wow, what a day

we headed off to the planetarium

quite a walk almost 3 miles

we grabbed a hotdog and lemonade at a lake-side vendor

amanda can just not figure out what people rave about with chicago and new york hot dogs

they are the same boiled dogs you would make at home

disappointing, but oh well

the planetarium was cool

i learned that a nebula was a new star (never knew that)

there was lots of stuff to do, lots of hands-on, lots of interesting trivia

barry had fun

he made a bracelet with some beads that change colour in ultra-violet light

(can't quite believe he enjoyed that, but he spent about 20 minutes with a docent learning about it

had lunch there, then we did a water taxi to navy pier

lots of people on that, we had to wait for a 2nd taxi to come

which was cool, because the second one was double decker, nice breeze on the water, beautiful sunny day, around 80degrees

then we did the architectural boat tour (thanks bandi) totally worth the time and money

it was an hour, on the chicago river, very interesting speaker, lots of great stories about the buildings, the river, the people, the cows of mrs o'leary that started it all

then off to the beach, we walked a very small way, and we were right there

what an amazing sandy beach, it was beautiful

again, a perfect day

we all dipped our feet into the lake

barry had a great dip

i just went in to my ankles, it was a bit weedy and chip-baggy

chilly too

spent about an hour there

then walked back to the hotel

tidied up a bit

collected the car

then off to glenn's diner

it was featured on diner's drive-ins and dives

it was about 10k north of where we are

bit of a slow drive, but fine

chicago drivers are ok

amanda had a steak sandwich, i had crab cakes (which were totally awesome) and barry had spaghetti with meat balls, he liked the garlic bread

then drive back to the hotel

barry is watching some bizarre reality show (wipe-out, he says it is a really awesome show)

and that is it for wednesday

heading out early tomorrow morning

a couple of blocks away they are doing a movie shoot, so we will walk over to see what is going on

then off to springfield to see abe lincoln's home

we are exhausted already

but chicago was amazing

great food, people and weather