. People were hanging around
the lobby and finally Deg and some others were going out to Navy Pier and we decided to go out with them. On the way to meet everyone we passed
a wedding party taking pics and rushing thru the crowd. Then we met Khatie and
her group out there. She and Timeposter and their kids and a nephew were meeting up with a couple of "World of Warcraft" fans they
knew out that way. We were supposed to meet at "The Bubba Gump Shrimp Company" but ended up getting a call saying to go to
"The Billy Goat Tavern and Grill." I didn't know what the place was all about I was just ready to hang out and sit and eat.
We get there and I take pics of the Bob NewHart statue outside of Navy Pier in the park and some other things. I took pics of
the signs and the boardwalk as we entered. Then we went straight to the Billy Goat place and found out where people were and
went inside to get food. I noticed the sign said "Cheeseborger" and wondered what the joke was. When it was my turn, the guy
asked me with an accent "What do you want?" and I told him a double cheeseburger. Then I hear him yell out "Cheeseborger! Cheeseborger!
in the same accent and I just had this "Ahah!" moment where the deja vu I'd been feeling came to fruition. I knew this place
even though I'd never been to it. It was so bizarre! Then my suspicions were confirmed when I took this pic outside where
we were sitting. Apparently John Belushi had come to this place while in Chicago and put it into his "cheeseborger" skit
they used to do. Always loved that skit! :D "Only Cheeseborger... no coke... just Pepsi!" ;) So I was really happy.
I kept smelling funnel cakes and it was raining too. I got a bit soaked on the back sitting where I was. The umbrellas didn't
cover everything. Queue showed up at some point and was talking to me. He seemed really excited to meet me. :D It was nice
to finally meet him. I know he's not too far away in NM but still far enough to not meet in person till now. Then Scraper showed
and Pam with her son. Sometime around now I went and got what I thought was a funnel cake and was actually roasted cinnamon
nuts. I got the big bag and shared. :) They were really good too! Wish I'd taken a pic. Scraper and Pam with her son took off
at some point and I took off with them along with Queue. I meant to go back but was having fun talking with Scraper, Pam and
Queue. At some point I walked back to the Billy Goat place but Deg and everyone had left. I didn't know who I was going to
get a ride from. They were 6 or more blocks away. I didn't think I could walk that far. :P Queue got a frozen drink from
Haagen Daz and I noted the number of gnats around the place. We talked to a girl at the info desk for a bit. Poor thing was frustrated about getting asked "when and where" the fireworks were going to
be. LOL I really felt for her. We walked back to Scraper trying to dodge the gnasty gnats. We found them again and ended up
watching one of the best fireworks shows I think I've seen in a while. Then we walked out and down about 5 or more blocks to
their car and they gave us a lift back to the hotel. I found out that Scraper likes Abba. WHEEEE! :D Then the rest of the night is
kind of fuzzy again. I was really tired, I was sitting down in the lobby, people were hanging out, some people went to bed
cause they were leaving the next day. I was falling in and out of sleep listening to people talk about stuff. Deg was hyper
and full of energy. LOL I don't know how he does that. :P Must find secret to Deg's energy resources. BWAHAHAHAHAHAH! ;)
End of transmission, Day 3...
