Learning Some History and Having a Sausage and Beer

 Chicago, IL

Chicago History Museum

Today we took the bus to the Chicago History Museum.  We had heard the original "L" train is there so we wanted to see it and we get in free with our NARM Pass.  It's east of us right near Lake Michigan.  When we left the house it was 75 degrees and when we got to the museum it was foggy and 60 degrees.  It really reminded us of San Francisco.  The museum was cool but I am sure we would have enjoyed it more if we lived here and had more context.  There were a lot of things that didn't hit home because we weren't locals.

The Entrance

It's always good to see neon right away.

The lady at the front desk knew we were out of town and asked where we were from.  We told her Washington and she asked what we were doing next and we told her we were going to a Polish Grocery Store so she directed us to the Back Home Polish Chicago exhibit.

It was very interesting but there weren't many things that made good photographs.  This is the Chicago area map and it showed the neighborhoods that the emigrants from Poland settled in.

I did see this Blackhawks puck signed by Eddie Olczyk in 2004.  Eddie had a 16 year career playing Hockey in the NHL on the Chicago Blackhawks, The LA Kings (Go Kings Go), The NY Rangers, where he won a Stanley Cup, and a few other teams.  He also coached The Penguins for 3 Seasons and then went on to be a commentator.  He currently commentates on Seattle Kraken Games for The Root Network.

The next exhibit we saw was all about The Chicago Fire.  It seems every great city gets destroyed and rebuilt.

The Burning City - Juan Pablo Ruiz

Now "Hot Time in the Old Town" is running through my head.

Again there wasn't a lot to take photos of but there were a lot of videos that portrayed scenes using Rod Puppets.  It was pretty cool or hot I guess.

The cooler real objects were things they found melted together by the intense heat of the fire.  This was a bucket of nails.  

and a bag of marbles

Two pocket watches fused together by the fire

Chicago Fire Souvenirs

This was why we came, the Original L Train.

It was really pretty.

A model of the Chicago Travel and Transportation Building.  It was build for The Chicago World's Fair in 1933.  If I could time travel I would go to many of the World's Fairs including San Francisco, Seattle, and Chicago.

Chicago is another City with a great flag.  It was our favorite before seeing and noticing the St. Louis Flag.  We noticed an exhibit with the Chicago Flag only having 2 stars so we had to do some quick research.  The Stars are Six Pointed instead of Five Pointed.  The Six Pointed Stars weren't seen on any other flags in 1917.  The 3rd Star was added in 1933 to commemorate the 1933 Worlds Fair and the fact that it was the 2nd largest city in the US.  The Fourth Star was added in 1939.  There have been talks about adding more stars but that hasn't happened yet.

Polish Market, Yarn Shop and Brewery

On our walk home from Avondale Bowl, read about that here if you want, we saw a closed Polish Market as well as a Yarn Shop and we wanted to go back when they were open so today was the day.  We took the bus back to our place to get warmer clothes and then walked to Firefly Fiber Arts Studio and  Kurowski's Sausage.  On the walk to these two places we saw a brewery so we decided to stop by there on the way home.  

Donna quickly found a ball of yarn that she wanted

W also bought some candy

and some cured meats.  

When we got to Hopewell Brewing we each ordered a beer and then whipped out our sausages and tried them.  They were good but will be better when slightly heated.

Donna noticed that the fermentation tank at the brewery had GIANT GOOGLY EYES.  

I liked the concept of this shirt but not enough to buy it.  It would make a better poster.

That was our day.  If you missed Chicago Dogs and Bowling, check it out.  It was our 2nd time bowling in Chicago.

Greetings From the River Market

 Kansas City, MO

A nice River Market mural

Penn Valley Dog Park

This morning we took Francis to Penn Valley Dog Park so he could blow off some energy.  He met some nice dogs, put a few dogs in their place, but mostly he sat in the sun.  He loves sitting in the sun.  At one point he was lounging in the sun so we walked over to some shade and he stayed there so I took a photo of him.  Can you find him?

You can just see his ears sticking up to the right of the tree that is starting to turn yellow.

River Market

A bit later in the afternoon we walked down to River Market.  Our plan was to buy something for dinner and see more sights.

It's just that easy!

You can see the paddle wheel outside The Arabia Steamboat Museum for free!

We went to a Vietnamese Market to look for dinner

We bought Bahn Mi Sandwiches and then went to Strange Days Brewing and ate them with a beer.

They had a Banana, Peanut, Chocolate Stout on tap and I was curious but not curious enough to pay for it so I asked for a sample and got one.  It wasn't good IMHO.

It was a pretty mellow day.  When we got home we made some dinner with a steamed pork roll we bought at the grocery store and finished watching Stranger Things.  

If you missed yesterday's post you can find it here.

Newspaper = Adventure and Bread

 Denver, CO

Donna!  Take a photo of me for the blog!

Bread Run Inspired by the Denver Post

We have been getting digital subscriptions to local newspapers on our trip.  We are happy to support journalism and you also find out about a lot of cool local things when you read a local paper like, The Five Points Jazz Festival, A new Tiki Bar in Longmont, why we have so many moths in our apartment, and Rebel Bread!  In the morning Donna reads the paper while I blog and we both drink coffee.  When I am done with my blog I usually start looking at things to do for the day or future days.  Today we were doing what we always do and suddenly Donna looks up and says something like, "we need bread".  She showed me the article about Rebel Bread and we went out and picked up 3 loaves.  It turns out people line up for this bread at The Farmers Market but if you just go to their local retail outlet you can walk in and buy some with no line so that is what we did.

The Bread Shop

Bake against the machine!

She is actually inventing sliced bread at this very moment!

The bread is so good!

H Mart

After finishing our coffee and having bread 3 or 4 different ways we decided we should do a bit of grocery shopping.  It's always good to have meals on hand.  We wanted to go to H Mart, which is a great Asian Grocery Store in Colorado and elsewhere.  We would shop at H Mart when we lived in the Seattle Area.  We shopped at HK Market and Ranch Market when we lived in SoCal.  We love International Grocery Stores.  

We did the drive into Aurora CO (in Arapahoe County) and did our shopping in a crowded H Mart.  When we go back we will pick a weekday instead of a Sunday.

It's way better on the inside

We think the veg selection was even better than in Seattle.

Please pay before eating

Miles of Banchan!  

Do you need $75 bags of mushrooms (we were in the bulk section)

Natto (fermented soybeans)!  For your health (or on a dare to win a bet).  We actually like Natto

The Rock selling energy drinks

It was a chill day.  After groceries we took a walk and then finished watching Severance on Apple+. 

Some truth being dropped by Ricken.

We had a big day yesterday.  Check it out here.