My Sweetie and I were able to go to Chicago and visit my family. We got in at 1:30 Friday morning, and my Dad went to work. Friday in the late morning/early afternoon it started to rain. We heard there was a chance of rain while we were there, and early Friday morning the Sun Times said that we would get some rain from Hurricane Ike. Since we never see rain at home, we were happy to see a little rain.
Friday night we went out for some Chicago deep dish pizza, yum, (I have to find a recipe for this) (It had a completely different crust, different feel, different taste, that is why I need to look for a recipe. Don't think "make pizza, put it in a deep dish pan". NOT the same) Then we went to see a hilarious play, Church Basement Ladies. It was starring William Christopher, better known as Father Mulcahy from M.A.S.H. It continued to rain, which we really enjoyed. My parents worried, because last time they had some BIG rain, the had some water in the basement. We got home, no problems. Dad had taped a tarp around the window wear the water came in the last time and made a way for it to drain to a bucket if necessary.
During the night, I woke up once and checked the office, no water. Dad came and checked, no water. We were on an air mattress on the floor so Dad didn't want us floating around the basement. Saturday, about 7 am I heard a strange sound. I went to the office, and whoa! WATER! I went and got my parents up, we got the shop vac and emptied the bucket and moved all the water around. For some reason, if the water fills in that window, it floods in the pantry and laundry room on the other side of the basement. I haven't heard what the leaky basement people found.
Friday night we went out for some Chicago deep dish pizza, yum, (I have to find a recipe for this) (It had a completely different crust, different feel, different taste, that is why I need to look for a recipe. Don't think "make pizza, put it in a deep dish pan". NOT the same) Then we went to see a hilarious play, Church Basement Ladies. It was starring William Christopher, better known as Father Mulcahy from M.A.S.H. It continued to rain, which we really enjoyed. My parents worried, because last time they had some BIG rain, the had some water in the basement. We got home, no problems. Dad had taped a tarp around the window wear the water came in the last time and made a way for it to drain to a bucket if necessary.
During the night, I woke up once and checked the office, no water. Dad came and checked, no water. We were on an air mattress on the floor so Dad didn't want us floating around the basement. Saturday, about 7 am I heard a strange sound. I went to the office, and whoa! WATER! I went and got my parents up, we got the shop vac and emptied the bucket and moved all the water around. For some reason, if the water fills in that window, it floods in the pantry and laundry room on the other side of the basement. I haven't heard what the leaky basement people found.
The rain continued, and water continued to pour in. I think my Dad was emptying 5 gallons every 10 minutes. As the shop vac went from the office through the family room and into the laundry room it sometimes spilled, so here is my Dad mopping up.
As much as I love my parents, I did want my Sweetie to see something besides their house, so on Saturday we walked downvillage. (They live in a "village" not a "town" so we couldn't go "downtown"). We took an umbrella, it was really raining HARD.
For lunch we opted for "Chicago style dogs". Really they were Chicago style-ish. There are some foods I don't believe go on my hotdog. A true Chicago dog has mustard, onions, dill pickle spear, pickle relish (dyed green looks like jello on the dog on the right) tomatoes, some hot peppers, and celery salt, on a poppy seed bun. We also got onion rings, and for a taste of home we got chips and guacamole. Oddly enough the guacamole was pretty good, but the chips were terrible.
On the way back the water was still rushing down the streets toward the "creek" which had risen almost a foot in the 2 hours were were downvillage. It was over the bottom branches of the big trees that grew on the side of the creek bank. It is hard to tell, but the water is over my ankles as well as over the top of the grass.
Since it stopped raining late Saturday from Hurricane Ike, and wasn't supposed to rain until Sunday afternoon from Hurricane Gustav we went to bed with high hopes we could go to Chicago on Sunday. It started raining about midnight and didn't stop. Since the water in the basement had increased enough that my Sweetie and I relocated upstairs to avoid waking up on air mattress island, we thougth the chance of Mom and Dad being able to go with us was pretty slim since they were still bailing out the basement. Being very brave, I was able to put all my skills I had learned from being a Webelos leader to use and plan a trip using public transportation. For extra points, we even had to switch between Metra (train) and CTA (bus) walking in a questionable neighborhood in the rain. The pouring rain.
Once we arrived at Navy Pier we purchased some sweatshirts to protect us from the driving rain. We then went into the Crystal Gardens and took some pictures out of the rain. They were closing it off getting ready for a private event.
Then we headed out to go to the end of the pier. We were going to ride the 150 foot ferris wheel, but all the rides were closed because of weather. You can see how low the clouds were. Incidently, that is my sisters old house across from Navy Pier. Not the entire building, just a space in it as big as my kitchen and family room.
We walked inside for a little ways, and ran into these guys
As we got to the end of the pier, we ran out of building that had been blocking the wind. These are huge flags, about 15' long.
The shelter of the building was also protecting us from the driving rain. We made it to the end of the pier, a little damp maybe, but we made it.
The clouds continued to get lower. We couldn't really see much of Lake Michigan so I took pictures of the city.
We pretty much had the pier to ourselves outside. You could NEVER get a picture like us on a normal day.
We tried to get a picture of us in less rain, that didn't work out too well.
Here we are back in the bus going to Union Station. We are starting to dry a little bit.
This is the inside of a public bus. I had never been on a bus until this adventure.
We got to Union Station, but missed our train by 3 minutes. There was an old lady on the bus trying to get to the airport. She was on the wrong bus. The driver was really nice and was trying to figure which stop to let her out at to catch another bus to the airport. He kept talking to other CTA employees which caused us to get in to Union Station about 15 minutes late. I called my sister to tell her I was sorry, we were going to be a little late for dinner. Then since we had 2 hours until the next train (crazy weekend hours) we decided to go to the Sears Tower.
The Sears Tower goes WAY up into the clouds.
The Sears Tower goes WAY up into the clouds.
Up at the top, onteh 110th floor, you could see the clouds.
There was another couple there that took a picture of us in front of a picture of the Sears Tower.
Right before we decided to leave, a hole in the clouds blew by.
We saw Michael Jordan on the way out too.
You can see how much the clouds lifted by the time we came out.
One interesting fact, 10,000 people work in this building every day. There are 160 parking spaces. You do the math.
Back at Union Station we waited for our train.
This was Monday before we left, when the sun came out. My parents have done so much to the back yard. All the plants have been relocated and my Dad is busy putting in more flower beds.
Good bye Mom and Dad! Thanks for the WONDERFUL time!
1 comment:
wet, rainy, and cloudy, and wet. This looks like my first trip to NY. LOL! Glad you had an adventure. Public transportation is pretty nice most of the time.
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