Day 4 - Chicago to Kalamazoo, MI - 150 miles

  Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States
Monday, June 23, 2008

Well we have settled down back in the Eastern Time Zone.  What a great day.  Beautiful weather for our day in Chicago. After our night at Wrigley, the kids slept in.  We didn't get going from the hotel

Days Inn - Lincoln Pak North

until around 11.  We started the day by driving to the

United Center

United Center

United Center Sign

, the home of the Bulls

Bulls

.  We had to stop off and see the statue of Mikes

Us w/ Jordan

lifelong idol, Michael Jordan.

Mike w/ Jordan

.  The United Center is somewhat outside downtown.  It is HUGE.  I was surprised.

Then we headed to a late breakfast at the world famous

Lou Mitchells

Lou Mitchells

Menu

.The home of the "World's Finest Coffee"

"Worlds Finest Coffee"

.  They serve their omlettes in a skillet

Ed Skilett

Omlette in a skillet

and awesome waffles

Waffles and blueberries

and egg sandwiches

Egg sandwich

.

From there we headed to Navy Pier,

Navy Pier

the number 1 tourist attraction in Illinois.  We took a

Aboard the boat

cruise around

Ferris Wheel

Lake Michigan.  The kids weren't thrilled to do this,

More navy pier

but it was only a half hour and I think they

Chicago Skyline

were happy we did once they saw the sites

Skyline

.  Chicago is an amazingly

Soldiers Field

clean, beautiful and unique city.

From there we hopped on the Chicago double deckers.

Michigan Avenue Bridge

You get on and get off anyone of 13 stops and it is a guided tour of the city.  The boys got off on Michigan avenue and went around the

Magnificant Mile

Magnificent Mile.  They like Nike Town best

Nike Town

.

Chicago Tribune

Hannah and I went to the Water Tower

Water Tower

, one of the few buildings

Hannah and Water Tower

to survie the Chicago fire and then to the American Girl Store

Girls of the year

and the the top of the

Elevated Trains

Hancock Tower.

View from Hancock

It was pretty cloudy,

United Center

but still a good view.  Then we toured the city where we saw

Buildings

amazing

Art Institute

architechture.

Merchandise

There were

Theater

so many buildings they described

Corn Husks

I lost count.  Here is Oprah's house

Oprahs House

on East Lake Drive South.

Chicago River

And the Deloitte building (kind of blurry).

Deloitte Building

. It was very

Soldiers

fun and

Park

we met up with the

Field Museum

boys around 5.

Buildings

.  I think it is my favorite city I have visted so far. 

From there we drove to Ed Debevics',

Ed Debevics

the diner where the

Bryan with Ed's Hat

staff is rude to you.  Of course the boys loved this.  Good

Chili and Salad

chili and original green rivers

Green River

and cherry cokes. 

We then headed east towards Detroit. 

Welcome to Michigan

We drove for about 150 miles and 2.5 hours to Kalamazoo, MI, the home of Derek Jeter.  No visible signs of his history :)  We are off to Detroit St. Louis vs. the Tigers on Tuesday.  See you all on the road.