The Chicago Trip

Whew these last few weeks have been BUSY!!!

Being a PhD canidate in chemistry can lead to some very loong days and nights. We were getting ready to go to the national ACS (american chemical society) meeting in Chicago where I gave a presentation. The thing about these meetings is that you have to send in an abstract at least 6 months in advance. Ugh.... My project seems simple in origin but it has turned out to be a problem child! Finally was able to get some data, but not what we expected at all. Suddenly we took a right turn with the project. Of course this is a week before the ACS. So now I had to replan my entire presentation. Yuck! Talk about stress! Plus I had to give my presentation 2 hrs after we got off of the plane ( 3pm on a Sunday). But the good thing was that I had the rest of the week to enjoy the rest of the convention a tour Chicago.

And tour I did. I ended up getting what is called the city pass for $5o bucks. This gave me access to the planetarium, the Field Museum, the aquarium, the Hancock tower, and the Science and Industry museum. At the Science Museum they had Body Works going on. Wow that was neat. I actually have been involved in a cadavar lab, so it brought back memories.

The Field Museum was extra special to me. Right near where I grew up, one of the curaters was able to dig up a Sauropod in 1902. There is a plaque commemorating the dig. It has been my goal since childhood to someday see the actual bones dug up at the museum. Well now my dream has been fulfilled. It was very exciting to see it. And what is even better is there was a picture of my hillside and the name of my town!!! I can now die happy! Oh and a point of interest, the hot dog stand outside of the museum sold vegan hot dogs. Man were they good! (had to have a veg dog from a stand in Chicago.... it is Chicago after all)

But what was really cool about Chicago is that I got to eat at the Chicago Diner! A vegetarian/vegan diner. Oh man was it awesome!!! I ate there twice. But it is a tad pricey.

The public transporation in Chicago is great. For about 10 dollars, I was able to use the buses and trains for the entire time I was there. And I also felt safe to walk around and site see on my own.

Our hotel was right across from Grant Park and Lake Shore Drive. I picked the hotel because it had a great workout room and a full size lap pool . But knowing my luck, the pool was closed for repairs. So I rearranged my workout scheduale a tad and made do. When we got to Chicago it was 70 degrees on Sunday and kept that way until Monday. Since it was soo warm out, I decided to run along the shore of Lake Michigan. Oh how cool. There was a lot of runners as well as bikers (on the bike path that runs along the shore). It was great!!!! But then the weather turned on a dime on Tuesday, hot in the morning (65) and in the afternoon it dropped about 2o degrees! Eeks!!!!!

Well I can go on and on about this trip. It was utterly fabulous adn a well needed break.

Talk to you laters