Schmitz 2018 Vaca, Post 16 - Stowe Mountian Resort

Our next adventure was to head up to the Stowe Mountain Ski resort.  Oh sure, it's August in the New England area and there's no snow to be had, but they still operate the gondolas to take silly tourists up high so we can look down upon creation.

It was fun and I could have stayed up there for weeks!  I'm not sure I mentioned it, but I really, really, really, REALLY like Vermont!

Let's see some pictures...

Rob was surprisingly weary of this ride up.  I wouldn't use the word scared, but I think weary fits.  I told him to relax, that we weren't that far up off of the ground, but the rolling back down the hill would probably hurt some.  He wasn't amused...

Da' boys! 

How stinkin' beautiful!

At the top.  The lodge on the very left of the photo has a restaurant, first aid/medical station, bathrooms and some other things that I no longer recall.  Over on the very left of the picture is Mama and Caleb going up to the zipline platform.

I didn't realize it at the time, but when I blew this pic up,  I think the lady on the left of the photo is hamming it up for me when she noticed I was taking the pic.  Well done, young lady.  It made me giggle!

That is Stowe Vermont at the bottom of the valley.  Our campsite is down in this picture somewhere...

That's one of the gondolas like we rode up in.

Obviously, we're not at the top yet.

There's the zip lines!  We got to see a couple of dudes launch, which was pretty cool!  They really haul "donkey" going down these baby's!

That's the lodge with the restaurant upstairs, and the other stuff downstairs.  There's a gift shop in there too, of course... 

The top of the gondola.

They really don't want you doing any hiking up here!  This sign warns of no safety nets in place to help you out, steep drop-offs, wild animals and other nefarious stuffs to help eliminate your being are listed on the sign.

So, let's go hiking!

Robby in a far more comfortable space than a gondola...  lol!

Back in the parking lot looking up the hill from where we just returned.

Schmitz 2018 Vaca, Post 15 - Vermont, Smugglers Notch St. Park Campground

Just kidding about this being a strictly Vermont post.  Sadly, this is the ONLY picture that we took in New Hampshire which is terrible as it's a beautiful state!  This was in the parking lot of the Pizza restaurant that we ate lunch at.  I like the mountains that just seem to be in people's back yards!

This is our campsite.  Doesn't seem to spectacular until you realize how isolated you are from other peeps who may be able to help out in the event of a bear visit. 

This was taken from down by the picnic table in the previous pic.  That was a rough trail to traverse in the dark and especially during the dark and torrential rains we experienced on night two!!  We ended up in the Northern Lights Motel, I believe it was called...  yikes!  We left the chairs and tents behind to go back and retrieve them the next day, should the rains not wash them down the hill.

That little rock pad to the right of the road is the parking pad for our site.  The house at the curve of the road is the rangers station/house.  He warned us at check in of the bear deterrent system the park uses.  The first night we hear what sounded like a shotgun way off in the distance followed by a louder, cannon-like bang.  Sometimes it's the cannon blast first, followed by the shotgun sound.  They change up the order of the bangs as well out of the number of them as bear are smart critters and figure out patterns.

Drywall My Wall, Ya'll

We took down 4 8' long shelves that have housed many pictures for many years.  They left their make as we get ready to paint so we tried to patch things up a bit.  Caleb is an eager learner and was ready to have a go at it.  He did awesome with the "mudding".

Up high...

Down low...

And here he is with a pan of water washing down the walls after the mud dried.

Same.  It's messy work but he seems to really, really like it!  He wanted to stay home one day last Spring when he thought I was going to sand the bedroom that we were touching up!  LOL!  He went to school...

Stevie Cute

Another throw-back!

2008.  Robby was betwixt G'pa & G'ma Bushman for this one up in Crystal Lake.  We speak often of these two and for good reason.  They were a HUGE part of Robby's early life!

D n' D Learn'ins

Our friends had a whole pile of boys over for a game of Dungeons & Dragons.  Caleb had never played before and the same was true for many of the kids.

Kudos to Curtis for having the patience to teach them and get the game set up!!!  

