Yellowstone

I went to Yellowstone National Park. It was a 12 hour drive. There was a cool pond. Actually it was a hot pond.

I saw Old Faithful. It was not as impressive as I was expecting. I guess I have been watching too many special effects.

Then I backpacked with Bear-dog. During the hike, I saw many thermal features. They smelled awful, and despite the jacket, they were extremely warm.

The jacket was to protect me from the killer super-mosquitoes. If only I had a jacket for my head. Or perhaps some bug spray.
There was a field.

I was almost attacked by many bears. Here is the proof.
I was very tired. I slept well, once I reclaimed my sleeping bag from Bear-Dog.

Chicago with Mom

Mom flew in to Chi-town for the weekend to visit me since she's on Spring Break. It was very nice to have her company as we sightsaw. We took a boat tour of the Chicago River and Lake Michigan. The boat traveled through a lock to get between the two bodies of water, which checked off a Life Goal for me.

On the Chicago River
On Lake Michigan
Lighthouse
We ate dinner at about 9pm, because we were cool city folk.

We visited the bean, naturally.
We went to the Shedd Aquarium, because Mom had read a book to her kids at school last week about it. Also because it's the largest indoor aquarium in the world, species-wise, with more than 8,000 aquatic animals.

I visited with the penguins and learned the difference between "big" and "little".
We saw Planet Earth in 4D (not the whole series, of course, although Planet Earth is awesome and I would have stayed). It was cool, especially the part where the shark jumped out of the water and our seats poked us, and everyone jumped, and quite a few people yelped, and someone grabbed my arm. I won't mention any names.

First full day of work

Poor bear-dog, he's tired out after his first full day in Chicago.

So tempting. I wonder if that disclaimer I signed at check-in involved not climbing on the roof...

Chicago... the sequel

It's a year later, I've skipped posting pics from my trips to Atlanta (Jen and DavidHarman's wedding) and Long Island (twice), and now I'm back in Chicago for more deep dish pizza. I'm at the Embassy Suites, and this is what my bedroom looks like. Crazy.