As you might have guessed from the title of my post, today has been a day of driving up, down, and back Michigan Avenue - clearly the place where it's happening in Chicago. After the parade yesterday, we spent the afternoon at Navy Pier and finished the day with a performance by the Beach Boys (yes, the Beach Boys!) at the Lions Conference. We were back to the hotel in time for the kids to enjoy the pool and some social time, and hopefully get a good night's sleep. (I know that *I* enjoyed a good night's sleep!) Not having to wake up for a 6am breakfast this morning was also quite nice!
After a leisurely breakfast, we all loaded onto the buses and headed down to our first stop of the day - Buckingham Fountain and the Bean, in a park just along Michigan Avenue. We enjoyed an hour of wandering through the park (some of us getting lost...). Ultimately, it seems that we all found out way to the Bean, which was really cool. It is a large reflective sculpture shaped like, well, a bean. We were able to find ourselves on the surface of the Bean as we approached. When we walked underneath the Bean, the angles of the sculpture meant that our reflection was in multiple places at the same time - uber cool! We also enjoyed the Crown Fountain installation, which featured two large fountain walls facing each other, each animated with the image of a face so that the two faces looked at one another. Then faces changed expression, and sometimes changed to new faces, which made it really interesting. Russ and I never did make it to Buckingham Fountain.... that was the getting lost part of our day.
After a leisurely breakfast, we all loaded onto the buses and headed down to our first stop of the day - Buckingham Fountain and the Bean, in a park just along Michigan Avenue. We enjoyed an hour of wandering through the park (some of us getting lost...). Ultimately, it seems that we all found out way to the Bean, which was really cool. It is a large reflective sculpture shaped like, well, a bean. We were able to find ourselves on the surface of the Bean as we approached. When we walked underneath the Bean, the angles of the sculpture meant that our reflection was in multiple places at the same time - uber cool! We also enjoyed the Crown Fountain installation, which featured two large fountain walls facing each other, each animated with the image of a face so that the two faces looked at one another. Then faces changed expression, and sometimes changed to new faces, which made it really interesting. Russ and I never did make it to Buckingham Fountain.... that was the getting lost part of our day.
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For lunch, we headed back down Michigan Avenue to WaterTower Place (part of the Magnificent Mile). We ate at Foodlife, an awesome restaurant that is effectively a food court with fourteen different kitchens, or stations. We were able to eat anything that we wanted - for two hours! The food was amazing - it ranged from sushi, to tacos, to macaroni and cheese, to really delicious crepes and milkshakes. (I enjoyed a Nutella crepe that was to die for.) Everyone seemed to have a good time, and I'm fairly sure that no one starved. There was quite the line at the dessert station as I left, so I'm sure that milkshakes and ice cream were enjoyed by all.
Foodlife is located in Water Tower Place, which is a huge seven story shopping mall. After lunch, we had ample time to shop and explore. I headed directly for Sephora (we don't have such stores in Gettysburg!), where I encountered many of our female band members. We all had a great time shopping. When we met up for the bus downstairs, it seemed that many people had acquired bags from Sephora and other places.
After lunch and shopping, we headed to the Lincoln Zoo. I will admit that my feet were about walked off (I had already hit my 10,000 steps for the day!), and Russ and I enjoyed a cold beverage at a cafe. It seemed that everyone enjoyed our time at the Zoo, however, and we even made a friend on our way out as we were waiting for the buses - a very large dog named Buddy, who seemed to have few objections to his popularity with our students and their desire to pet and otherwise lavish attention on him. (Buddy's owner, too, was cool with this, thankfully - otherwise, it could have been awkward...)
Alas, our buses arrived and we were forced to leave Buddy. We headed to the "Rock and Roll" McDonalds for dinner, located next to the Hard Rock Cafe where we ate the other evening. I'm not entirely sure why it's called the "Rock and Roll" McDonalds - the decor wasn't really different from any other McDonalds... While we were gathering to walk to the bus, we had fun posing with the statues out front.
After dinner, we headed to the Hyatt Regency Hotel for today's performance at the PA Lions Delegation Reception. Both the concert and the jazz band performed. This was our second (and final) "official" performance for the PA Lions. The band sounded great, and we were much appreciated by our audience. This was a late night, as it always is - and tomorrow will be an earlier morning than today. Tomorrow, we will show our appreciation for those who have sacrificed in the service of our country at the VA Hospital in Hines, IL. But for now, it has been a long day and we are all looking forward to a good night's sleep.
Foodlife is located in Water Tower Place, which is a huge seven story shopping mall. After lunch, we had ample time to shop and explore. I headed directly for Sephora (we don't have such stores in Gettysburg!), where I encountered many of our female band members. We all had a great time shopping. When we met up for the bus downstairs, it seemed that many people had acquired bags from Sephora and other places.
After lunch and shopping, we headed to the Lincoln Zoo. I will admit that my feet were about walked off (I had already hit my 10,000 steps for the day!), and Russ and I enjoyed a cold beverage at a cafe. It seemed that everyone enjoyed our time at the Zoo, however, and we even made a friend on our way out as we were waiting for the buses - a very large dog named Buddy, who seemed to have few objections to his popularity with our students and their desire to pet and otherwise lavish attention on him. (Buddy's owner, too, was cool with this, thankfully - otherwise, it could have been awkward...)
Alas, our buses arrived and we were forced to leave Buddy. We headed to the "Rock and Roll" McDonalds for dinner, located next to the Hard Rock Cafe where we ate the other evening. I'm not entirely sure why it's called the "Rock and Roll" McDonalds - the decor wasn't really different from any other McDonalds... While we were gathering to walk to the bus, we had fun posing with the statues out front.
After dinner, we headed to the Hyatt Regency Hotel for today's performance at the PA Lions Delegation Reception. Both the concert and the jazz band performed. This was our second (and final) "official" performance for the PA Lions. The band sounded great, and we were much appreciated by our audience. This was a late night, as it always is - and tomorrow will be an earlier morning than today. Tomorrow, we will show our appreciation for those who have sacrificed in the service of our country at the VA Hospital in Hines, IL. But for now, it has been a long day and we are all looking forward to a good night's sleep.
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