2019 Mini-Vaca3(but really 1), Chicago, Pt 5 - Art Institute of Chicago

After the Field Museum, we had another sizable walk required of us.   Our next destination was the Art Institute of Chicago, which, from the looks of Google.com/maps,  we didn't take the fastest route.  However, we weren't in a big hurry to begin with so, who cares!?

When we were in China back in 2011, I loved walking around Shamian Island and looking at the architecture.  Same thing with touring the Hutong in Beijing only days before.  Such cool stuff and even cooler when I didn't even know that I was into architecture!

I only saved one picture from our walk (for unknown reasons), but know that I took a good many more...

Our view from the steps of the Field Museum. Notice that all of the coats are light or just jackets.  B.E.A.U.T.I.F.U.L.  weather!!!

Look at the detail on that building!  Makes me wonder what those upper floors are like inside and even a little bit about what the heck the building is!

Our destination, the Art Institute lions greeting us.  I also took zero pictures inside of any art as that always seems creepy to me for some reason.

The Chrome Kidney Bean!  I think it's actually called the Cloud Gate, but i like kidney beans so that's what it is to me.

The skeletal face of the bean.  That's us in the bottom right quadrant.

The bride and I  with our reflections in the background.  Notice my phone screen in the reflection...  It was trying to reboot but didn't have enough battery so it was "looping".  Boot up to a point and then shut down. Repeat, until finally dead.

This is a shot of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion.  It's quite the cool structure and they have all kinds of activities here in the warmer months.

I called this the spaceship bridge.  It's really pretty cool but when you're tired of walking after a long day,  I was wishing that they just had a simpletons bridge to cross the freakin' road as you walk a LONG way on this to get over 6 lanes.

Don't believe me?  That's the pavilion on the left and the walking bridge is the snaky thing.

The bridge is the silver thing on the right side and the other oddities are the skate ribbon and rock climbing thingy's.

More of the twisty bridge.

I asked a friend of mine who lives in Chicago, what some good Chicago Pizza places.  He suggested Giordano's and Lou Malnati's.  This was pretty much the view out of our hotel room window (I took it on the street going to get our pizza, but other than a slightly different angle with a couple of trees, it's pretty much the same).  Both were very good pizza's but I would put Giordano's slighty above Lou's.  Thank you, Matt!!

2019 Mini-Vaca3(but really 1), Chicago, Pt 4 - Field Museum

So far, our little weekend getaway has been pretty relaxing even with all of the walking that we've been doing.

Chicago is a bit like Vegas in the fact that things don't look very far away but when you start walking,  it seems you walk for days before arriving at your destination.

Another way that the two city's are similar is that when you are walking, you meet some pretty interesting characters...  who knows the stories those folk could tell!

This was our 3rd and last full day in Chi-town.  The morning was absolutely beautiful as you can see in the first couple of pictures.  There was virtually no breeze coming off of the water and the temp was cool, but nearly perfect for a long walk!

This was great, so much fun and the boys were both enjoying their time, so "wins" all around!

The Navy Pier off in the distance.

How do you improve the previous picture?  Just add-a-lad!

My peeps!!!

I love the Chicago skyline.  It always reminds me of my brother Steve as I was with him and his family the first time that I ever saw it.  Ferris Bueller was just out at the time and it was cool to see some of the spots where filming took place.

Our destination!!!  The last time we were here, we didn't realize it but Prez. Obama was speaking at the museum later on in the day.  We had experienced the museum and there were lights being set up, and fancy tables/chairs, and whatever else...  It was only after we walked back to the car and tried to leave when we were confronted by Chicago's Big Blue and told that we weren't going anywhere until the Presidents helicopter left the area...  I'm not a patient man.  There was no such ruckus this time and the memory is a good story to tell.

Just benches and myself, Rob and Caleb in the shadows back there...

The boys hamming it up.

Rob got stuck!  LOL!!!  He was wedged in there pretty good.

In the Asian area (I can't recall it's official title) with the Asian boy!

Rob in front of...  something.

The DINO's!!!

Sue's head and my fam.

Sue's head and no fam.  Turns out that the real skeleton head is too heavy to be supported on the actual display so they created a clone out of lighter material and show the real one here in the case.

Sue and her fake head!

And the last picture before we left for our next long walk!