Chicago Trip



The Whomptons visited Chicago last weekend. While the primary instigator for the visit was to see Mike Kearney officially become a deacon, we had a lot of other fun on our trip.

On Friday, our first stop was on the way to Chicago in Springfield Illinois to check out Lincoln’s house and the other historical stuff in Springfield. We carefully maneuvered through Lincoln’s house and learned all sorts of things











Next we ate lunch in the car as we headed onto towards Chicago. In general, pb&j and apple is our go to for trips when there isn’t a good place to stop and eat.

The girls were excited to get to the hotel in Bloomington.

We needed to go ahead and get some dinner before the evening mass. Ever since they closed down Casa Gallerdo in St. Louis, we’ve been Mexican restaurant refugees. So it seemed reasonable to try out one with good reviews nearby (Buchos restaurant). I am not traditionally one for superlatives, but it was not only fantastic, it was one of the best dining experiences I’ve had in quite some time and completely blew away any previous Mexican restaurant experience. They brought out the traditional chips and salsa which were very good. Then they brought out a bowl of pickled vegetables (carrots, onions, and peppers). These were surprisingly tasty. Then there was a bowl of chicken soup. THEN they brought out our meals which were plentiful and awesome. The burritos were very large and their vegetarian option was awesome. Here below is Krystal with here avocado and bean burrito with guacamole on top. I had a bite of it, and while I totally enjoyed my chicken burrito, the avocado burrito was stunningly great.  

Then next day we headed out to the Field museum and had a jolly good time.

I recalled one exhibit in particular from when we visited the Field museum 5 years ago. The evolving world exhibit which once again totally captured me for every step of the way. Again with the superlatives, this is my favorite exhibit in any museum. It doesn’t just provide massive amounts of fascinating information about tracing the continental drift, the evolutionary progress, and the progression towards what we know today. It captures the imagination with the story of our world.

This culminates in the mass extinction events that are particularly defining in the world’s history. The depressing punch line comes when we reach the end of the exhibit to find out the cause of the 6th mass extinction.

Spoiler alert!!  . . . . Humanity is the primary cause of the current ongoing mass extinction. Note in the picture how the number 13 is lit up in the back. This is the number of species that went extinct between 8:00am and the current time of the picture that day (11:00am).

We partied with the Kearney’s that afternoon/night, and then headed back to St. Louis on Sunday morning. Trips are hard work. 
 

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