Blown Away in ChicagoOctober 25
I heard a bunch of TARflies were getting together in Chicago to see some dead guy. A guy that’s been dead a long time. I didn’t quite understand wanting to see that, but I’d heard that Rachel had promised to be there and that if she backed out, people had planned on kidnapping her! I had to go – if for no reason than to protect her from these morbid kidnapping weirdoes.
I flew out there with my friends Mei Mei and lucinator.
We were greeted at the airport by Tribefan and emjaytee.
Then miri took me out to see the Frank Lloyd Wright Studio.
We got to tour his house. It was nice not to be the exhibit for a change. After that, we went out for a tasty dinner (these gals know how to eat) and to the store to pick up some supplies. That’s where we ran into a scary mad scientist! He tried to turn me and Kanuck’s friend Baby Panda into his latest experiment!
Thanks goodness the ladies noticed and rescued me.
What did they rescue me to, though? They said something about pirates in emjatee’s room. Pirates? Aren’t they kind of scary?
emjaytee doesn’t think they are. She introduced me, Baby Panda and Mei Mei to Captain Jack. Turns out the ladies (lucinator, TPorter2, pinkgodzilla, Tribefan, emjaytee, Kanuck and miri) were having a pajama party so that they could watch a movie. (Some people got more into the idea of “pajama party” than others.)
So, we settled down to watch the movie. Seems like someone was more interested in watching us, though – miri snuck up to take pictures of us.
Of course, that meant someone had to take a picture of miri taking a picture of us. Turns out, these people love to take pictures of people taking pictures! It kept happening the whole trip!
After we were pirated out, it was bed time. We needed our sleep to be ready to see the dead guy the next day.
The following morning, lucinator, Kanuck, miri and I walked to a big aquarium. We stopped to take some pictures along the way – of course! The aquarium was in a place called the “Museum Campus” because there are so many museums around. We posed for a picture on the sign and then found out why it’s called “The Windy City.”
Lucky for us, Kanuck came to our rescue before we blew away!
We saw a statue honoring Christopher Columbus. It said something on the base about him discovering and claiming the land. For some reason, this made everyone snort.
Near the museum, there’s a great view of the city, some water and pretty boats. We sat and enjoyed it for awhile.
There were a lot of birds there!
I found a big giant head on the museum grounds. I thought for sure that a head that large must contain a lot of wisdom and could help me find Rachel, so I tried to talk to the head.
But he wasn’t a very chatty fellow.
The aquarium was a lot of fun, but my friends seemed more interested in the fish than a stuffed panda, so they didn’t take a single picture of me in there! Hmph! They only took one picture of me in the museum where they saw the dead guy.
Bart let me wear his cap. He was really happy and said that the tigers won. That scared me because I’m just a little bear! They just laughed though. Sometimes, I really don’t think they like me very much. Oh well, it will be worth putting up with all that time stuffed in their bags (something about pandas not being allowed in the museums) in order to see my Rachel! They were going out to dinner that evening for Chicago-style pizza. Rachel likes food, right? Certainly she’ll be there.
All the TARflies are planning on meeting at the hotel lobby before dinner and that’s where I got to meet my new friends Mr. Loraxe and wgram.
No, sadly, not Rachel, but fun people just the same! Lucinator also made sure I got to hang out with my panda friends.
And then another newcomer showed up – a BURRO! We did our best to make him feel right at home.
Since we weren’t sure if the pizza place had bamboo on the menu, we helped ourselves to the table decoration.
We waited and waited, but no Rachel. I met the people who were supposed to kidnap her and asked them what was up. They said they were worried they would get in trouble at the border and be sent to jail. I don’t know what “the border” is, but I kind of have an idea what a jail is and that doesn’t sound good. So, I forgave them even if it broke my heart. I spent the rest of the evening in miri’s bag – too upset to show my face to all my friends. I didn’t want to spoil their good times and they respected my need for some alone time.
Knowing I was upset, my friends tried to distract me the next day. We started out going on a boat! In the wind…and the cold. We got to see a lot of cool things, but I sure would have enjoyed it better if I could have cuddled up to Rachel! I had to make do with Kanuck.
I’m sure Rachel would have overlooked the sea sickness, right?
After that, we went to the pier and on a HUGE ferris wheel! You could see all around the city and pretty far away. Not quite far enough away for me, though.
I also went on a surrey ride with my panda friends.
And, before we left, I got to go on the Merry-go-round with PepeNY and Ryan! It was fun…well, until the lion decided he wanted a snack.
After I was rescued (again!), we went walking around the city a bit. I got to see Buckingham Fountain – they started one season of Rachel’s show here.
There was a lot of spitting going on at the fountain.
Tribefan did her best to keep me safe from all the spit.
Next up was a lot more walking. Everyone was mesmerized by a thing called “The Bean” – too mesmerized to be bothered taking my picture there. Hmph! I did get to meet a cultural cow though.
At least, I guess he was cultural as he was outside of the Culture Center. That was nice, until I got in the way of one of his horns and, once again, had to be rescued.
Chicago’s turning out to be a tough town!
Next up was a big dinner with something called Crudite that I wasn’t allowed to touch. That didn’t seem to stop the TARflies from touching it…and being naughty.
After that, I needed a drink.
Or five.
Not everyone there was scary or doing strange things with squash. In fact, some people were nice.
Wait? Isn’t that the scary man who held a gun to my head one time! Eeeeee! Make him go away! I decided to try and hide in the crowd…
…and have a few more drinks.
On the way back to the hotel, we met a gorilla!
He was nicer than some people at the party. That’s for sure.
And then, it was time for everyone to leave. Another trek without Rachel. I wasn’t quite sure what to do. Luckily, one of Rachel’s pretend boyfriends offered to take me to NY next. I’ve been to NY so much, it’s kind of become a second home to me, so I took him up on the offer.