The National Gathering for Bereaved Parents of the USA is scheduled to be held in Chicago this year so my plan was to fly in early and go visit family on the western side of the state, Moline. Toby and I flew in to Ohare Airport, rented a car and headed west.
It sounds easy but it took us a little bit to get on the right road. So many of the highways are toll roads which was a big shock to us. At home we only have a few to contend with but here every road we needed to take to get from the airport and head west had a toll booth. I don't know how many we ran through because for some reason they weren't counting the money I was throwing in.
We stayed at my Aunt Jannette's in Moline and enjoyed visiting with my Mom and the rest of our family. We hadn't seen any of them since we had been here for Grandma's 100th birthday two years ago.
We stayed a couple of days and then headed back to Chicago. Toby and I were checking into the Double Tree Suites in Downers Grove on Monday afternoon and then picking Jerry up at the airport on Tuesday. We had to park and go in to meet Jerry. His bag didn't come on the same plane he was on it was on the next flight an hour later.
After getting Jerry's bag we headed to the car and make our trip downtown. Our plans were to go down to the Navy Pier and board the Mystic Blue and take a cruise. The cruise was a lunch cruise. Toby made friends with a girl was visiting from Arlington, Texas just a few miles from us. It was a nice cruise and lunch seeing the sites from the lake.
After our cruise we wandered around the pier a little bit and then headed back to the car to head to the Double Tree.
On Wednesday we got up and headed to the train station. We decided not to fight the traffic going back downtown again. We got off the train at Central Station and walked over to the Sears Tower and took the elevator up to the observation deck. Wow, what a sight!
We boarded the Hop On Hop Off bus and took in the sites downtown and some of the surrounding areas. We took lots of pictures. I hope you enjoy!
For the next four days we spent our time inside in workshops and such. It was getting pretty warm so it was good.
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