A Photo Safari Halloween Solo Trip for Oct'13: Trip Report Started!

[SAT887]

I'm actually a little freaked out after watching the video of Bamboo. It's so clunky. And is it just me or does it look dangerous how he's swinging and twirling one of his sticks? He actually swiped a handful of leaves from a tree nearby with his stick.

http://www.wdwmagic.com/attractions/bamboo/news/14aug2013-photos-and-video---'bamboo'-opens-at-disney's-animal-kingdom.htm

It almost seems like they should add "warrior" to it's name! I realize they can't use shorter sticks, but maybe down the road they will change the "act" movements... Hehe the leaves coming off the tree was one of the first things I did notice, thinking that a zone of safety may be needed!! It's a very pretty costume but..... Still kinda scary hehe...

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

It almost seems like they should add "warrior" to it's name! I realize they can't use shorter sticks, but maybe down the road they will change the "act" movements... Hehe the leaves coming off the tree was one of the first things I did notice, thinking that a zone of safety may be needed!! It's a very pretty costume but..... Still kinda scary hehe...

You're right. It definitely has a more warrior feel to it. I guess they wanted to create something that had some degree of contrast in style compared to DiVine.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Had a great weekend trip to Chicago and thought I'd share some pictures with you. A little background on this trip. For the past several years, I've been taking a weekend trip once a year with friends from my residency training at Riley Hospital for Children. It really all started from a fantasy football league now in its 10th year. Every August, we have been taking a weekend to have a "fantasy football draft party" where most of the 12 guys in the league would meet up for drinks, pizza, and the draft at one of the guys' houses in Indianapolis since 8 out of 12 live in Indy. 4 years ago we decided to turn this tradition into something bigger and began making trips to Vegas and Chicago alternating years for a weekend. It's been great since a lot of us don't get to see each other except for this one a year weekend. So, this year it was Chicago's turn to host us. And naturally, I've been in charge of planning and making itineraries as the "commish" of the league but also because you all know how much I love this type of planning.

I flew into O'Hare on Friday morning. We picked out Conrad Chicago as our hotel after finding some great deals back in March. I volunteered to take the hit this year and book a suite so that we would have a place to hold the draft. Once I checked in to the room, I immediately forgot the price tag because I was completely distracted by the suite and the view outside my window.

Living Room

IMG_5906 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


IMG_5910 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

Bed and Bath

IMG_5907 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


IMG_5908 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

View of Michigan Ave/Magnificent Mile and Lake Michigan from a window

IMG_5915 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

I had arrived a lot earlier than the rest of my group. So after pigging out on a room service burger, I decided to walk down to the Chicago River and take a architecture cruise which is run by the Chicago Architecture Foundation. It was my first time taking any type of cruise along the Chicago River. The cruise was narrated by a very knowledgeable lady from the Foundation. I don't know anything about architecture but even I was able to follow along as she pointed out various buildings and the history behind it. Here come the pictures!

Ok, I'm usually not a fan of things with Trump on its name but I really liked his hotel which seem to blend in very well with the surrounding buildings.

IMG_5916 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


IMG_5921 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

Under the Michigan Ave Bridge. We went under a lot of bridges along the river some of which were very very low.

IMG_5923 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

Every time I see these two buildings, I think of Mentos. Is that weird?

IMG_5929 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


IMG_5935 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

This might be fun if I wasn't so out of shape. There were a lot of folks who rented kayaks and paddled their way on the river.

IMG_5950 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


IMG_5954 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


IMG_5957 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


IMG_5959 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

"Formerly known as Sears Tower now named Willis Tower". Every time the volunteer mentioned the building by name, she used the full phrase.

IMG_5962 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


IMG_5968 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


IMG_5971 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


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IMG_6002 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

A firehouse out on Lake Michigan

IMG_6005 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

The view from Lake Michigan

IMG_6023 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

***To be Continued***

 

[khertz]

Seeing that video of Bamboo... Nowhere near as graceful and elegant as DeVine. Sorry for the performer, but I hope that won't be around for long.

 

[abbybeth]

Gorgeous Chicago pictures! I haven't been in a few years, but it is one of my favorite cities to visit. Kayaking on the river sounds like it would be so much fun.

