Sorry we couldn’t be with you for your birthday! But… we will be with you shortly after your birthday…

Four tickets! Two for you, two for us! Leia won’t be able to come, though. Sorry we were lame and didn’t get you a package in the mail in time. Love you and miss you. See you on the 14th (we hope its not too late to be sure you can get off of work).

<3
Erin and Chris

http://www.youtube.com/user/mooglejoe?blend=8&ob=5#p/u/0/F0JDipLxVEE

We hope you enjoyed our trip

Stopped in the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY. Pretty cool, but we sadly missed the assembly plant tour.

Found a really good BBQ spot for lunch that it turns out had been visited by Alton Brown! Check out The Smokey Pig if you are ever in Bowling Green.

Now we’re on our way home. ETA is nearly midnight, but I’ll be happy to sleep in my own bed tonight!

Crossed back into Central Time today. Very confusing!

Hit some traffic. Learned about how man could ride Dinosaurs. You know, the usual.

Yesterday was so cold, rainy, and windy!

We got to Chicago in the morningish. It seemed to be a very industrial city, but I don’t know if that was just the impression that the weather gloom made. In any case, there seemed to be a lot of factories and trains right on the outskirts of the city.

The Willis Tower (previously the Sears Tower) was cool. There was a great view, even with the weather.

For lunch we went to Pizzeria Uno – the inventors of the Chicago-style deep dish pizza. Totally delicious.

Then since we still had time, we went to the Field Museum. I wish we’d had more time there. It was a little annoying because they were setting up for an event that night so there were all these people putting up tables and stages and things. Still, they had a really excellent Egypt exhibit and the most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton (“Sue”). A lot of the exhibits were from the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893 which was like getting some extra bonus history!

We’re driving through Indiana now. Last night we drove past one of the largest wind farms in the country. It was awesome to see! We’ve already seen a ton of windmills on this trip.

Next stop: The Creation Museum!

It was rainy or gloomy most of the day today, but it was nice not to have to fight the sun. We left Metropolis early and set a course for Saint Louis.

Saint Louis was actually quite nice. The Gateway Arch is definitely an engineering marvel, but the whole museum set up could do with an update. We saw a film that must have been from when the Arch as completed (1965). The little cars you can ride up to the top in we’re itty bitty and like something out of Logan’s Run.

Drove around the city and thanks to Yelp or Urban Spoon we found a nice little restaurant called Fitz’s. Delicious burgers and they tell me good root beer. I’ve never liked root beer, but Chris bought 12 bottles to go, lol. Plus 4 cream sodas. (No joke)

One down side of today was our Chicago plans are needing to change. The Groupon for a hotel is proving hard to use. We’re going to call tomorrow to get a refund. Tonight we’re staying in Normal, IL not too far from Chicago.

Tomorrow we’ll check out some of historic Route 66 on our way into Chicago where we won’t be spending a night. We’ll just spend the day and get some pizza, check out the tower formerly known as Sears, and do whatever we can, leaving enough time to leave and find an inexpensive place to spend tomorrow night on our way home(ish)!