It's kind of ironic that my next post after my flying with kids post is a post about us flying. Flying standby is always an adventure. To be honest, I hate it. But if we didn't have flight benefits, we'd never go anywhere. Thanks to my benefits, we can visit family every summer so I'm very grateful for them.
We originally left for Utah on Thursday, but never got out of the Columbia Airport. We headed back home and tried again on Friday. Getting out of Columbia this time was no problem. Getting out of Chicago proved more problematic. We were very sad to find out that O'Hare no longer has the children's museum in the airport. It was our favorite place to hang out. They have converted the space to a family-friendly lounge area so at least there was a comfortable place to hang out. We would need that eventually.
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| Chicago from the air |
Our first flight was full and we got bumped. We had a 5-hour layover until the next flight so David talked us all in to going downtown and seeing the city. Fortunately we had checked our bags so we only had to worry about our backpacks and the kids' pillow pets. We rode the L-train. It was $5 each way or $10 for an all-day pass, so we got the all-day pass.
Chicago is a fascinating city with lots of public art. This sculpture was in front of the post office.
There are many beautiful buildings. Unfortunately, I couldn't catch all the details.
Hamilton was playing.
The kids loved the L, especially when I pointed out that it was the train from "While You Were Sleeping."
Chicago Institute of Art
Jalen couldn't get over the fact that we could see the Indian's "buttocks."
The taste of Chicago was going on. Unfortunately, we didn't have time for a taste as we had to hurry back to the airport. Too bad we didn't know we were about to get bumped again.
The Chicago Airport is as art-focused as the city. There are many artistic areas that are aesthetically pleasing. This was one of them.
We got bumped again so we had another nine hours to kill. We decided to head back to downtown and find the bean. Halfway to downtown, we realized we had left the iPad charging at the airport. We were shocked hours later when we got back to find out it was still plugged in!
We rode the blue line four times!
Views from the train.
Views of the city.
Chicago's Trump Tower
Concert Pavilion in Millennium Park
Cloud Gate, commonly known as "The Bean" did not disappoint. It was fascinating.
Selfie off The Bean reflection.
Under The Bean.
Looking up.
Loved how shiny and smooth it was.
We were starving, but weren't sure we had time to make it back to Taste of Chicago so we ate pretzels and hot dogs. (We probably should have made the effort to go to the tasting.)
We weren't too far from the famous Chicago marquee so we went and found it.
Cats was also playing in town.
We headed back to the airport and hung out in the family lounge until time for the flight. The flight was full and it was a stressful wait, complicated by some lack of knowledge on the part of the gate agent. But in the end, we all got on and we got to fly first class - a first for the kids. We were so relieved to just be on the plane and I breathed a sigh of relief when it backed away from the gate.
The kids were very well behaved and for obvious reasons slept most of the way. I think I'll start booking us in first class from now on.
We finally touched down in Utah after almost 22 hours of travel. We were all exhausted, but very excited to see family. Best of all, we have two long weeks before we have to think about flying again!
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