I had another big day planned for the third day of our trip north. First things first…we always take a family picture on the Combo Breaker Floor. Actually, that’s always one of my favorite moments of the trip. I’m pretty bummed that we’re missing that picture this year, so here’s a look back at the family photos we took during our first four Combo Breakers!
After a morning visit to the event, we were going to head to Brookfield Zoo. This has become one of our favorite Chicagoland locations, (we can spend a good six hours just walking around), and it would have been our second springtime zoo trip (to go along with two winter visits). You never see the same thing twice, and we were really looking forward to discovering something new!
I think this would probably have been the night we went to dinner at Alfie’s Inn, too. This restaurant has become another favorite place on our journeys, and they make a mean patty melt!
After dinner, we would have headed back to the hotel for a swim, and an evening of Combo Breaker fun. Now, I know that there’s no way the floor would look like this on Saturday evening, so empty and organized, but I really this picture!
Eventually we would have headed back to our hotel room…I wonder what was supposed to be airing on the Food Network tonight?!?
Up next…the third and final day of Combo Breaker 2020!
The second day of our trip north for Combo Breaker was going to be A Big Day…it was the day we were going to to hop on the Metra and go into Chicago for a day of fun!
I had a lot of things planned…first we were going to take a water taxi to Navy Pier and ride the Centennial Wheel. After riding The Wheel at St. Louis Union Station last October, we were very excited about the idea of seeing the Chicago skyline from a similar vantage point.
We also planned on visiting The Bean, something we’ve done every time we’ve attended Combo Breaker (even the one year that we missed having our downtown day), and I’m sure we would have fed some pigeons, too, because that’s something we always seem to do.
I had hoped to stop by the Starbucks Reserve Roastery, and maybe the American Girl flagship store (although I’m still not sure how I would have convinced the boys to go along with that!). And of course we would have stopped at the former Marshall Field’s to pick up a box of Frango Mints (thankfully, I was able to order some!), before heading back to the Ogilvie Transportation Center to catch a train back to Schaumburg!
We were planning on going to Kuma’s Corner for burgers one night, and I think after a day of walking around downtown Chicago, we would have really appreciated that meal and a chance to relax. The “Lair of the Minotaur” burger, with caramelized onion, pancetta, bourbon poached pear, and brie looked especially good to me, but I was also looking forward to seeing the special.
After dinner, it would have been time to check out all that Combo Breaker 2020 had to offer. We love walking around the event the first day, and just taking everything in, from the vendors’ area to the main stage to casuals, and everything else! You never know what you’re going to see!
We always stop by the Gaming Generations booth to buy whatever catches our eye. The children were really disappointed about missing out on that opportunity this year, so they were really excited when Gaming Gen opened an online store, and they were able to order the plushes they were hoping to find at the event!
After that, we probably would have just headed back to our hotel room to relax and watch the Food Network, because our Chicago day is always exhausting. Sometimes, if we have the energy, we do go for a swim to relax, though, so that was always a possibility!
It’s that time of year! Time for another Markel family Memorial Day weekend getaway to Chicagoland for Combo Breaker! So I’m back with another road-trip wrap-up…but there’s just one problem. Like everything else lately, Combo Breaker was canceled, and our trip along with it. So this year, we’ll be taking a virtual trip up north, and looking at all of the plans I had made. Yes, I know this may seem pathetic or depressing to some, but I figure a virtual trip is better than no trip at all, and this will help me remember all of the things I had planned to do once we finally do get away!
So, I’m assuming we would have been up dark and early on the day we left for Chicago. I’m kind of fudging the dates we would have been gone…Ryan, and probably Turkey with him, would have left earlier in the week for set-up, and I don’t know for sure when the rest of us would have joined them, or how long we would have stayed, because Moose’s junior high graduation was supposed to fall somewhere in this time. Since they never got around to scheduling his actual ceremony, (although his virtual graduation is today!), I figured I’d just pick a reasonable amount of time for our trip starting today.
Anyway, when I drive, I like to leave super early, so that’s what we would have done. We should have arrived in the Chicago area after the bulk of rush hour passed, and we would have breezed right through the toll plazas, because we finally bought an I-PASS in January just to make this drive easier…no waiting in the cash only lanes this time!
Instead of heading to Pheasant Run Resort, which sadly closed in February, (this trip was never going to feel quite right, I guess), we would have gone to the Schaumburg Renaissance Marriott, the new location for Combo Breaker. We were really excited about checking out that hotel…from the pictures on the website, it looks pretty fancy! Hopefully we’ll get a chance to see it next year…
After lugging all of our stuff to our room (hopefully on an upper floor), and meeting up with the rest of our family, I had one big plan for the day…we were going to head even farther north for an architecture tour at SC Johnson & Son in Racine, WI. I was also really excited about doing this…it had been a possibility back in January, but the winter weather got in the way. Not only would we have gotten to enjoy mid-century modern design, (and make lots of Fibber McGee and Molly references!), but also admire Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture, which is fantastic. I’m really hoping we get around to taking that tour someday!
Maybe we would have stopped by Lake Michigan in Wisconsin before heading back to Schaumburg…that would have depended on how tired we all were after our long day. I love looking out on the lake, though, so I think we probably would have made it happen.
Once we had gotten back to the hotel and had dinner, (most likely our road trip special of summer sausage and string cheese, with a side of fruit leather), we would have hit the pool, which is always one of our favorite parts of a road trip. Did I mention how nice the hotel, including the pool area, looks? And then I’m sure we would have enjoyed some cable TV before lights out.
Up next…what should have been our big day in Chicago!
