A dino named Sue
Last weekend my girlfriend and I decided to celebrate our 2nd year anniversary, even though our actual anniversary is July first. She started a new job and they pretty much told her when her days off were going to be and they decided it was labor day weekend. So we headed out early friday morning (6am-ish) and headed for Chicago. By this time I had already been up since 8pm the day before so I decided to just stay up and take a nap in the car, but instead I drove the entire way. I prefer to drive on road trips. It helps the time go by...plus I've still never met a girl that I think drives well enough for me to be comfortable riding with. Anyhoo, we arrived at our hotel, took a nap, and headed off to the Field Museum, which is the main reason I wanted to go to Chi-town.
The Museum was massive and not only does it have one of the largest dinosaur fossil exhibits in the country, but there was also a limited engagement passing through that studied the mechanics of how dinosaurs moved. I felt like a giddy little boy as I stood mere feet from the gaping maw of the world's most complete skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Her name was Sue. Soon I was standing agape below a complete Apatasaurus skeleton, a Stegosaurus, and a Triceratops. Some of my favorites. It's fascinating how the true impact of these beasts doesn't really hit you until you see them up close. These things were massive and they used to rule the very planet that we now claim as our own. Human history is a mere footnote to the long rule of the dinosaurs. Millions of years. I probably would have stayed in that room all day, just staring at the bones, but they began to announce that the Museum was closing. I saw some mummies, too. It would suck to know that your shriveled thousands of year old body was on display daily for people to gape at. Also, there was a display of the man-eating lions from Africa. i forget where exactly, but damn dude...they big. Seriously.
So then, Cassie and I headed for downtown to have lunch. As we walked around we saw some little pink signs that said "set" with an arrow. We instantly assumed it was a movie set so we followed the signs and came across a real life movie set. They were filming a stunt that day so we were allowed to watch. Everyone was hanging out when all of the sudden everyone started screaming "Action!" Then a Lamborghini shot across the intersection and two cars collided. It was amazing. I leaned over to the bystander next to me and asked what movie was being filmed and the man nonchalantly says, "Oh, it's the new Batman movie." Yeah. Batman. So we wandered around in a happy daze for a while until my exhaustion started hitting pretty hard. We ate lunch at an irish pub and jumped on the subway and headed to Chinatown. It was amazing. By the time our dinner was over I could barely keep my eyes open. It took us forever to get home. By the way, Chicago is th eleast visitor-friendly city I've ever been too. i don't mean the people were mean, except that waiter at the irish pub, but there are absolutely no signs telling you how to get back to the interstate from downtown. Once we accidentally found our way back (goddamn you Google Maps!) we were stuck in traffic for a few hours until we finally found our way, again accidentally, back to our hotel. I slept like the dead. The next day we had breakfast at Cracker barrel and drove home. All in all it was an amazing trip with a few hang-ups, but I'd love to go again with more time.
So that was my exciting Labor Day. I know it's no trip to Greece (I'm talking to you Arvey!), but it was still great. Anyhoo, I'm off to meet my belle for food and beer. Slainte!
nick out.
The Museum was massive and not only does it have one of the largest dinosaur fossil exhibits in the country, but there was also a limited engagement passing through that studied the mechanics of how dinosaurs moved. I felt like a giddy little boy as I stood mere feet from the gaping maw of the world's most complete skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. Her name was Sue. Soon I was standing agape below a complete Apatasaurus skeleton, a Stegosaurus, and a Triceratops. Some of my favorites. It's fascinating how the true impact of these beasts doesn't really hit you until you see them up close. These things were massive and they used to rule the very planet that we now claim as our own. Human history is a mere footnote to the long rule of the dinosaurs. Millions of years. I probably would have stayed in that room all day, just staring at the bones, but they began to announce that the Museum was closing. I saw some mummies, too. It would suck to know that your shriveled thousands of year old body was on display daily for people to gape at. Also, there was a display of the man-eating lions from Africa. i forget where exactly, but damn dude...they big. Seriously.
So then, Cassie and I headed for downtown to have lunch. As we walked around we saw some little pink signs that said "set" with an arrow. We instantly assumed it was a movie set so we followed the signs and came across a real life movie set. They were filming a stunt that day so we were allowed to watch. Everyone was hanging out when all of the sudden everyone started screaming "Action!" Then a Lamborghini shot across the intersection and two cars collided. It was amazing. I leaned over to the bystander next to me and asked what movie was being filmed and the man nonchalantly says, "Oh, it's the new Batman movie." Yeah. Batman. So we wandered around in a happy daze for a while until my exhaustion started hitting pretty hard. We ate lunch at an irish pub and jumped on the subway and headed to Chinatown. It was amazing. By the time our dinner was over I could barely keep my eyes open. It took us forever to get home. By the way, Chicago is th eleast visitor-friendly city I've ever been too. i don't mean the people were mean, except that waiter at the irish pub, but there are absolutely no signs telling you how to get back to the interstate from downtown. Once we accidentally found our way back (goddamn you Google Maps!) we were stuck in traffic for a few hours until we finally found our way, again accidentally, back to our hotel. I slept like the dead. The next day we had breakfast at Cracker barrel and drove home. All in all it was an amazing trip with a few hang-ups, but I'd love to go again with more time.
So that was my exciting Labor Day. I know it's no trip to Greece (I'm talking to you Arvey!), but it was still great. Anyhoo, I'm off to meet my belle for food and beer. Slainte!
nick out.