The Many Adventures of Simba's Mom and the Prince

We had a busy weekend. I was just going to do a short summary, but this post ended up really long. Enjoy!

Friday
* Watched the series finale of Alias (finally). I am sad that it is over.
* Spent time reading Lost blogs and articles.
* We are party animals, what can I say?

Saturday
* We decided on our new apartment. Starting July 28, I will be a suburbanite. We will have a lot more space, will be less than a mile from a forest preserve, and very close to IKEA. We checked out the actual unit we will be renting and it is very lovely. Brand new kitchen and bathrooms (2!!) Mr. Kitty will get his own room!

* We saw the Da Vinci Code. I managed to finish reading the book Friday night, just in time. I will do a review on my next podcast, but the short version is that I enjoyed it alot, but it is not as good as the book (as I knew it would not be).

* Finished the wedding invitations.

* Watched the DVD Palindromes. It was weird. It is by the writer/director of Welcome to the Dollhouse, which says a lot if you are familiar with his style.

Sunday
* Participated in Bike the Drive, which takes place on Lake Shore Drive, which is a 45 mph, three lane, highway that hugs Lake Michigan. The city closes it to car traffic from 5AM to 10AM. Below is what it looked like from our window, after we had finished.




It was a lot of fun, although it got very hot by the end. Also, there were some very steep inclines, where the road goes up, so that another road can pass underneath it, allowing Lake access. We saw some people having to walk their bikes up the incline right before Randolph Street, but we made it through just fine. I was proud of us. One car lane perfectly fits two cyclists, so we were able to ride side-by-side the whole way. Except for the downhills, where Prince E was just a red blur. We did about 16 miles total. The north end of the route was right by our apartment, so we were able to just head home. Below is a photo that Prince E took from our apartment window. He got to go up to the air conditioned apartment, while I waited for my photo opp. That is me in the red and black.




* After a shower and some food, we headed to Wisconsin. Our first stop was Burlington, home of the Chocolate Fest. We somehow had come across the website for the event and thought it sounded magnificent. Go ahead, look at the website. It is beautiful. Watch the video. It makes it sound like a three day chocolate orgy. Um, yeah. It wasn't. I have more chocolate in my cupboards than we saw at this so-called chocolate fest. It was really just a small-time carnival, with rides and games. Oh and everyone got a MINIATURE Crunch Bar upon entry. They did have a chocolate carving contest, with only 8 participants, and a chocolate carousel. (see photo below). The carousel was very cool, but not, on its own, worth the hefty admission price. I was beyond disappointed in this event, made all the worse by the 90+ temps we had to deal with. One plus was that there was a Mackinac Island Fudge booth in among the cotton candy and beer vendors, so we were able to buy some fudge to snack on later. It was delicious, of course, because Michiganders know how to make fudge! We were able to get a ride back to the parking lot in a wagon being pulled by an authentic John Deere tractor, which the coolest part of the whole event.




* Our next stop was Milwaukee, which was were we would be spending the night. We stayed at a modest Best Western in downtown Milwaukee. The reason for our visit was to see the Milwaukee Art Museum. Prince E wanted to take photos of the beautiful architecture of the building, which was designed by architect Santiago Calatrava. It was a gorgeous structure. My photos are below (Prince E's are better). I really liked the modern art in the museum, although they have extensive works from earlier eras as well. The museum is right on Lake Michigan, so there was a great lakefront breeze. Their lakefront path was just as busy with runners and cyclists as is the one in Chicago, although I saw a lot more men without shirts on (which was not a good thing). Not sure why.






We had to head out of town in a hurry, because as we were walking back to the hotel, we saw people setting up chairs to watch a parade! We didn't want to get stuck there, so we hurried to the car. Two blocks over we encountered the start of the parade, getting geared up to head out. I am guessing that another 10 minutes and the streets would have been closed and we would have been stuck.

* The final stop in our journey was Pleasant prairie, Wisconsin, home of the Jelly Belly Center! We donned paper hats and got on a little train for a FREE warehouse tour, where we learned how they make Jelly Belly candy. (short version: lots and lots of sugar). The tour was cheesy, of course, but I loved it. Where else can you see jelly beans dance? After the tour, we got a couple complimentary little bags of jelly belly candy! They also had a big store, where you could try samples of various flavors. I tasted a new sportbean flavor: fruit punch. It was yummy. Below is a picture that was made entirely out of Jelly Belly candy.



We then battled thunderstorms to check out the nearby outlet mall. Then it was time to head home. On the way, it got super dark and I told Prince E I would look out for funnel clouds. A few minutes later he said, "This is tornado weather." I said, "I know, that is why I am looking for funnel clouds." "Oh, I thought you said 'fun clouds.'" As you can tell, we both were tired from our long weekend.