max's 200,000 plus mile journey

Monday morning after the Ironman, four adults and a baby crammed one Maxima named Max/Maxi and headed to Chicago. The ladies in the group had never stepped foot in the windy city, but had heard nothing but rave reviews from their male counterparts. Chicago dogs while watching the Cubs at Wrigley Field, an architectural tour by boat, Chicago style pizza times two, the W Hotel and some shopping on Michigan Avenue made for a perfect trip.


Due to time constraints once we arrived in the Windy City we bypassed our hotel and headed straight to Wrigley Field to pick up our Cubs tickets and enjoy a game against the Houston Astros. Seeing a Cubs game live was a first for all five of the Montikers (Moncrief-Whitakers). I believe I enjoyed the camaraderie and the nostalgia behind Wrigley Field more than the actual game. Ada enjoyed the atmosphere as well. A couple of months back we took the little dear to a Chattanooga Lookouts game and it was no good. Ada made it blatantly clear she did NOT like AT&T field or anything in it. (it was probably the name change, Bellsouth Park sounded so much better). Looking back it must have been attending a minor league game. Ada must prefer major league baseball, but who doesn't?


Everyone minus Ada and I munched on Chicago Style hot dogs with the poppy seed open faced buns. I did taste Jimmy's and decided I should have went for it. They really were good. Down to the last inning, a devastating projection that the Cubs were going to lose and an antsy baby lead the Moncrief's to venture outside while the game wrapped up. We were all devastated that the Cubs lost, but even more so that we did not hear the Cubs song that Brent relentlessly spoke about :)After the game we spotted the McDonald's hatching egg. We only saw one version of the egg, but at 6:30am every morning it begins to hatch. It stays open until 10:30am all the while letting all the passers by know that there are fresh eggs currently available. Not a huge fan of McDonald's, but the egg was pretty cool. We only saw one angle of the egg, but if you would like more click here.



It was dinner time by the time we got checked in so of course we sought out some Chicago-style pizza. It is definitely easy to find. Thankfully Becca's boss use to live in Chicagoland and gave us some great recommendations. We went Chicago-style two nights in a row. Here is a picture from the second night.


While Jimmy, the Ironman, had been walking as if he did not just swim/bike/run 140 miles the rest of us were quite the opposite. Brent had blisters on his feet from wearing leather flip flops the entire day before (Becca lovingly insisted that he betray his tennis shoes due to space), I had developed Morton's Neuroma (I am internet diagnosing so ?-felt like I was walking on a pebble) from running in my teva flip flops and Becca was in a boot anticipating foot surgery later in the month. So for the first two with foot injuries, it was off to Niketown Tuesday morning for a new pair of shoes. Later in the trip we compared our new kicks with Bob Newhart outside Navy Pier. Woah, there are those blinding white legs again. I promise they are not this pale in person. It must be the camera. ha!

We walked around Michigan Ave, went up in Trump Tower and then headed to our departure point for an architecture tour by boat. There are many many pictures in the slide show at the bottom, if I have not started to bore you already. Ada did well on the ship. She snoozed and then embarked on a teething biscuit that kept her entertained for the entirety of the ride, almost.

The Sears Tower is with us in the background. As of yet, no skyscraper has risen any taller when you include its antennas in height. It will lose this title shortly.


After the tour and a snack for the adults we headed back down Michigan Ave. The Moncriefs headed to there favorite store ever, H&M while the Whitakers scoped out the John Hancock Center. The JHC is currently the third tallest building in Chicago. Back in the day it was the second tallest building in the world. Surprisingly enough the most beautiful views from the building are from the large window in the women's bathroom on the top floor (this is strictly the opionion of the author and her cohorts).


Good thing Becca had to use the facilities or we may have missed this view. This picture and the other bird's eye views located in the slideshow are all from the women's bathroom.



On our way back to our hotel Tuesday night we stopped by Trader Joe's (really neat-an upscale Dollar Store) to pick up a couple of things and our cashier gave Ada her very first balloon(s). She was mesmerized for a while, but think she was too sleepy by that point to truly enjoy them. She started falling asleep on the walk back with her balloons tightly clinched in her fist.


Wednesday prior to departure we checked out Chicago's number one attraction, Navy Pier. While we contemplated why this would be Chicago's top tourist attraction, we still enjoyed our time there. This pic is Navy Pier from what was seen from our hotel room.


I think I now have a small addiction to slideshows. When an event has a lot of pictures they make blogging so much more simplistic. Again, I have peace of mind that if anyone is bored to tears at this point then they certainly can fore go the slideshow :) So with the highlights covered, here is the slideshow. . .



Lastly, the title of this post was spawned by our Nissa Max hitting 200,000 miles during this road trip.