Travelers’ writings

Gallery

Fish in the Shedd

SA-002

Operation Bandicoot, Day 6, July 15.

Our target for this day was the Shedd Aquarium, which is one of the better aquariums in North America. This was our second visit to this particular place, our first being from a previous trip a few years back. The Shedd is famous for some of it’s more exotic offerings, such as beluga whales, otters, and several types of penguins. They also have a few arapaima, which are favorites of Caitlin.

All kinds of fish can be seen at the Shedd.

SA-001

SA-010

SA-011

SA-013

SA-012

SA-014

SA-016

They also have different kinds of penguins…

SA-008

SA-007

SA-009

…and reptiles.

SA-003

SA-004

The beluga whales are a very popular and unique attraction at this facility.

SA-006

Here is Caitlin with her favorite type of fish.

SA-015

SA-005

Some creatures, like the otters and dolphins, refused to hold still long enough for me to take their picture, so this is only a sample of what the Shedd has to offer. I’ve been to several aquariums over the years, and I can honestly say that the this is one of the best. If you’re ever in Chicago, I strongly recommend paying this aquatic zoo a visit.

Next: Chicago gallery

  • Operation Bandicoot
    • Gallery

    Get your motor running

    1 Comment

    HD-20

    Operation Bandicoot, day 3, July 12
    This was actually a down day, and we didn’t do much of anything other than visit with the gathered family members. After all that driving, it was nice to be away from the wheel for a while.

    Day 4, July 13
    Lisa has a lot of family in the upper Midwest, especially in Wisconsin. So, we arranged to have a mini-reunion of sorts in Milwaukee, which is sort of the half way point between Chicago and the Appleton area where they live. The designated meeting spot was the Harley Davidson Museum, showcase of the last great American motorcycle!

    HD-02
    Skyler, Quinn, Caitlin, Nicholas, Gabriel, and Michael, at the museum entrance.

    I actually found the museum very interesting, and I’m not a biker. If nothing else, I now have a lot of new ideas for Erector models! I took a lot of photographs of many historic motorcycles. Here are some of the ones I found interesting.

    HD-07

    HD-03

    HD-05

    HD-04

    HD-06

    HD-08

    HD-11

    HD-10

    HD-09

    HD-12

    HD-13

    HD-17

    Here are a few that were just plain weird.

    HD-19

    HD-16

    HD-15

    And here are some bikes that were featured in major motion pictures:

    HD-14

    Easy Rider and Terminator 2.

    HD-18
    Captain America: First Avenger.

    The museum has a section where people can pose on actual bikes. We made good use of that.

    HD-21

    HD-22

    HD-23

    HD-26

    HD-25

    HD-27

    HD-24

    In all honestly, I would never want to own a motorcycle. I think they are fascinating pieces of engineering, but I don’t trust my sense of balance enough to seriously want to ride one.

    But if I did own a motorcycle, it would look like this:
    HD-custom
    The museum has an interactive application where you can design a custom bike using features from many classic Harley Davidson models. This image was generated from that application.

    After the museum, the batch of us went to a local pub and grill called Soblemans, where we all ate huge burgers with all kinds of fried side dishes. After this, I figured my A1C was trashed for the month.

    Soblemans

    Clockwise from lower left:
    Jason Fritz (cousin of Lisa), Mary Vedeckis (Lisa’s mom), Wayne Vedeckis (Lisa’s dad), Michael (partly obscured), Lisa, me, Nicholas Farley (nephew, partially obscured), Greg Farley (brother in law), Kathy Farley (Lisa’s sister), Gabriel Farley (nephew, hidden from view), Caitlin, Skyler Fritz (cousin), Quinn Fritz (cousin), Thomas Fritz (Lisa’s uncle by marriage), and Kelley Fritz (cousin). Photograph by Joline Fritz (cousin by marriage).

    After lunch, we all went our separate ways. On the way back to Crystal Lake, we took a rest stop at a small Wisconsin town with personal significance: Lake Geneva.

    LakeGenevaWI

    What’s important about Lake Geneva? Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, was the corporate location of the game company Tactical Strategic Rules, better known as TSR Inc. Their claim to fame (infamy?) was the original Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game system. I can safely say that from the late 1970’s and well into the 1980’s, most of my allowance money ultimately ended up in this town. In fact, I made regular contributions to this town’s economy until the company closed in the late 1990’s. In 2003, I got married and realized I no longer had time for role-playing games. At some point in the near future, my collection of TSR materials is likely to show up on ebay.

    Next: Everything is awesome!

