Revisiting Some Favorite Places Here

 Las Vegas, NV

Out To Lunch

Today we spent some time getting settled and then put a coat on Francis and headed out.  We went to Able Baker Brewing for lunch.  It's our favorite brewery here in Vegas and we can walk there.  It was one of the selling points of the location we are staying in.

Able Baker makes a wide range of styles and they are all solid.

I got a flight of 4 because I couldn't choose just 1 to try.  I also got a rubber duckie with my flight.  That's their thing.

We also got tacos and nachos.  Everything was great.

Francis thought everything was great too.

The Arts District has awesome murals and street art.  It's a great place to be for a month.

The Las Vegas Aces have an awesome mural commemorating their championships.

We walked by Velveteen Rabbit.  It's also one of our favorite places.  We will be back when they are open and we don't have Francis.

Francis tries to pull us into all kinds of places on our walks.  Today we wanted BBQ and he tried to pull us into the brewery next door.

Silver Stamp

After our walk we dropped Francis off and headed over to Silver Stamp.  It's another one of our favorite spots here in Vegas and probably my favorite beer bar.  They have a great selection of beer, the staff is always awesome, the décor is really cool, and they have one more awesome thing...

This!  What's inside?

Pickled Eggs! and chips.  

We talked to the bartender for bit and he asked if we were going to be in town on February 23rd for their 3 year anniversary.  Sadly we won't.  He said that all of the employees make their own flavor of pickled eggs for the event and it's really fun.  You can't do everything I guess.

The bar is filled with old beer related collectibles and advertising.

Our walk home takes us by The Strat (aka The Stratosphere) and The Gateway Arch which was completed in 2020.

That's it for today.  If you missed Next Stop Vegas, check it out.

Ticking More Chicago Checklist Items

 Chicago, IL

Waiting for The L on a cool Chicago day

Back to The Art Institute

Yesterday Donna went through the Art Institute site to see what we have missed.  She identified a few exhibits we missed and wanted to see so we went back today.  The NASCAR race is coming to town next weekend and then it's 4th of July so I have a feeling downtown will be complete chaos so we are trying to avoid that area during those 4 days.  

It's not even Hockey Season and we got to watch The Chicago Blackhawks sweep.

Rachel - Greer Lankton

The Thorne Miniature Rooms is a permanent exhibit here at The Institute.  She and hired craftsmen made 1:12 scale rooms from around the world.  They are amazing but hard to photograph.  These are her 2nd series.  Her 1st series is on display in Phoenix so we will be able to see them when we get there.

Here you can see that side room off to the right.

The room extends off and behind the wall giving it a unique feeling.

Telephone Pole, Los Angeles, California - David Hockney

Zen Painting - Lui Shou-Kwan

Zen Painting - Lui Shou-Kwan

Zen Painting - Lui Shou-Kwan

Views of The L from the Art Institute walkway

Another Side of Me 2nd Chapter 5 - Gio Swaby

Love Letter 3 - Gio Swaby

Pretty Pretty 10 - Gio Swaby

Gio uses a Free-Motion Sewing Machine to make these.  You can see the ends of the threads hanging below the work. 

Going Out Clothes 1 - Gio Swaby

Gyalavantin' - Gio Swaby

The next exhibit we saw was Stanley Brouwn.  He requested that his art not be explained so there really isn't any context as to what is going on with his exhibit.  As far as I can tell, he was very interested in measuring, and the way we measure things.  

7 old measures of length 1987
denmark 62,7 cm
egypt 57,7 cm
norway 62,7 cm
north africa 48,4 cm
turkey 68,6 cm
italy 67,0 cm
greece 34,9 cm

Lastly, we went back to the roof where the Members Cafe is.  The Cafe was closed today but we were able to view the art up there on a nice cloudy day.

Raw is the Red - Shahryar Nashat

I liked this worn STAIRS sign on the roof too.  It wasn't art but it is unintended art.

On the way home we arrived at the Monroe Station 11 minutes before our train so we decided to walk from Monroe Station to Washington Station underground.  The blue line features 3 stations that are all one long platform going between Jackson, Monroe, and Washington Stations.  Below this is The Red Line and it has the longest platform in North America which spans 4 stations, Jackson, Monroe, Washington (disused but you can still walk it), and Clark / Lake Street Stations.  You can walk all of those too.

Riding The L to O'Hare to Ride The People Mover

One of the things on my transit goals list was to ride The L to O'Hare and ride the People Mover system there.  This lined up well with a friend coming to visit so that is what we did the 2nd half of the day.  We rode The Blue Line to Chicago O'Hare Airport and rode the automated People Mover system around the airport and then met our friend and rode back with him and enjoyed an evening of catching up over dinner and a beer.

I noticed today that The Blue Line has a Harlem Station on both ends of the line which is interesting and confusing.

The Blue Line connects right to the airport

Heading down to The People Mover 

It's just like other People Mover systems at other airports like Orlando and Denver.

I found a moment to film while our car was empty.  This shows the track switch at the end of the line.

That's it for today.  If you missed Exploring Downtown St. Charles, IL, check it out.