Marshall Field and Company building

Markel Family Combo Breaker 2025 Getaway–Day Two

The second day of our Combo Breaker trip was one of my favorite days of the whole year, because we took the Metra into Chicago!

Bunny’s first objective is always to find the pigeons and feed them, and it was a successful mission!

We walked close to 10 miles…down to Buckingham Fountain, up the Magnificent Mile, and everywhere in between!

It was a chilly, rainy day, but that didn’t (if you’ll pardon the pun) dampen our spirits!

It was nice to take a break indoors at Water Tower Place, though, and we stopped in a few of our favorite shops while we dried off and warmed up.

We visited the Starbucks Reserve Roastery again this year, and this time, we actually figured out the menu and ordered some drinks…I got a lavender matcha malt (shocking, I know), and it was absolutely amazing…I’m going to try to recreate it at home!

Of course we stopped by Marshall Field’s of Blessed Memory, where we admired some of the historical details of the building and bought an entirely too expensive (and small!) box of Frango mints.

But eventually we had to get back on the train to head back to the hotel…we always ride upstairs on the return trip.

Back at the hotel, we switched to Combo Breaker mode and got to work alphabetizing badges. Once that was done, it was time for another swim and more game time in the lobby.

Up next…a trip to Italy? And the real preparation for Combo Breaker begins!

The Clock Mender

When we visited Chicago in May, we were wandering around Marshall Field’s (I’ll call it what I want to!), and discovered that there was something of a small museum on one of the upper floors. Among the displays, there was a three-dimensional representation of Norman Rockwell’s “The Clock Mender,” from the November 3, 1945 cover of the Saturday Evening Post, which featured the famous bronze clocks on the outside of the building. When we visited the Chicago History Museum a few days later, we saw the actual print…I think it’s really fun to compare them side-by-side!

Two of My Favorite Things

I didn’t realize it when I took the picture, but I captured two of my favorite Chicago things in one shot…The Clock at Marshall Field’s of Blessed Memory and the “Corn on the Cob Building!”

Markel Family Weekend Getaway–Day Two

I think this was our busiest day of vacation…and Combo Breaker hadn’t even started yet!

Last year when we were in St. Charles, we never made it to downtown Chicago, because to my great surprise, there were no ticket agents on duty at the Metra stations on the weekend. I planned accordingly this year, checked the hours, and was sure we wouldn’t run into any problems. Until we arrived at the Geneva Metra station, and the ticket agent basically shut the door in our face, because she had a “meeting.”

This forced me outside of my comfort zone…A LOT. I had already paid for Wendella boat tickets and Art Institute tickets, so I had to find a way downtown. Even though I faced possible problems, including the fact that my students don’t have school IDs, we used the Ventra app to ride the train, and in the end, it worked out fine.

We took a slightly different walk during our travels in Chicago, so we saw some things that were the same, and some that were new:

The highlight of the day was the Wendella Chicago River and Lake Michigan Tour. It has been close to 30 years since I last did the boat trip, so it was a very different experience for all of us, and a lot of fun!

After disembarking, we began our walk toward the Art Institute, stopping to see the “Bean” and other sites at Millennium Park (including the Crown Fountain) along the way.

At the Art Institute, we focused specifically on the Arms and Armor galleries, as well as a special exhibit on Medieval illuminations, in keeping with this year’s summer school theme, but we also saw a few other things, including the Chagall windows.

My children are obsessed with pigeons (no, I don’t know why), and they certainly got to see a lot of them!

Before heading back to the train, we stopped at Marshall Field’s of Blessed Memory (now a Macy’s) to buy Frango mints.

We even got to ride on the upper deck of the train on the way back!

We enjoyed some more pool time back at Pheasant Run, which was the perfect way to end a hot day. We also indulged in some Food Network shows on cable TV, which is one of our favorite things about vacation!

Up next: Combo Breaker finally begins!

Marshall Field and Company Building

Another one of my favorite buildings in Chicago is the Marshall Field and Company building, which is now home to Macy’s:

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While the clocks outside the building are the first thing you notice, for once, my interest lies with the interior of the building, one of the largest stores in the world. We rode the escalators all the way up to the eighth floor…the children couldn’t believe that there are department stores that big! We saw the beautiful Tiffany mosaic ceiling, the famous Walnut Room, and even a Frango shop (yes, I bought a box of mints)!

We looked out the windows in the furniture department, and admired the view, including  a very cool rooftop garden across the street:

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We also took a look in the windows, which always look great (although never as good as they do at Christmastime, in my opinion!):

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I really enjoyed being able to show the children this store, and ride the escalators all the way to the top with them like Ryan and I used to when we were in college!