So Sherrie and I decided to take a trip with the family. I already had a personal day set for Thursday, and a friend of ours had mentioned the idea of a train ride, so it all sounded good. We called Amtrak and made some reservations for four to go from Battle Creek, MI to Chicago, IL. Madison was extremely excited, and we had charged the Nintendo DS for Nicholas, we were all set.
Thursday morning came, and after staying up WAY too late, we woke up with almost no time to get to the train station (two hours away.) Sherrie scrambled and miraculously got herself and the kids ready to go in about thirty minutes, with me just standing by taking direction from her. We loaded up the car and hit the road. I was doing everything in my power to get us to the train station on time. I managed to get us about 20 minutes away with 35 minutes to spare, when my daughter's nerves caught up with her, and she unfortunately threw-up in the car.
We then pulled over to a truck stop and cleaned her and the car up the best we could with the materials we had. After a short chat with Madison, we discerned that it was just nerves and she was in fact still ok, I bought her a little travel pillow and we continued on to Chicago by car. The new plan was to get to Chicago by car (we missed the train departure,) hang out for the day and get Sherrie and Madison to Union Station by 6:00 PM when the train was scheduled to leave, and I would just pick them up with Nicholas back in Battle Creek.
We arrived in Chicago about 10 minutes before the train would have and found some parking near Macy's downtown. It was a lovely day, and we walked the city a bit. Nicholas had gotten his clothes wet, so we went by Old Navy and picked up some new clothing before heading over to Shedd Aquarium.
Madison was pretty excited to take a taxi for the first time, so we hopped in one of those and headed over to Shedd. It was a nice trip and we were able to see the Blue Angels practicing for their show later in the weekend.
I have never been to Shedd before, but quickly learned that it is a bit overpriced for the total value. I would strongly recommend eating somewhere else as well, as the average "meal" you get there is 8.99 a person (my daughter had a corn dog, fries and a drink. for that price, and I feel that is absurd.
After wandering around the aquarium a bit, Nicholas started to have an episode (he has Autism and is sensitive to too many people), mix that with the dark areas in some of the areas and he wasn't enjoying it at all. I took him outside for a bit to calm down and we headed back in for our lunch, and to finish the tour.
We took a cab back to the car and I headed out to get them to the train station on time. Little did I realize just how congested Chicago gets on a Thursday at 5:00, on top of that, I didn't really know the roads that well. I ended up taking a right turn into a road that has no exits and is made to help you get out of the city without traffic. VERY BAD MOVE! As Chicago faded from view in my mirrors, I had no choice to but to continue on. I ended up navigating us down through South Chicago, and back to familiar territory I-94!
The rest of the trip went fairly smooth, and we ended up getting back home around 1:00 AM. Overall, it was a great time with some very unique experiences that we will never forget. Sometimes the best laid plans are extremely memorable, and I recommend to everyone to enjoy what happens no matter how much it goes away from the original idea!