A Day In Chicago

On Friday (April 18th) we were told that, for the first time since the project started back in August, we were going to have two days off in a row!

Josh and I decided to take advantage of the real weekend by spending the day in Chicago :-)

We slept in until 5:00 AM and then caught the train in Michigan City.

It took about 1.5 hours to get up to our first stop: The Museum of Science and Industry.

The museum was pretty cool but is more geared towards families and kids. It also has a bunch of "excursions" that seemed fun but we didn't plan on staying there all day and the excursions take a long time to do.

[Vortex]

[Mini Chicago with a train]

[Spirit of America]

We walked around for a while, did some experiments, and then caught a cab to Millennium Park.

[Cloud Gate]

[Crown Fountain]

It was such a beautiful day and it was fun to spend some time walking around the park and taking a lot of "selfies" in the Cloud Gate.

Next, we strolled over to the Art Institute of Chicago. This was my kind of museum! From Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Native American, and Mesoamerica Art to Contemporary, Folk, Modern, and Impressionism Artwork. I LOVED every part of it!

[Armor]

[American Gothic]

[Native American painting] 

[Monet] 

[Picasso] 

[Van Gogh]

[Obsidian Artifacts] 

[Aztec]

[Mayan] 

[Seurat] 

[Southwestern - makes me miss archaeology a little bit]

 

 [Egyptian]

[Greek]

After being cultured, we headed over to the Willis Tower. When we arrived, the line for the Sky Deck was out the door and around the corner and we were told it would be a 2.5 hour wait! We had bought our tickets ahead of time so we decided to just wait in line. It turned out to be only 82 minutes of waiting before we got to the top. The view was worth the wait but it would have been nicer if it was a clearer day and less people were there.

[View from the top]

 

[In the Sky Deck]

[Looking down]

After staring Death in the face, we left the tower and jumped on a double-decker bus for a tour of the city.

The bus ride was actually a lot of fun! We cruised around the city for an hour or so learning some fun facts from our tour guide and seeing some great Chicago landmarks. I did get a little cold towards the end so I made Josh come with me downstairs :-)

We got off the bus at Navy Pier, put in reservations at Bubba Gumps, grabbed some Starbucks, and then walked around the Pier.

[View of the City]

We ended the day with a feast at Bubba Gumps! We had garlic shrimp, snow crab, and mahi mahi. YUM!

After dinner we caught a cab to the nearest train station and then headed back to Indiana.

I'm so glad that we were FINALLY able to visit Chicago! I would have been sad if we had lived this close to the city and never got to visit!

Wedding Planning, Black Tanks, and Pearls

Well, things have calmed down a bit here since the last time I posted. We ended up working over 60 days straight before we had a true day off (the life of a pipeliner... Ugh). Now we are down to only 11 hours a day/6 days a week.

The wedding plans are coming along pretty nicely now. The invitations are out, the dress is ordered and scheduled to arrive in the next week, the bridesmaid dresses are being altered, the RSVPs are coming in, Josh is working on the music list, I ordered my jewelry and shoes, etc. It seems like every time I cross something off my list something else gets added to it. It's so expensive and frustrating and I'm happy to announce that I am only doing this ONCE and this will truly be a night to remember :-)

In other news, the black tank on our Raptor was leaking. EEW! So we had to take it to the shop to get it repaired. Of course, they got out of the warranty so we had to pay for it all out of pocket. AND it took over a month to fix it (get it into the shop, evaluate it, have a replacement shipped there, get it into the shop again, install the tank, get it out of the shop)! So we spent a whole month living at the Best Western. The hotel was pretty nice, we got a weekly rate, and when the front desk people noticed that I was leaving for work at 5:00 AM they started putting out breakfast early for me (it usually doesn't start until 6:00 AM). I think the worse part was eating out every single night for dinner. Even though Valparaiso has some really great restaurants, I knew that our wallets and stomachs were taking a hit every time we went out. I was so excited when we finally got the Raptor back and we could cook again!

[I made Josh a tuna and egg sandwich and he LOVED it! Hey, I never said I was a gourmet chef or anything!]

So, how did we get the Raptor back to the RV park without Shorty's truck? Well, I'm glad you asked! While we were stuck in a hotel we bought a truck! Josh looked pretty diligently for a truck and we finally found one that we liked but it was 4 hours away in Wisconsin. So, we both got a day off from work, drove up to Wisconsin in my XTerra, threw some money around, and drove home in a Chevy Silverado. I'm not going to lie, I loved my XTerra. We had some really good times together, but it was time to let her go and move on to bigger and better things. After driving the Silverado around for the last two weeks I must tell you that I am in love! I can't believe I went 10 years without 4 wheel drive, cruise control, an auto starter, and heated seats!

 

 

On March 21st, Josh and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary! We know we have to start over with the count in just two months BUT it's still fun to celebrate! Josh got me some black pearl earrings and a necklace. It was a very awesome surprise considering I mentioned to him two years ago that I liked black pearls and he said that he's wanted to get them for me ever since. I got him some fancy headphones. Men and women are so different ;-) For dinner we went to this little bistro that used to be a house. It was adorable and so delicious! We got the cheese plate appetizer (I don't think Josh likes blue cheese very much), the filet mignon (melt in your mouth amazing), and gelato and cheesecake for dessert. It was such a nice and fun night!

[Selfie #1... fail]

[Selfie #2... good enough!]

I know people are curious about how things are going on the pipeline but I really can't say. We are on a pretty major project and we have to be careful about what goes out to the public. When the job is over I will be able to recap. Right now the pipe is in the ground and is ready for oil. On the surface there is a lot of work to be done. We need to restore the disturbed pipeline right-of-way to its original condition. Which means we will be working a lot with Environmental Inspectors and ROW Agents to make sure everything is put back properly, reseeded, and everyone is happy. This will happen once the frost laws have been lifted and the piggies have cried "wee, wee, wee" all the way home.