Bamboo seems .... weird. Definitely looks clumsy and like he didn't have an actual performance plan. Just to stomp around, twirl his sticks and crouch occasionally. Hmm, maybe they'll work on his 'set' and it'll improve.

 

[SAT887]

I really love the angles you used for many of your building shots! Makes you feel small and gives it the correct perspective! It sounds like a fun trip, and how great to have those long lasting friendships! And you worked at a children's hospital?! Heart of gold and steel! (I can imagine at times that could be very emotional...)

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Seeing that video of Bamboo... Nowhere near as graceful and elegant as DeVine. Sorry for the performer, but I hope that won't be around for long.

Yeah or at least they find a way to improve the act. For some reason when they first announced "Bamboo", I just assumed it would be another woman performing.

Gorgeous Chicago pictures! I haven't been in a few years, but it is one of my favorite cities to visit. Kayaking on the river sounds like it would be so much fun.

We had such a good time in Chicago. Such an interesting city! As for the kayaks, I wonder what kind precautions they give since there are so many large boats that share the river. I'm guessing they're told to stay close to the sides.

I really love the angles you used for many of your building shots! Makes you feel small and gives it the correct perspective! It sounds like a fun trip, and how great to have those long lasting friendships! And you worked at a children's hospital?! Heart of gold and steel! (I can imagine at times that could be very emotional...)

It was really cool looking at the buildings from the river. I think it gave unique viewing angles that just would not be available at the street level!

Yup, still work at a Children's Hospital right now. Just at a different one now.

 

[afwdwfan]

Great tour of Chicago. I personally prefer to avoid that city but I'm sure the tour was interesting and the pictures are great.

Now I hope you won't leave us hanging and fill us in with the results from the draft. I'm sure Aaron Hernandez was high on the draft board.

 

[chattadisser]

I agree about Bamboo...no where near as graceful as DeVine.

Thanks for the tour of Chicago. I see you really took one for the team, being forced to stay in that suite! We are contemplating a trip up there next Spring. It's been a while since I have been there, the architecture tour would be nice, looks like it was a lovely day.

Christine

 

[DDuck4Life]

That suite looks pretty nice.

That architecture cruise looks like a fun time seems like you were able to see a lot during the tour, but I'm with Andy and need to see the draft results to know if the trip was worth it.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Great tour of Chicago. I personally prefer to avoid that city but I'm sure the tour was interesting and the pictures are great.

Now I hope you won't leave us hanging and fill us in with the results from the draft. I'm sure Aaron Hernandez was high on the draft board.

Well, I landed the number one spot on the draft order. Which I used to pick Tim Tebow......just kidding. No suspense there - Adrian Peterson. I actually would have preferred a different spot on the draft for this year. Made things difficult for subsequent rounds as I watched the next 23 players mostly RBs being plucked off the board.

I agree about Bamboo...no where near as graceful as DeVine.

Thanks for the tour of Chicago. I see you really took one for the team, being forced to stay in that suite! We are contemplating a trip up there next Spring. It's been a while since I have been there, the architecture tour would be nice, looks like it was a lovely day.

Christine

I forgot to mention that the weather was absolutely perfect for the whole weekend! Highs were in the upper 70s. Sunny and breezy. Got one more update coming up.

That suite looks pretty nice.

That architecture cruise looks like a fun time seems like you were able to see a lot during the tour, but I'm with Andy and need to see the draft results to know if the trip was worth it.

Really liked how the suite worked out for the draft party.

Ok ok. I wasn't as thrilled with my draft picks this year - as I said, I dislike being number one on the draft order since we use the serpentine order. My first few picks were: Adrian Peterson, Stevan Ridley, Frank Gore (his age concerns me), Wes Welker, and Andrew Luck. I can't remember the rest right now because I was pretty much scrapping the bottom of the barrel after that.

 

[afwdwfan]

Well, I landed the number one spot on the draft order. Which I used to pick Tim Tebow......just kidding. No suspense there - Adrian Peterson. I actually would have preferred a different spot on the draft for this year. Made things difficult for subsequent rounds as I watched the next 23 players mostly RBs being plucked off the board.

I hate being first or last. Absolutely brutal. We're in the middle of an e-mail draft for the DisDads fantasy league and I had the 10th pick (but so does DD4Life in another division). I hate making 2 picks, waiting a day or so and making 2 more. All I do is second guess every decision!!!

