Chicago-St.Louis Trip

Had a packed but fun Memorial Day weekend, visiting the Midwest. I did my Masters in the Midwest(a kugraamam called Rolla in Missouri) but haven't been back there since moving to California after getting my degree. While I didn't make it to Rolla in this trip, it was nice visiting the area.

We had booked an intermediate size car but since the rental place was out of cars we were 'upgraded' to a minivan at the same price. The weather forecast had talked about scattered thunderstorms in both Chicago and St.Louis when I checked the day before we left but the weather turned out to be sunny and absolutely gorgeous on all 4 days. All our flights were on time and the kids didn't fall sick. Small things but they did their part bit in making it a great trip.

We flew in to Chicago Saturday night and stayed in a city called Schaumburg, about half hour away from Chicago. Sunday morning we visited Navy Pier in downtown Chicago. It is the hub for quite a few activities and we spent about half a day there, walking along the lakeshore, riding the Ferris Wheel and visiting the Children's Museum. The last mentioned was obviously the favorite stop for Kavya and Karthik. Though we've visited similar museums in San Jose and Portland, this museum had a few new sections and attractions and made for a fun couple of hours(for them and us). We then went to Chicago's most famous attraction, Sears Tower. The long wait(almost 2 hours) to get to the skydeck was a pain and quite frustrating but the views from the top(though only a few minutes) made us forget the preceding wait. Lake Michigan and the dense collection of skyscrapers made for some awesome views. From there we drove around downtown Chicago for a while and visited Buckingham fountain. In the middle of a park and right alongside the lakeshore with the boats docked, it was a peaceful, relaxing setting that made us forget that we were right in the heart of downtown.

The next morning we went for a river cruise on Chicago river. With Chicago being famed for its skyscrapers, this was the best way to see all of them(and learn some interesting tidbits about their architecture too). Then we went to the Field Museum, which we wanted to visit for 2 main reasons - one, Kavya wanted to see 'Sue', a dinosaur she had learned about in school and two, my wife, who is a big fan of the film The Ghost and the Darkness, wanted to see the 2 man-eating lions of Tsavo, on whom the movie is based. Eventually the museum turned out to be the best part of the trip and the 3 hours we spent in there were definitely not enough. The underground section, the Egyptian section with its coffins and mummies and the African section with the realistic, stuffed animals were fabulous.

We drove to St.Louis that evening and had dinner at an Indian restaurant Flavor of India. The food and the customer service here were excellent, especially compared to the Indian restaurant we went to in Schaumburg. Highly recommended! The next morning we visited the St.Louis Arch, our only stop in St.Louis. An architectural marvel, it is almost impossible to believe, when looking up at the towering structure from below, that we would travel inside it to the very top. But thats exactly what we did for some great views of the city(and beyond). We also took the riverboat cruise on Mississippi river but barring some good views of the Arch, it offered nothing else and wasn't worth it.

After lunch in the park around the arch, we drove to Franklin in Wisconsin and spent the night at my wife's cousin's place. Headed back to the airport the next morning and flew back home. Looking back, a good ride, great weather, excellent hotels, well-behaved kids and a lot of attractions that were fun for everybody made this a great trip.

Photos from the trip can be seen here

PS: Karthik turns 2 today :-)