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Woot...Packin up tonight


Bubblegum Bandit

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Hey Bandit!

 

I went on the Chicago Architectural Foundation Boat Tour last week ($23/person). All the boats/tours take pretty much the same route, and I think it just comes down to how good the guide is (they narrate the whole time). I wish I could remember who we did last time, because their guide was better, but I don't think you can really go wrong with any of them. Just check prices, I suppose...

 

Have a safe trip - that's a long haul! :peace:

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Yeah, we already have our tickets. Came in the mail yesterday. Thanks for your input, I appreciate your willingness to help. We are doing the one that is actually sponsored by the architectural society. We go Sunday morning at 10 AM. I'm staying at the Swissotel on E. Wacker right by the Lake in one of the rooms on the top few stories, should be awesome. We're also going to do the Shedd Aquarium as we got free tickets with our room purchase. Should have some pictures up before FF if I get the time to do it while I'm at the inlaws.

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That sounds like a great visit! The Shedd Aquarium is awesome - your kids will love it. If you decide to eat some Chicago-style pizza while you are here, and only pick one, pick Giordano's. They are all pretty darn good, but we like that one the best.

 

Looking forward to the pics. Have a safe trip! :boing:

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Make sure and go the the Baluga whale "talk". They will show you some of the training they do with them. Its not a show but the trainers just work with them while someone talks about what they are doing and about the whale.

 

But get a spot near the left wall on the rail where they usually come for air. At Christmas time I was there and was mimicking their sounds (clicks) and they started responding to ME. Then the momma whale stopped and just started talking to me. It was the most amazing experience. They have such expressive faces anyway and she was just chattering away at me. Then her young'un stopped and vocalized at me also.

 

I started doing it before the guy started talking but when he started talking you couldn't hear him because the whales were being so loud talking to me. I eventually had to stop and ignore them so the guy could be heard. He has a microphone and all but the beluga's are very loud.

 

I was clucking my tongue against the back of my teeth. For some reason they just responded to that. They seemed soo friendly. My wife and kids went back there about a month or two ago and were able to get them to respond but they said they only did it a little. I guess all the people were really wowed by it.

 

Just be sure to do it before the trainers come out because they use food to train them and they won't pay any attention to you then. I think also it being very close to feeding time made them a little more responsive.

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Ok, I'm safely in Peoria right now visiting friends. Heres some pictures from our adventures in Chicago. We did see the Belugas Rev, I've got a few pictures here. I didn't get to read your advice until too late, but I did figure out to get over into that one corner where they come up for air. We also saw the dolphin show. The lighting wasn't really great for taking pictures, so I had to slow down the shutter speed to get pictures, that's why some of the action shots are a tiny bit blury.

 

beluga1.jpg

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These next two are out the windows in our hotel room in Chicago:

 

room1.jpg

room2.jpg

 

We had some real fun on the Architectural tour today. The tour was supposed to last an hour and a half and go up and back down both branches of the Chicago river. So, we took off and made it up the north branch and were turning around when BOTH engines went out and they couldn't get them restarted. So, we sat there and waited for another boat to pull us back to the dock. To make a long story short, we got to see less than half the tour and sat on a boat in the middle of the Chicago River for 2 and a half hours. I look like a lobster right now, ouch. Some of the next pictures are from the boat ride and some are from walking around the city the night before.

 

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*sorry, image posting brain fart

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