Chapter 25 - Celebrating Dan's 50th Birthday - Barrington, IL

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Greetings from ChiTown...aka Chicago

Hi, it's Corp & Tammy again...this time road tripping in Wisconsin and Illinois!

Our trip began on August 11 when we set out for Barrington, IL to surprise our friend Dan at his 50th birthday party. 

Our first stop was LaCrosse, WI.  We spent the night at Corp's cousin Ken and Jay's beautiful Bentley-Wheeler B&B.  They were wonderful hosts as usual, and we had a great time together with lots of laughs. Although I forgot to take group pictures, here's one of their beautiful house.  

Bentley- Wheeler B&B is a beautiful Queen Anne style
historic house in LaCrosse, WI.

The next day, we headed to Barrington for Dan's 50th birthday party. It was great to see our friend Jacie and catch up with the whole Beniek family.

Corp giving Dan a birthday hug!

Ladies pic.....from left to right....Jacie, me, Angie, and Holly
 
Birthday boy Dan, Jacie, me, Marla, and Angie. 
Looks like missed the wear blue memo...lol.

On August 13, we went with the Beniek family and took the Metra UP-NW train from Barrington to the Ogilivie Transportation Center in Downtown Chicago.  Our friend Marla was super helpful with our advanced ticket purchases.  The 45-minute ride into the city was uneventful and pretty relaxing. 

We have been to Chicago many times, but still took in a lot of sites while walking around for about 4 miles.  On the way, we walked single file up the highway ramp.    

We couldn't resist taking a photo.

We decided to stay overnight in the city and enjoyed drinks in a few different bars on State and Wabash Streets.  

State St. is my favorite street in Chicago. 
I love the Chicago Theatre sign and always take a photo with it when we visit.

Corp in front of the Buckingham Fountain in Downtown Chicago.  

Buckingham Fountain was installed in 1927 and is one of the largest ornamental fountains in the world.  It is also featured in the opening credits of the "Married With Children" TV show that ran from 1987-1997.

The following day, we took the train back to Barrington and then headed to Milwaukee, where we spent one night. This was our first time in Milwaukee and we had a fun time biking about 25 miles all over the city. We were surprised to learn that Milwaukee has more than 100 miles of bike trails.  

We biked along Lake Michigan and quickly realized they have a lot of parkland along the lakefront.  

Next stop was the Historic Third Ward, which was home to the Milwaukee Public Market. 

Entrance to the Historic Third Ward, Downtown Milwaukee

Historic Third Ward

We thought the boat slips in front of the condo units on the Milwaukee River was very unique.

The brat we had at the Milwaukee Public Market was awesome! 

The brat at the Milwaukee Public Market didn't disappoint.  It was delicious!


We also biked by the Pabst mansion, which is described as a "foremost example of a preserved 1890s Gilded Age Mansion in the Midwest and across the country".

The Pabst Mansion was not as large as we were expecting.

Our next destination was Wisconsin Dells, where we stayed for one night at the Mount Olympus Resort.  We were amazed that we got a one-night stay and two days of water park and theme park tickets for only $125 total. Before we arrived, we had to stop at Target so I could buy a swimsuit.

The swimsuit options at Target were limited,
but I was able to find a top and bottom that matched.

I had to face my fears in the Poseidon's Rage tidal pool and on the Hades 360 roller coaster. 

Poseidon's Rage features a 9 foot tidal wave.  If you stay close to the front you can bob up and down in the wave and enjoy it.  If you stay farther back you get slammed by the wave.  I learned the hard way and got slammed a few times before Corp convinced me to stay up front.
 
The Hades 360 wooden roller coaster wasn't as scary as the first time I rode it years ago, but it still goes underground at 60 mph, which was exhilarating but terrifying. 

The first drop goes underground beneath the parking lot. 
When it goes underground it is traveling at 60 mph.

Our necks and shoulders were really sore after that single ride!  

Watching people race on go-karts was entertaining too. We saw one guy who didn't realize how quickly he was returning back to the start and slammed really hard into the kart in front of him.  On another occasion, a lady's kart got caught on an orange cone and instead of trying to fix it, she simply got out of the kart and walked away.

We also came across a guitar player at the bar next to us that was pretty impressive.  Check him out in the video below.


Chapter 25 is now officially complete! 

Keep an eye out for Chapter 26, when we road trip through North Dakota visiting friends.  .

Goodbye for now,

Corp (Crabby) and Tammy (Chipper)

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