Chicago!

So the day before Valentine's Day, Anne, Michael, Nick and I ventured into the Windy City to visit the Museum of Science and Industry. We started out on the 9AM South Shore Line and took it all the way to the museum. The line to get tickets for MSI was amazingly long, but we were able to bypass it all by buying museum memberships. For a mere $80, I am able to get free admission, Omnimax tickets, and special exhibit tickets for myself and a friend. This time, the special exhibit was an inside look into the White House which featured a massive 1ft to 1in scale model. I don't have any pictures because, unlike the people in front of me, I respected the wishes of the exhibit owner and did not take any pictures. We checked out the Toymaker 3000, the coal mine, Genetics and Baby Chick hatchery, Imaging: The Tools of Science, Henry Crown Space Center, Petroleum Planet, The Great Train Story, You! The Experience, and still came nowhere near close to seeing everything the place had to offer.

After the museum, we rode the bus to Water Tower Place and rode the escalators up to the top floor just so we could ride the glass elevator all the way down again.

Dinner was a quick bite at Rock Bottom Grill. I had the most amazing soft pretzel with a spicy cheese sauce. After, we headed down to Millennium Park to kill time before our train left. We viewed the Cloud Gate and some very strange sculptures that feature the faces of Chicago residents which spit water at you in the summer. We watched some skating at the free rink in the park until a guy who I think wasn't quite all there started to take interest in me. After, we headed down to the train station only to find it was closed and so we had to set off on a hike to the next one down the line. The train ride home was spent either sleeping or fighting the urge to sleep. Even though we got in after midnight and did not get to bed until 1AM, it was a very good day. The train was nice because no one had to deal with driving home after such a long day.

Valentine's Day began with breakfast in bed (frosted doughnuts with sprinkles) and a vase with a rose trio. I also received some chocolates from the South Bend Chocolate Factory and Dutch mints. Dinner plans to Outback were suspended until today since I had to spend the entire afternoon working on homework and was too tired to go out, but the day was a good one overall.