Where's Eldo? In Chi-Town, at the ZOO! Part III

Elkhart, IN      High:  71    Low:  58

After leaving Millennium Park yesterday, we headed to Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago's FREE zoo, which is right in the heart of Chicago. It was too far to walk from the park, so we took the bus for 2.50 a person...The kids had lots of fun looking out the windows on the way there and back and seeing some unusual things.  Like this orange water fountain....

Trevor wanted to know if there were hobos in Chicago. We had a long and interesting discussion about them. He worried about them all day long...Every time he saw one, he wanted to give them some food or money. He sure has a big heart....

We arrived at the zoo, and it was PANDA-monium ...HAHAH!  Coudn't resist that one!...we didn't see any pandas, but we saw LOTS of people weirdly dressed, both adults and children. Turns out it was TRICK-AND-TREAT day at the zoo...UH-OH! This could have been a problem for more than just the kids and it was. The primates--the gorillas and monkeys-- were upset by the weird costumed kids and adults that came by the exhibit--so much that they had to put up screens in front of the nursing gorilla mothers. That didn't work, so they closed the primate house early. Back outside we went.

All the adults in the family kept distracting and steering the grandkids away from the treat and treat line signs so we managed to enjoy the zoo without the sugar high and crash that comes later!

Love this octopus costume!

Eldo attempted to get in one of the trick or treat lines, as he had a craving for candy corn, but Sparky grabbed his arm in the nick of time and hustled him away from temptation. (Darn it! says E.)

For a free zoo, it was really nice! Some nice habitats for the animals...Some wonderful indoor tropical rainforest areas.....Some really cool animals...Sparky loves the giraffes...

and the little baby ones, too! No relation to us, but too cute to pass up!

We saw some cool bears...this is a "spectacle bear" or an Andean bear....He looked very thoughtful as he posed for his picture....

Zoos are almost as much fun for people watching as they are for animal watching....Sparky caught this little girl talking to the hippos and wanting them to come and see her.....

We took photos not only of the animals, other people's children, but of ourselves as well!

Kristi and her "sister" Bobbi

Eldo and Sparky at the park just outside the zoo....

The grandsons exhibiting art with attitude just outside the zoo.....

We just had a fabulous time with fabulous weather! After the zoo, we found a rooftop restaurant where everyone just collapsed and had either a 1) root beer or 2) a regular beer....Don't the grandsons look like they've seen it all and done it all today? And they look tired, too! This was not the place we should have gone at 4.00 a root beer, and about 9-12.00 for a beer! But we were thirsty and it was across the street from the train station....

We highly recommend the Lincoln Park Zoo when you are in Chicago...Brookfield Zoo is one of the top zoos in the world, but today, the free one fit the bill!

Fall color at the Lincoln Park Zoo

Tomorrow, we leave Elkhart.......We'll let you know where our next destination is, when Eldo figures it out!

Where's Eldo? In CHI-TOWN! Part I

Elkhart, IN      High:  56    Low:  39

Back in the early eighties, Eldy had a foreign exchange student, Bobbi, from "down under"-- Sydney, Australia....Eldy and his family warmly welcomed Bobbi into their family for a year. They became very close with Bobbi, and stayed in touch through the years. Bobbi is currently in the midwest, in CHICAGO, and the family began planning a trip to Chicago to spend the day with Bobbi and her husband, Chris.

Eldy's son and daughter, Brian and Kristi, and their families along with Sparky and Eldy hopped on the South Shore at the South Bend Airport. For 11.75 a person for the adults, one way, we headed to Chi-town for the day. The kids had a lot of fun on the train, and the big kids did, too!

Brian, Eldy, and grandson Trevor

Sparky is glad she's not the only one that's a "mamarazzi!"  (A mom who takes lots and lots of photos, documenting every moment of their child's life, according to a definition on Urban Dictionary.) Lori, Brian's wife, took LOTS of photos, and immediately started tagging everyone on Facebook. :-) Sparky is not sure how to tag exactly, she leaves that up to the younger generation, but she's working on it!

While we were en route to Chicago, Eldo spotted an Encore park that would be a great place to stay with your RV if you wanted to hop on the South Shore train and spend the day in Chicago. It's Lakeside RV Park in New Carlisle and offers Passport America rates. It has great ratings. Its right next to the South Shore line which is cause for some dings in the ratings. However, they don't blow the horns, which is a good thing, and this is not a major train line like the trains going through the Elkhart County Fairgrounds in Goshen, IN. The positives for being able to hop on the train to go to Chicago sure make up for the noise of the train cars clickety clacking on the tracks throughout the night. There are not that many trains during the overnight hours. The South Shore doesn't stop there unless you press a button at the train station a few minutes before it is due to arrive. Door to door service!

Everybody passed the time with playing their phones and electronics...What did we ever do without them?! Don't answer that! :-)

Brian and Eldy went head to head on trying to figure out how to receive the Notre Dame game on their phones, but didn't have much luck. Note the "like father, like son" position of their sunglasses!

More photo opps and we aren't even to Millennium Park yet!

Eldy's three grandkids

Eldy's daughter-in-law, Lori, and her daughter, Cate...the blog writer from this summer...If you've been following the blog, Sparky, always in teacher mode, made the grandkids blog about their two week vacation with us. Cate didn't mind, Trevor did.

The train ride was a little over two hours and passed by quickly....The South Shore train is known for its punctuality and keeping to schedule and today was no exception! Our first stop---Millennium Park right across the street from the train station stop! See you at the park tomorrow!