"What A Pleasant Surprise!"

Well, we're up to Chicago from Pekin, where the wedding was. And their marketing slogan rings true - it was a pleasant surprise.

It took a little prodding, but we made it to "The World's Greatest Sundial," right across from the paddle-boats - on the lagoon in the background here:


I paddled a boat as well.

Also, so far we've seen The Shake at The Captain's Wheel. Everything, the venue (small midwestern town's hotel bar), the act (extremely crowd-pleasin' cover band), and the cover ($3) were all in perfect sync. Did I mention The Captain's Wheel was our hotel's bar?
Aaargh, 'tis true!


What else have we done? O yeah! "The Friendliest Casino on the Water" - the Par-a-dice (sic). So I lost at Blackjack... a good time was had by all. Haven't found the nearest casino to Chicago. Yet!



More on the Chicago adventure later, but I'm not sure how it can top Pekin. What a Pleasant Surprise!