Vacationing in Chicago: Day #3

This morning we walked around Michigan Avenue and enjoyed the sites and sounds and shopping in the area. We spent a good amount of time exploring the American Girl Store and looking at all the dolls (which we concluded that Don & Melissa’s daughters, Olivia and Sophia, would absolutely love). We also visited the LEGO store and saw some really interesting creations. Here’s Shawn with a LEGO version of Darth Vader…

We also walked over to the headquarters of the Chicago Tribune and visited the McCormick Freedom Museum. Here’s a picture of Shawn and I with the busy city behind us…

The inside of the Freedom Museum was small, but interesting and thought provoking. The museum is dedicated to discussing our first amendment freedoms and there were displays about the use of censorship, famous Supreme Court cases, and the Civil Rights movement. I really enjoyed their display on the women’s suffrage movement, which made me realize I have a lot more to learn about the “mothers” of our country. This is a sign sported by those fighting to obtain voting rights for women…

In the evening, we ventured up to the north side and saw a show at Second City. They are a famous improv group that boasts many noteable alumni (John Belushi, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Mike Myers, Chris Farley, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, and Tina Fey just to name a few). The revue was hilarious, especially the parts that were totally improvised.

After the show, we started to walk back to the subway and it began to rain. The nice weather for the last day and a half had tricked us into thinking we didn’t need to bring umbrellas or ponchos with us to the show. Between the four of us we had one umbrella and Melissa and I were not wearing walking shoes. We crept along in the pouring rain until the strap on my shoe broke and I had to hobble the rest of the way to the train. We were quite wet, but it was somewhat of an adventure. And we learned a valuable lesson… next time, just stop and get a cab!

Well, our trip has come to an end and tomorrow morning we will be heading home. Shawn and I are looking forward to coming back to the city again and seeing some of the sites we didn’t get to experience. Tons of thanks and love to Don and Melissa for being great traveling companions and for arranging our accommodations. You guys are the best!

-- Lisa