Thursday, February 12, 2009

Do you know what downtown Chicago looks like at 4:30 in the morning? I do. Thanks to a big truck who covered the only mention of 94W and my silly hope that another sign would be somewhere.... I just kept driving. I had to make a choice when the signs above me said "Right Indiana, Left Chicago Loop". We wound up in the heart of Chicago--Lil'Nathan got a great view of his skyscrapers!--at the crack of dawn this morning. We drove between very tall buildings, waved at the lions in front of the art museum (it wasn't open), and probably had a gorgeous view of Lake Michigan, except that it was still dark.

All this with a screaming 2-yr old--still upset about being awaken at 4am, a 7 yr old who kept insisting "You're going the wrong way. You should have listened to me, I was right at the airport!" and my own enormously full bladder.

The roads down there are no better than they are up here, by the way. They'll trash any alignment, wipe out all shocks, and threaten your axles. And this morning we were blessed to meet with a killer pothole--large enough to eat the front end of a minivan! Somehow we survived.

Our trip to the zoo this afternoon was a piece of cake after that! Highlight of the trip: little toddler potties. :) Seriously. They said the animals were cool, too, especially the frisky camels and the baby giraffe.

We'll be returning to the airport in about three hours to pick up Daddy. This time, I know I can get us home--even if we end up back in the heart of Chicago!

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