Dublin, August 2009

We all went to Dublin Airport and enjoyed the lovely environment in the Gold Circle Lounge while waiting for our aircraft. Before McBear could say a word, Tom got there before him:
"Now, please McBear," Tom started teasing, "don't fill us in with technical details about the aircraft, okay?"
McBear was muttering a bit, but soon seemed to have forgotten the incident.

Click each photo to enlarge

We were very fortunate to get window seats. Our flight path went across the southern part of Greenland and we could see not only mountains but also glaciers and parts of the massive ice sheet that covers most of Greenland. Roger got a bit worried.
"So, the ice sheet and glaciers are slowly melting because of global warming, is that it?"
"Yeah, unfortunately. And it's not helping that we all love to travel. In fact, we shouldn't be flying at all until jet fuel has become sustainable..."
Then, without warning, it came from McBear:
"Our aircraft is a two engined Aer Lingus Airbus A330-300 registered EI-DCU! Hah! Gotcha!"

Chicago, August 2009

In Chicago, we stayed at the fine Marriott hotel in Oak Brook Hills, an area west of Chicago.

One of our owners was attending an international conference and one of the days there was to be an English teaparty. Our owner had brought real Barry's Tea (from Dublin) and short breads from Marks and Spencer. McBear soon discovered the 3 packs of short bread.
"Wonder if anyone would notice if one of the packages had gone missing..."
"No, McBear, NO!" Roger insisted.

Chicago, August 2009

We went sightseeing in down town Chicago which is famous for its skyscrabers, in fact, it was here in the 1890s that the first skyscrabers were built. The tallest of all skyscrabers in the USA is the Willis Tower a.k.a. Sears Tower at 442 meters.

Chicago is also known for being very innovative and among funny inventions you see around the city are double wheeled vehicles for pedestrians - they're even used by some police units...

Chicago, August 2009

Also famous in Chicago are the CTA light trains that runs in the street at an elevated level. Fans of the seventies' movie Blues Brothers might remember the incredible car chases underneath the rails.

Here we are in the Millenium Park at the sculpture nicknamed the "Bean". The $ 23 million sculpture had become rather infamous before it was even unveiled and especially because it wasn't finished by the time it was unveiled. But later, almost over night, it became famous. When we were there, loads and loads of tourists and citizens gathered to admire the shiny piece of art work.

Chicago, August 2009

McBear is into aviation and space technology - big time - so we went to see the old Adler Planetarium at the shore of Lake Michigan. McBear could have spent the entire day here, however, Kevin got bored and wanted to go for coffee at Starbucks and Tom wanted to find an Irish pub to have a pint. And Roger, for once didn't really know what he wanted...

On the way back Kevin and Tom got a lift with our owners. McBear and Roger on the other hand wanted to experience a ride with the Metra train back to Westmont. At the Union station we bought tickets for the train...

Chicago, August 2009

Here we are sitting in our train carriage waiting for the signal. Each carriage had two floors.

We had rented a Mitsubishi Galant from Hertz which enabled us to drive around and see more, not only down town Chicago.

Wisconsin, August 2009

Next day we headed north into the state of Wisconsin. Before the trip we had discussed an optional visit to the city Milwaukee, home town of the Miller beer. When Roger had learned that Milwaukee also was the home town of the famous motorcycle Harley-Davidson, he insisted we'd go to Milwaukee.

We had rented a Mitsubishi Galant from Hertz which enabled us to drive around and see more, not only down town Chicago.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 2009

Inside the hall seemingly endless rows of Harleys were lined up. Every 10 seconds you could hear a "wow" or a "cool" from McBear and Roger.

Here's Roger having a chat with John Schaller, the president of House of Harley. John told Roger, that originally he had been an attorney but 15 years ago he had set up House of Harley to become full time working with Harleys. Roger was very impressed.

Indiana, August 2009

The next day it was time to head south into the state of Indiana. McBear had hoped to drive all the way to Indianapolis to visit the famous Indy 500 race course, but our time was limited.

We stopped in the friendly city Hobart to refuel and eat and to have our photo taken. But just as we were getting ready to pose on a road island, a police car stopped and an officer asked what we were doing in the middle of road. Then the officer discovered the city limit sign behind us and realized why we were there. He then asked us to finish off as soon as possible and then he left. Pity we didn't get a photo of the officer, but at least we can now verify that Hobart is in fact a friendly city!

Hobart, Indiana, August 2009

McBear walked around the fuel station to have a look at the mighty lorries that were lined up. All makes were here; the Freightliners, Peterbilts, Kenworths, Internationals and a single Mack.
"Wouldn't it be fantastic to cruise America in a lorry like that?" McBear asked Roger and continued:
"You could drive a Peterbilt and I could drive a Volvo and we could pick up lost and abandoned toy animals on the way! Howabout that?"
"McBear! You are never short of great visions..." Roger was teasing.

We went to see the Indiana Dunes at the bottom of Lake Michigan. Much larger areas of the shores around the lake used to be covered by dunes, but industrial exploitation in the late 1800s and onwards caused the sand dunes to disappear. Only because pioneering environmentalists took action, there is still some dunes left. The smoke from plants made the presence of the industry obvious.

Indiana Dunes, August 2009

A nature center has been built in connection with the Indiana Dunes and we went to see the grey squirrels and chipmunks. They even had hummingbirds flying around like helicopters...

As McBear had learned about a lovely ice cream shop in New Buffalo just across the border of the state of Michigan, we went to this place. Oink was the name of the shop! McBear was all excited as he was licking his way through a large waffle with scoops of coconut and blackberry ice cream. Roger, although stating that ice cream is not good for one's figure, didn't fully manage to resist the temptation, and he too was licking his mouth as McBear shared his ice cream with the rest of us...