I always hate being first worse than last actually though. It seems like every time I get the number 1 pick, I get someone who gets hurt or something and of course, you're looking at the 20th pick by the time you're getting your second player.

Ok ok. I wasn't as thrilled with my draft picks this year - as I said, I dislike being number one on the draft order since we use the serpentine order. My first few picks were: Adrian Peterson, Stevan Ridley, Frank Gore (his age concerns me), Wes Welker, and Andrew Luck. I can't remember the rest right now because I was pretty much scrapping the bottom of the barrel after that.

I don't know how many of each position you start, but your RB position looks good. Ridley should be consistently solid and Gore will give you a great backup with some upside if he can stay fresh. I think Welker will be a good one to have playing with Peyton if it is a PPR league.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

*** Continued From Previous Post

After the river tour it was time to set up for the draft in my suite. I ordered pizza from Giordano's along with some wings. One of the guys driving in from Wisconsin brought with him left over beer from a recent family reunion - 24 bottles to be exact. I plugged in my laptop to the LCD TV in the living room so I could project the draft board. And for the two people who couldn't make it in town, I also set up a web meeting so they could see the draft board live and participate from Indianapolis. This year we completely ditched the phones for our remote participants since the webmeeting also had a chat window.

I don't have much pictures from the draft. Since I'm the "commish" and am tasked with entering the picks, and also trying to focus on my draft strategy while stuffing a stuffed pizza in my mouth, I didn't have the time to reach for my camera. Here's what our draft board looked like with my laptop plugged in.


IMG_6026 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

You'll also notice on the far left hand corner of the table, our league trophy which was put together by one of the guys a couple years ago when he salvaged the base of an old lamp and added the accessories. Last year it was handed to me in Vegas as I was the returning champion - hauling that thing on my carryon bag from Vegas to home, and then from home to Chicago this year was burdensome. Each time I went through TSA, I kept thinking please don't make me take the trophy out in front of everyone. If you're wondering why the maroon and gold/Univ of Minnesota theme, it's because that's what I renamed the league 10 years ago when they handed me the commish job. If I have to hear all of the complaints throughout the year, the least I should get to have is pick the league's name!!

We finished our live draft in record time: 2 hours and 59 minutes. First time we clocked under 3 hours and we were done at 9pm. Good thing to, because I had bought tickets to Second City for 11pm for the group. It's pretty hilarious. Needless to say, we were all sleep deprived the next morning since we didn't get back to our rooms until 1:30am.

The next morning after breakfast at nearby Yolk, we had some downtime before our next planned event so I strolled over by myself to the Navy Pier area in hopes of catching some of the Air and Water Show.

This is the Ohio St Beach I think. Lots of people camped out to watch the planes. I mean, Da Planes!


IMG_6034 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

I eventually made my way over to the end of Navy Pier where I got better views. Slapped on my telezoom lens in hopes of catching some good pictures of the show which was going all day long.


IMG_6064 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


IMG_6104 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


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IMG_6183 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

I regrouped with the guys at 1pm so we could take the El to Wrigley. We had plans to attend one of those rooftop places. It was a bit pricey but we had a great time. All you can eat and all you can drink included in the price. Brats, hot dogs, burgers, pizza, and even ice cream sandwiches. Very lively atmosphere. Oh and some baseball to boot. Digger Phelps was the 7th inning stretch celebrity and belted out a rousing rendition of Take Me Out to the Ballgame.

View from the Rooftop

IMG_6201 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

View of the Chicago skyline from the rooftop

IMG_6206 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


We left around 6pm and the rest of the guys went back to the hotel for some downtime and recover from the massive amount of food we had consumed. I made a quick stop at Lincoln Park to meet up with one of my wife's cousins who also happened to be visiting Chicago for the week.

We had one last item on our itinerary that I planned. Dinner at the famed Girl and the Goat. It's a small plates restaurants by the celebrity chef Stephanie Izard who won Top Chef in 2008. Since there were six of us for this late dinner at 10pm, we were able to order 14 dishes and pretty much try everything we wanted to. It was excellent! If you're ever there, try the "Pig Face". And no it's not a head of pig on a platter.

