Friday!

I've had a typical busy weekend. My usual plan these days is to drive down from Kenosha to Uptown in Chicago to visit my girlfriend lisagems. I usually get there fairly late since I work at school here until 5, and I usually don't have my act together enough to pack prior to leaving the house.

Lisa and I used one of her groupons for some yummy sushi Thursday evening. We were in the Humboldt Park neighborhood and we talked about how neat the park looked. On Friday morning, we'd originally talked about going swimming in Lake Michigan, but instead we decided to go back to Humboldt Park. I put my explorin' shirt on and we drove west.

Parking was easy and we started walking around the 207 acre park. We started at the 1907-built boathouse. It's a beautiful old building that dates from days of walks under parasols and paddle-boat excursions on the lake. I felt like there was some Frank Lloyd Wright influence, as well as more traditional Chicago massing. It was pretty, and it has a neat second-floor space that can be used for art exhibitions.

We saw a statue of Alexander Humboldt, who the park is named after, and who never set foot in Chicago. There was a statue of Leif Ericson, accredited on the rough granite boulder it's set on as the discoverer of America. It was a refreshing change from public focus on Christopher Columbus, especially in Chicago with it's 1893 Columbian Exposition. We explored the other large building on the grounds, a fieldhouse that seemed older and even more impressive. There was a basketball game going on inside and the building was open, so we wandered through, finding rooms full of sculpted marble details and terrazzo floors.

The building also has health club facilities that you can buy a membership at through the park. It seems like a really nice place to come and work out. The upper level of the building had a large exhibition called the Taino project. It's an exhibition created by the Puerto Rican Art Alliance. It honors the Taino, the first group of Native Americans to encounter Columbus and, subsequently, be wiped out by Europeans. It's web page is over here: http://www.praachicago.org/site/epage/115920_1028.htm

We walked through more of the park. There was a big group of little kids in an organized bike ride winding through the paths. There was a lagoon full of lilly pads and ducks. There was one little duckling in with the ducks that confused us. It seemed awfully young for the time of year and we worried a bit about it. But it seemed to be standing up for itself when other ducks came to both it, and it was going in and out of the water looking for food, so maybe it'll be ok.

We walked through the formal gardens too, which were looking a little underwhelming with the drought happening. It was a pretty space regardless and had more statues; buffalos guarding the entrance to the east end. I decided I needed to climb atop one and Lisa was kind enough to take a few photos. Finally we went back to Lisa's place to cool down. It was hot out there! But the three hours spent wandering with my sweetie was a lot of fun. I like her a lot, and it was a really fun date. *bounces*

Saturday and Sunday

After spending the evening with my girlfriend danaeris on Friday, she and I got a bunch of stuff done on Saturday! We went out to a few garage sales in the morning. We didn't find a lot of interesting furniture, but I did find an interesting guy to talk to. He was a retired mechanical engineer and had some interesting specialized equipment for sale. Nothing I needed myself, but they made for great conversation pieces. I spent a while talking about modern technology vs vintage stuff, and slide rules specifically. I would have asked to look at his slide rule collection, but I think Danae would have committed justifiable homicide, so I left my card with him and said that if he'd like to talk more, I'd love to hear from him.

The two of us went to the hardware store to buy some tools. This was kind of a fun experience for me because I have more experience with tools than my girlfriend and got to offer advice and suggestions on tools. I don't often get to do typical guy stuff like that, so I enjoyed the experience. *grins* I think she ended up with some good stuff that will be useful around her condo.

The two of us had a yummy dinner of pasta with pesto that she cooked and watched some more Escaflowne. I spent a while longer working on trip planning, and finally the two of us snuggled up in bed for the night in a bedroom that finally had curtains: I'd just put them up that evening. *grins* Danae is amused by how hesitant I am to go walking about her condo naked, even up on the 7th floor, without curtains in the windows.

Sunday was a birthday party for the three-year-old daughter of Danae's former housemates in Aurora. The two of us drove out there to meet them at noon for lunch. We got to be social with them and their friends for a couple hours, and I climbed an awesome tree along with a bunch of other kids and adults ('till zoo staff told everybody to get down). The birthday girl missed Danae; "Where are you?" she asked Danae. I felt kind of bad, 'cause I miss everybody there too. Sometimes, I wish the world was a little smaller.

After opening of presents and beating of a pinata, Danae and I wandered off by ourselves to see the zoo outside of the kids area. I was excited about seeing primates, and Danae wanted to see birds, so we planned our route through the zoo for both. The primate exhibit was amazing. There were cavernous indoor spaces with waterfalls, rivers, and concrete trees and bluffs. Lincoln Park Zoo is pretty neat, especially for being free, but Brookfield was fantastic, and I really want to see it again.

Keeping our priorities in order, we went for ice cream after the primate house. Danae was sweet enough to buy me an ice cream cone to fight the heat, which we ate in a fun round building that made me feel like I was inside a big Indian teepee in some roadside attraction. Outside, as we ate, a woman chased a peacock around the sidewalk for ten minutes or so before giving up. That wasn't the most offensive behaviour we witnessed though. Just after eating, we went to the baboon enclosure where we found a couple people throwing bits of bread down to the baboons. I was annoyed enough that I actually yelled at them from across the enclosure.

We moved on from there to an exhibit of birds. That seemed to be my kitty's favorite part, and while it wouldn't have been a priority on my own, I'm really glad I went there with her. There were some really pretty, shiny birds to see. But on top of that, I got to see Danae be all kinds of cute and adorable as she looked excitedly for birds among all of the leaves. It was a really fun time, and I'm glad I got to share it with her.

Before the zoo closed, we also made a quick trip through the penguin and arctic bird exhibit, and through the Australian exhibit. The Incan Terns with their long, long eyelash fringes were neat, as were the penguins. I was even more excited to see the wombats because I'd never seen wombats in person before. I went through a phase in elementary school where I thought wombats were just the coolest thing evar. In person, I guess they were a little underwhelming, though still entirely snuggly looking. I'd love to pick one up and cuddle it, though it would probably claw my eyes out.

Finally we went back to Danae's place for the night for more dinner, anime, snuggles, and bed. We were together briefly this morning as she got ready for work, but soon enough I was heading for downtown Chicago with Lisa and she was off to Northwestern. I miss her already.