  • Operation Bandicoot

    • Buried roots

    BEPugh

    Operation Bandicoot: Day 1, July 10

    We left home at 1:30pm on Friday, July 10. Our destination for the night was Zanesville, Ohio. We figured this was as far as we could reasonably expect to go on half a day’s travel. In terms of travel conditions, this first leg of the trip was perhaps the worst, as there is no easy way to get through the Appalachian mountains. The biggest problem we had were patches of construction, where traffic was painfully slow. The second biggest problem we had was at the hotel that night: Michael refused to go to sleep! As a result, we didn’t get an early start the next day, which we had hoped to do. Oh well.

    Day 2: July 11

    We left Zanesville around 10:00am, and started for the Dayton area, where we had two stops planned. The first was the historic Woodland Cemetery and Arboretium, where two members of my family are buried. This wasn’t exactly a cheerful stop, but it was one I felt compelled to make.

    BPugh-2

    The first stop was my paternal grandmother, Barbara. I’ll be perfectly honest: I had mixed feelings about this. I didn’t know her well, and what I did know about her wasn’t all good. She was an easily disturbed woman who didn’t treat my father and uncle at all well, and her perspective on many things was… skewed. In fact, she was known to completely re-write history here and there. It would be pretty fair to say that she was a mess, and the effects of her behavior can still be felt in various ways. I’m trying, as best as I can, to put this in perspective, and leave it in the past where it belongs. She didn’t have much peace during life. Perhaps she has some now.

    Peck-stone

    Our second stop was my aunt Mary Pat, who passed away last October. In contrast, I have many good memories of my aunt Mary Pat, though I’ll admit she was often hard to understand. For a while, when I was young, she nicknamed me Bunny Foo Foo, because I sang it for her once, and apparently it cracked her up. I hope she’s getting a good rest.

    Wright2
    Wright1

    Our third stop wasn’t family, but historical: Orville and Wilbur Wright, inventors of the airplane. These two brothers had a bicycle shop in Dayton, and there they developed what would become the first functioning fixed-wing aircraft. History has told this story fairly well, so I won’t rehash it here. The two brothers and one of their sisters are buried in a large family plot in Woodland Cemetery, along with their parents and some other relations.

    Wright3

    Gary2

    Our next stop was a nursing home in the nearby town of Englewood, where Mary Pat’s widower, Gary, lives. What can I say about Gary? He’s a funny guy. I remember him always being quick with jokes and witty remarks, some of which were entirely inappropriate. But he always managed to get a laugh. He’s not nearly as active as he used to be, thanks to two strokes during the last ten years. But one could say that while he’s a lot slower these days, the lights are still on upstairs. I’ll admit that it was difficult to see him in his debilitated state, but at the same time it was good to see that he was still good ole, fun Uncle Gary. In all seriousness he probably doesn’t have much time left, but I suspect he’ll keep those nurses laughing up until the end.

    As well he should.

    Gary1

    After visiting Gary, we had a leisurely lunch before continuing our journey. Apparently I was looking pretty glum, because at one point during lunch Lisa asked me what was wrong. I confessed to having been “crying on the inside.” A lot of emotions were running about that day.

    At any rate, we left Englewood around 3:00pm, and continued. All in all, the traveling through the rest of Ohio and Indiana was without incident. The last hour, in the Chicago area, however, was quite an adventure. I came to the conclusion that speed limits are viewed as polite suggestions in Chicago, and aren’t taken seriously as laws. At one point I was (out of necessity) doing 70 in a 55 zone, and someone whipped past me on the left as if I was standing still! According to Lisa’s uncle, that’s a pretty common occurrence in the Windy City.

    We arrived at Lisa’s aunt and uncle’s house in Crystal Lake around 10:00pm EST. (We had to change our clocks to Central Time.)

    And no, this isn’t the same Crystal Lake where an undead psychopath in a hockey mask goes around with a machete.

    Next: Get your motor running

    Related articles:

  • Operation Bandicoot
  • The long, winding road
  • Mary Pat Peck

    • Operation Bandicoot

    July 10 – July 21, 2015

    bandicoot

    In July of 2015, the Culpeper Pugh’s took another major road trip, and as with the previous trip, it was given a silly name. The name “Operation Bullfrog” was dropped in favor of a more exotic animal.

    The focus of this trip was the formal wedding of one of Lisa’s cousins from the Chicago area. Most of her extended family planned to arrive about a week before.

    The itinerary includes:

    • Dayton, Ohio, where we will visit two family graves and an ailing uncle.
    • Crystal Lake, Illinois, where Lisa has some family. This would be our local base of operations.
    • Chicago, Illinois. Several side trips are planned.
    • A visit to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium on the return trip.

    BandicootRoute

    As with some previous trips, Dr. Watson was going to be staying at the Blue Ridge Pet Resort in nearby Rapidan. Weather and travel conditions looked favorable for the entire week, and I didn’t receive any dire news, so things looked positive.