After going to bed at 1am, I had the crazy idea of waking up at 5am to try to catch the sunrise over Lake Michigan at Navy Pier. And surprisingly, I kept to my plan and stumbled out of the hotel. Oh, but it was totally worth it. Here are the pictures.


IMG_6213 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


IMG_6217 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


IMG_6224 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


IMG_6228 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr


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IMG_6345 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

There was noooobody around and I had the pier pretty much to myself. The cloud cover was perfect too.

Afterwards, I packed up and checked out. Said goodbyes to the guys over breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Then flew out of O'hare. All in all, a great weekend.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

I hate being first or last. Absolutely brutal. We're in the middle of an e-mail draft for the DisDads fantasy league and I had the 10th pick (but so does DD4Life in another division). I hate making 2 picks, waiting a day or so and making 2 more. All I do is second guess every decision!!!

I always hate being first worse than last actually though. It seems like every time I get the number 1 pick, I get someone who gets hurt or something and of course, you're looking at the 20th pick by the time you're getting your second player.


I don't know how many of each position you start, but your RB position looks good. Ridley should be consistently solid and Gore will give you a great backup with some upside if he can stay fresh. I think Welker will be a good one to have playing with Peyton if it is a PPR league.

Our league is fairly traditional. No PPR. QB, 2RB, 2WR, 1TE, 1W/R/T, Def, K. We instituted our first flex position last year. I think I was the only one who picked 3 RBs for the first 3 picks but it was out of necessity.

Yup, not a fan of being first OR last. Too much time to stew in anxiety as the players you have been eyeing for your next round slowly gets plundered.

 

[abbybeth]

Sounds like you really managed to pack a TON into your Chicago weekend. Your sunrise pictures are completely gorgeous - my favorite is the one with the zoom on the lighthouse

 

[afwdwfan]

Looks like you guys really packed in a lot of fun group activities for just having a couple of days.

I like the way you do your draft board. I'm in a league with some friends from college. We used to draft in person when we were in school, but have always done a live online draft since. One of the guys was talking about trying to get a live draft with everyone together again this year, but we never could work it out. Heck, I we can't even find a time for the online draft anymore where everyone can log in at the same time.

I didn't see any mention of taking the trophy through TSA on the trip home...

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

I didn't see any mention of taking the trophy through TSA on the trip home...

Last year, I pretty much went from first to last. But I was very happy to unload that trophy. At least I won't have to drag it to Vegas next year.

 

[DDuck4Life]

Nice setup for the draft. Not too bad on the RBs, Welker as your 1st WR could be a little rough but in 12 team non PPR shouldn't be a big deal with the RBs you have. Having the first or last pick in a snake draft I always feel like I'm reaching with every pick since you have to go so long before you pick again you don't know who will still be there the next time around.

Looks like an awesome trip. You really were able to pack a lot into a short amount of time. Seems like it was all worth it.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Sounds like you really managed to pack a TON into your Chicago weekend. Your sunrise pictures are completely gorgeous - my favorite is the one with the zoom on the lighthouse

Ooops. Missed your posting earlier today.

Yeah, I tried to fit as much as we could. Believe it or not, I initially had a Beer Tour also planned for our Saturday but then the Cubs went ahead and moved the game time so we couldn't do both.

I really liked the lighthouse ones as well. One of my friends said it reminded him of one of those posters with corny inspiration quotes on them.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Nice setup for the draft. Not too bad on the RBs, Welker as your 1st WR could be a little rough but in 12 team non PPR shouldn't be a big deal with the RBs you have. Having the first or last pick in a snake draft I always feel like I'm reaching with every pick since you have to go so long before you pick again you don't know who will still be there the next time around.

Looks like an awesome trip. You really were able to pack a lot into a short amount of time. Seems like it was all worth it.

Yeah, that's the reason why I had to reach for Welker and Luck because I didn't think they would be around when my 72 and 73rd picks came around. Only time will tell how much of a reach those turn out to be.

It was a really fun trip. To tell you the truth, I think I had more fun in Chicago than I did in Vegas. Mainly because our itinerary last year was so geared towards the gambling crowd. Next year, I'm intent on putting together a second itinerary for the non-gamblers like myself filled with dining plans, shows, and day long excursions.