Out on the town

UPDATED

We spontaneously undertook an adventure Tuesday afternoon, turning what was going to be a normal day for most of us into a whirlwind for all of us.

As usual, Levynn went to Kiddie Kollege at the YMCA in the morning. And Mom already had registered for a 5 p.m. open house about Northwestern University's continuing studies program at one of its buildings downtown (but don't jump to conclusions; we just were curious).

Well, during lunch, Mom and Dad decided that it was a nice day for the zoo, too - and that we could just wing it.

So wing it we did.

We hopped on the 77 bus, rode it to Notebaert Nature Museum, crossed Fullerton Parkway and walked into Lincoln Park Zoo. We spent about two hours there and saw most of what was there to see - although the kangaroo, an animal Dad is sure he's never seen in person, unfortunately was hiding from us.

Just based on that visit, we're inclined to say that, compared to the Louisville Zoo, it has a more interesting collection of animals and is easier to navigate (because it has no hills!).

Here are some shots:

These are boas, which freak Mom out.


This is a little croc.


These weird rodents, Pantagonian maras, look like the mutant offspring of a rabbit and a donkey.


Lincoln loved the close-up view of these Oryx. He's obsessed with dogs now, by the way.


These are not the real gorillas.




These are the real gorillas.


This rhino moved more in 30 seconds than we saw the two rhinos in Louisville move in all our visits combined!


Dad and Lincoln heard this bad boy roar (seemingly at the two females) while Mom and Levynn raced to the bathroom. That was just a coincidence.

Anyway, somwhere along the way, it was established that Dad, Levynn and Lincoln would go with Mom to the open house. So we caught the 151 bus outside the zoo, rode it down Michigan Avenue and then walked a couple blocks east on Chicago Avenue to the school building. Dad and the kids sat on the floor in a hallway for the (short) duration of Mom's stay; Lincoln slept in Dad's arms, Levynn colored, and Northwestern reps chatted with us as they passed.

Then it was dinnertime. Dad had spotted Gino's East, an old favorite from his college days, on the walk to the open house and directed the family there afterward. Only Levynn ate pizza, however, because the deep dish would have cooked for 45 minutes - and Lincoln wasn't going to stand for that. He was a trooper, though; he ate a banana at the restaurant and didn't get his bottle until we returned home a little after 8 p.m.

That's right. After taking the 151 bus back to Belmont Avenue near Lakeshore Drive, Mom wanted to walk all 2 1/2 miles to the house. So we did. And while we were at it we stopped to grab a frozen custard cone at Scooter's!