Tammy and I made our first batch of candles for the Things 4 Good 2024 Candle Fundraiser! Tonight we poured Just Crackle and Winter Wonderland and drained 8 gallons of wax. 🕯️
We saw Mike Birbiglia‘s newest performance The Good Life at the State Theater tonight. He is an incredible performer — so many laughs.
Our trip to Chicago for MEA was all electric in the Tesla Model Y. We’ve not done that many road trips using the Supercharger network and it worked great. The worst charger was the one on North Columbus in downtown Chicago, and the best was in Waukegan.
Chicago MEA Trip Log
Thursday
- Depart at 6:12a
- Charge at Mauston.
- Charge in Janesville, walk to Culver’s that was closed
- Lunch at Culver’s in Janesville
- Arrived in Chicago
- Go to Museum of Science & Industry
- Charge at North Columbus parking ramp in Chicago.
- Tammy, Tyler check into L7
- Jamie navigates lower level roads and finally gets to hotel.
- Dinner at Perellia
- Walked to Palmer House and realized we were at wrong place.
- Walked to Magic Parlour
- Great Magic Show
- Walk back to hotel
Friday
- Drive to Arlington Heights
- breakfast with CJ at Scratchboard Kitchen
- Charge at Waukegan by a large casino
- Drive to Gurnee
- Tyler and Jamie do Extreme Flight simulation, while Tammy explores mall
- Ice cream at Scoops & Kettle in Gurnee Mall. This Just Got Serious. Chocolate Shoppe ice cream
- 60 to Escape. Mystery Mansion.
- Attempted to go to Botanical Gardens. Denied!
- Early dinner at Prairie Grass Cafe.
- Decide last minute to go to a movie — mad dash to get there just as the movie starts!
- Return to Prairie Grass Cafe to pick up Tyler’s coat that we forgot while rushing to get to the movie.
- Return to L7 Hotel for the night.
Saturday
- Breakfast at Wildberry in Downtown Chicago.
- Visit “The Bean”
- Walk over to Buckingham Fountain, and return 20 minutes later to see the major display.
- Check out Abraham Lincoln statue in Grant Park.
- Visit the Art Institute of Chicago.
- Walk to Bike Rental place, but decide to instead rent Lyft bikes instead.
- Ride Lyft Bikes to Soloway Coffee in Lincoln Park.
- Explore Oz Park after dropping off bikes.
- Go to Soloway Coffee for great cappuccino and Kyiv cake.
- Walk from Soloway Coffee to the Magnificent Mile, then walk the Magnificent Mile to the Architectural Boat Tour.
- Take Architectural Boat Tour.
- Dinner at Lou Malnati’s.
- Back to the hotel to rest and turn in.
Sunday
- Up early to drive back home.
- Charge in Janesville.
- Charge in Black River Falls while having lunch at Culver’s.
- Arrive home.
Chicago skyline.
The L crossing the river in Chicago.
Tammy had read about Soloway Coffee, a Ukrainian owned coffee shop in Chicago, and we rented some bikes and rode to the Lincoln Park neighborhood to try it out. They had Kyiv Cake, which I had never had, and it was great. They had Napolean Cake but the person in front of us bought he last slice!
While making our way to a coffee shop in Lincoln Park we ran across Oz Park in Chicago. It was a fun discovery. We didn’t have time to find the Lion though.
We visited the Art Institute of Chicago specifically to see one of the original Great Wave pieces that they have there. The Great Wave is one of Tyler’s favorite pieces of art. We also checked out the contemporary and modern galleries.
While walking from Buckingham Fountain to the Art Institute of Chicago we took in the Abraham Lincoln: The Head of State in Grant Park.
Buckingham Fountain in the early part of the major display.
“The Bean”
Our evening plans were a bit in flux and we decided at the last minute, very last minute, to go to the Wayfarer theatre and see White Bird. Very good movie with a gripping story.
Prairie Grass Cafe had “Chicago Magazine’s #1 Sirloin Burger” on the menu and Tyler and I couldn’t pass up an award winning burger. It delivered — so good!
Browsing the Ebisu Life store at Gurnee Mall. All Japanese products.
After our flight simulator we went to Sixty to Escape and did the Mystery Manor room. It was a great room with interesting puzzles. We had to use one clue and won the room in 47 m 30s!
See list of escape rooms.
Flying a 737
Tyler and I had a blast at Extreme Flight Simulation flying a 737. Tyler got the pilot chair and I took the co-pilot spot. We did a full pre-flight routine making sure everything was good to go. We then took off, did a quick fly around 5,000 feet, followed with a landing. We got to pick our airports:
- MSP: Our home airport. I wanted to see if the terrain was familiar. The lakes and most roads were where they should be, but the buildings and downtown wasn’t very current.
- CDG: We thought it would be fun to see the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe — which we did!
- HHX: Tyler picked this as he knew it had a particularly difficult landing. You have to come in from a totally different heading and right at the end do about a 30° turn at 500 feet or so to land. We landed it but it wasn’t pretty.
- LGA: Our last airport and we started in the air for this one and then landed. I wanted to land here since I’ve landed at this airport for sure over 50 times and it was very realistic. This was our best landing by a ways.
We got to finish by doing a full shut down of the 737. It was a great time.
