With this being the last Thanksgiving weekend the Engelbert family will get to enjoy together for some years to come (Big Ten football extends the season for play over Thanksgiving), we decided to enjoy a couple of days in Chicago.
This is a popular photo opportunity when the family heads to the Windy City. Colin's highlight of the trip is to ride the "L" all over town. He is well-schooled in the many diferent lines that run through the city. Here he is waiting on the Purple Line with a transfer to the Red Line at Howard.
A very happy camper as he gets a window seat on the first leg of the trip.
Of course once on the Red Line, Colin knows Dad's favorite stop is at Addison, home of Wrigley Field and the Chicago Cubs.
Although it is the off-season for the Cubs - and many would say the Cubs always have an "off season" - it is still one of the greatest sights in all of sports.
After taking the train and then transferring to the city bus system, we arrive at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.
Of course a highlight of the museum was a replica of a train on the Burlington Route. Colin was content with seeing this and not paying to enter the rest of the museum. However there is a theme to this weekend, if you haven't figured it out yet.
The Christmas Tree set up in the center of the Museum of S&I.
An activity for the kids was the building with Legos. Among many of the exhibits, one was many city skylines built from Legos. Here Colin takes a stab at constructing his own building.
Built from Legos is the Chicago Skyline around a track of electric trains. In the foreground is a miniature Metra System located in the suburbs of town.
Colin awaits the "L" to come around the corner. There was also a set up of the Seattle skyline as well as many rural / country and mountainous settings.
Not as interesting to Colin is a series of model ships. He found it interesting, but not as mesmerizing as the many different toy trains and their layouts.
However the one demonstration that caught Colin's attention long enough to keep his mind off the trains was the process of building toys. For $5 Colin was able to watch his own Gravitron be made from start to finish, including packaging. Here he shows it off in front of one of the many Christmas trees on display. If you look closely, you will see a train running underneathe this tree, right behind Colin.
Once done at the Museum of S&I, we cabbed it to Daley Plaza. Since this is primarily a sports blog, it is important to continue with that theme. Having already seen Wrigley Field, this is the modern spaceship also know as Soldier Field, the home of the Chicago Bears as well as the opening game of the Iowa Football 2007 season with Northern Illinois.
A German Cultural Festival of Christmas was in full force at Daley Plaza. Many gifts from the eastern European area as well as food and beer were available. All gifts and food were very authentic with lines long to buy a draw of Laurenbrau.
Colin admiring some of the hand-made ornaments for sale. He purchased his own small snowman.
Chicago's Christmas tree alit at Daley Plaza.
Colin also re-enacting a photo opportunity from earlier in the year in front of the Chicago Theater. This time Mom is in the picture rather than being the recipient of the final product.
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