Halling Go To Alaska

Bari and I started the day with a run along Lake Michigan.  It was so pretty despite the humidity.  Which wasn't horrific, but it reminded me of San Diego.  It was nice to run with someone though.  After our run and getting cleaned up, we headed out for Starbucks.  And then hit up the Lego Store.  Check out Bari and her boyfriend! We both decided that this shirt needed to come in big sizes.  Then it was time for lunch and then Bari had to head home.  (Boo! Hiss!) After Bari left I hung out in my hotel room just relaxing for a few hours.  I knew that my board member friend was coming in early evening and we'd get dinner together.  Jamie and I headed out for the Sears Tower.  I will admit that I didn't spend enough time looking at a map to get my bearings straight in Chicago.  After all I'm used to mountains telling me which was is west.  I took us 10 minutes in the opposite direction of the Sears Tower.  We ended up st...

So my trip from Manchester to Chicago was done as a family.  T and the girls continued from Chicago back home.   Bari picked me up at the airport. I know I've said this before, but I love that meeting people from the blogosphere isn't weird.  It feels like seeing an old friend...because really we are.  :)   Our first stop, after checking into the hotel and handing over the keys to valet parking was to get lunch.  And I didn't take a picture of the place, so I don't remember the name.  I had my first taste of Chicago deep dish pizza.  It was yummy.  Bari and I shared a little-in-diameter pizza and got salads.  She was being so good drinking water and I sucked away at Coke.   I had to take a picture of this.   "The Purple Pig" "Cheese, Swine, and Wine" We walked the Magnificent Mile aka Michigan Ave. Saw the Chicago River. The Bean!! Our feet in The Bean Navy Pier (obviously) Road the big-ass ferris wheel at Navy Pier.  My ...

Okay technically the Polar caves are in New Hampshire, but all those east coast states are so close together, we only had to drive about 2 hours to get there.  The polar caves were created in the last glacial age.  Like lots of years ago.  The glacier tore up a mountain and deposited boulders all around creating caves that are very cold compared to the outside temperatures - hence the name polar caves.  Our little family, my parents, and my niece went.  More pictures!! This is the view from the top. On the path to the caves there was a covered bridge. New England has a bunch of them.  I believe there are actually maps of all of them and you can make it a point to visit all 44 (?) of them.  At the beginning of the park, there were fallow deer waiting to be fed dried corn And ducks And OMG, cute fuzzy baby ducks! I think this is my last Maine post.  Wow! I made it in 3!  But don't worry.  I have my time playing in Chicago with Bari to tel...

There was family, of course. (and booze) (T and my cousin's husband - another T) The girls with some of their favorites My mom and our "sister".  (Former neighbor of my parents who is awesome and so much a part of our family  that she comes to reunions to join the fun!) My brother and Sweet Pea My cousin, her husband, and SmartyPants.  Some very special people in this picture. Car rides and goofiness. And we can't forget that we were in Maine.  There were lobsters for dinner.  and please, if you're familiar with these can you explain to me *why*? They are hot dogs.  I guess when you buy a hot dog from a vendor in Maine, they ask red or brown.   That the casing is dyed red.  Otherwise they are normal hotdogs.  I couldn't eat one. They just look wrong.  

Oh, how sad I was that I didn't make time to participate in last week's You Capture.  I took a ton of "down low" pictures, but I just never made the time to upload pictures and post them while on our vacation in Maine.  It was lovely.  Family reunion.  Tons of fun.  Lots of laughter.  But Maine.  Have you ever seen Maine? It's green.  I knew I had to pick "green" out of the three choices Beth gave last week.  Granted I did have opportunity for "chair" and even "hand" but my greens were so green.  So without any more babble.  My green from over the last week. There was the sun shining through the trees next to the balcony. There was the moss growing in this crevice that was supposed to have a waterfall. It was a much harder hike than we expected to get to this point.   The trail guide said "kid friendly." It was not.  Steep inclines, boulders in the path, lots of slippery leaves on the ground.  Sweet Pea hiked it in a ...

There were cousin drinks. and drinks for Snowy (she's kind of a lush when it comes to margaritas) And homemade balloon hats And tiki torches and duck-lip kazoos I have so many more pictures. I'm going to do my best to condense to 2 more posts.  But it may be 3 more.