Midwest New Years Trip Y2K4

Gate 7 In Oakland... I can't believe how many Gate 7's I've went though. Looks like it's my lucky number.	Christmas Tree Du Jour. One thing I wasn't used to was the smell of cigerette smoke in a resturant. Apparently smoking indoors isn't banned there.	Barren Trees...	Jen's Dad's House. In the Middle of NOWHERE. We just had to drop off Jen's brother. I didn't stay there, fortunatly.
Don't look at me! That's Jen preventing her soul from being stolen by the camera.	The Metro. MSI played there. Jen took me there to check out the indy rock scene...	Hehehe, good times.	Chris-Jason [front] and Jason [back]. Two of the biggest piece of works I've ever met.
Daldaeus. Yeah.	The lead singer wigged out all the time.	1908. Nice, smooth...	The Sea And Cake apparently played here too.
Extra Credit Assignment was awesome. Too bad my ears gave out after they were done. :-\ And the bands were getting better too...	Ciao, Cubs. Where are they going?	Stars. Brisbane followed me!	My room. I seem to make a mess of where ever I go.
Mr. Bob. Kyuuuute kitty! Meow	Sponge Bob. Yeah.	The Dancing Yuppie tries out Dance Dance Revolution. When will the hurting stop?	Blury Jen masters DDR.
Jen's friend Vicky rips DDR a new asshole.	Route 90. Suckers!	Jen discovers digital photography as we wait for a Downtown bound train.	The CTA! The CTA! The CTA! The CTA.... sing along with me!
Gleee!	How did I get back home? LOL	First thing I saw when I got off the train.	The train that made part of the Loop. I was around here last year...
Mmmm.... perspective.	Pimp Suits.	Apparently this was a really OLD building, one from say the 1870's. Unfortunatly they just happened to be refacing it just as I get to see it. Bleh!	So I'm told.
Jingle bells... jingle bells... Behind the tree was Chicago's city hall.	Shahaada	Piccasso wuz here.	See? Picasso WUZ here.
City of lights.	Choo Choo Train	Part of the Oriental Ford Theatre	Lookin' down the Chicago River
Jen, my tour guide.	Buncha Hot Wheels	Like the House of Pancakes	Chicago Skyline
Who cares if the moon is made of spare ribs? This place sells them on Earth. .... Hey!	Outside The Rock'n Roll McDonalds	THE Rock'n Roll McDonalds.	Uhuhhuhuh
Yup, it kept on reminding you where you were. And it was awesome.	Peggy Sue.	Marrilyn Monroe loves the Rock'N Roll McDonalds	E-L-V-I-S! Vote for Presley, yes Yes YES!
John Hancock Building	The Sears Tower. It doesn't look so big...	P-e-o-p-l-e-c-i-t-y People in the city	Looking South.
Facing East	Facing North East	The Rock'n Roll McDonalds is in the Center of this picture	The John Handcock Building again (it's the tallest building in this picture)
Facing North	Facing North [Detail] ... Harwoods Nights is probably somewhere in this picture.	Wow, ME?! AWESOME!!	Wish you were here!
I love you too MAH. ... I was inclined to do something like this, but I decided against it. Plus I didn't have my sharpie.	Bright lights, big city. .... Looks like the side of a Borg Cube.	Behold! Harwood Heights Denny's. Apparently this one violated like 15 billion health codes a few years back. It seemed OK to me.	The news morning. Boy was it cold! Pity there was no snow....
If you follow this street, you get to Jen's school. Look how flat this place is....	A water tower.	Tell your parents you want to study the ass.	This was, at one time, a cafe. Apparently 4 stupid kids bought beer here then smashed their car up and died. Stupid fuckers.
Food, fun.... and a monkey. OK.	Great, now I'm in England.	It's the All American Castle, with authentic Medieval Christmas lights!	Oooh... a map!
We spent New Years night at this place. I was treated to a place called Medieval Times. It's a sort of dinner theatre... you eat with your hands and watch horsies and jousting. It was awesome.	NONE SHALL PASS	The dance floor. There was dabcing involved, but the Dancing Yuppie was too tired to get his groove on.	The arena. As you might be able to tell, there are different sections based on color. In the back was the Red and Greens, to the left was the Black and Whites. I was in the Blue.
A closer look at the stands.	Uhhhhh 'Cause I'm the KING	Where the horsies come out of. Above it was the King's Throne.	The horses and the knights and stuff. Awesome.
The King's main aides. The one on the left is a Falconeer. I dunno what the rest did.	The Masters of Ceremony. He was funny :D	The Blue Knight. Blue, you're my boy!	The Green Knight. He eventually was the one who won.
The King	The Falconeer.	Dinner Entertainment. While we ate, these guys galloped about. Yeeee	Dinner.
The Blue and Green Knight.	The pre-jousting Games. It was at this point of the night when my camera crapped out on me and I ran out of battery power. Shit. ... Anyways, Blue died. Because that's what Knights do, they die.	Jen playing Tetris.	Peter, Jen's brother. He's the perfect example of dork.
Jen's house. Maybe I shouldn't even be showing this picture because it might be incriminating and someone might find out where Jen lives.	At The Greyhound Station.	Wayne and Connie Produce. The cross outside of my Grandma's house.	Grandma's Farm. It feels like I was just here yesterday (last time I was here was exactly one year ago). Damn 2003 went by fast.
Uncle Sherman. He picked me up from the Greyhound station to take me to Grandma's house. Right now though, we're following an ambulance.	Following the Ambulance to Elkhart General Hospital. Grandma slipped and fell and thought she might have dislocated her hip, but it turned out to be a strained leg. She was later discharged.	A ring of my Grandfather's when he was in Iran during World War 2 between 1942 and 1945.	Mr. Bob Blume, my dad's old high school chummm.....p. I can totally tell he was my dad's friend just by the way he acts and talks. Not to mention how it was wall-to-wall Michigan stories when both him and my dad were in the same room.
Aunt Cindy and Pa fixin' Grandma's pipes.	As many oppurtunities I had to take my Grandma's picture... this is the only one I took.	Hi Grandpa.	No vacation would be complete without a night of bowling.
Cosmic Bowl! They have it even in good ol' Elkhart	Guess who? GUESS WHO??	A white church... both outside and inside. It was lead by a Black pastor, Mr. Steven Steele, an old childhood friend of my dad.	Pa and some old friends of his.
Pastor Steele, Paw, and Mrs. and Mr Blume.	I prayed for snow, and it seems God listened to me, because it snowed right after church. Good times.	Tell me, what's better than being cool?	Grandma's Farm with "shitloads" of snow over it.
The tree looks so lonely....	USA! USA!	Apparently Grandpa lived here.	After Dinner at Gubi's. We're all so happy!
You might not be able to tell, but it was 2°F in Union on Tuesday. Brrrr	See? Frozen car.	On the way to Chicago, a trainer over turned. WOWWW	The Chicago Skyline yet again.
It was so cold, my face was on fire.	Paw eating his burger at the Museum of Science and Industry cafeteria.	I sailor man!	This is what I see when I trip.... uhm... to Chicago. Yeah.
ssssnnnorrrwhatthehellareyou.....	SHIT! The GERMANS!!	Now I'm in Seattle.	Lovely aerial view of Chicago. There's Jen's house!
Downtown Chicago again.	Cyborg Pa	Creapy dead baby.	Stewardess! Err... I mean Flight Attendant!
I wonder where the pilots are...	She was giving me the eye....	Canadan Goose	The Puppetmaster. And that's it.
Thank you very much.