We checked out of our room at around 12PM
We called for a bellhop to help us with the luggage.
We checked out, loaded the truck with all our belongings, and rode to Burger King for lunch.
The Magic Foundation had arranged for everyone who had attended the conference to go to the Wheeling Aquatic Park Center for a free day of fun.
Lora and the kids went down the tube, and Meadow and I played in the swimming pool.
Wheeling Aquatic Park Center is an outdoor aquatic center with amenities:
Volcano Valley has tube and body slides, and Paradise Falls has two drop falls.
Willie the Whale has a toddler slide, and there are lap lanes in the swimming pool.
Kana Courts have sand volleyball, a Grassy area for tanning,
Willies Coconut Café for food, a picnic area for eating, and a diving board, and Aloha Beach has zero depth in the entry of the main pool.
Karki Island has a sand play area, locker rooms, and lockers for storing valuables.
Tsunami Splash has a water playground with tipping buckets.
Lilypad Lagoon has a splash pool with a water basketball and a monkey bar activity pad.
We stayed at the aquatic center until 4:30 P.M.
Lora then drove us to downtown Chicago to tour the Sears Tower “sky deck.”
The Sears Tower was the tallest skyscraper in the World until 1996. It was finished on May 3, 1973.
It is still the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere. What a view!
We walked to Giordano’s Pizzeria, which was just across the street from the Sear Tower.
We had to wait 40 minutes for a table and another 40 minutes for our food.
We ordered a deep dish stuffed medium pizza with sausage, pepperoni, and mozzarella cheese. It was covered with Marinara sauce, and the pizza was as thick as the size of a medium cake.
Madison enjoyed the stinging mozzarella cheese.
Lora drove us out of downtown Chicago, leaving at about 9:00 P.M.
I took over driving for several hours.
Everyone fell asleep except me, and when I got sleepy, we stopped at a Motel 8 somewhere in Louisville, Indiana, off I-70E.
We were so sleepy that we did not even inspect the room, which we should have because the beds were falling apart.
I guess that does not matter when you are too sleepy to drive.
It was late, I was very sleepy, and I drove seven miles in the wrong direction.
The next morning, we had no clue where we were because somewhere during the night, I had taken a wrong turn about seven miles off course.
I remember going through a lot of construction and orange cones being everywhere. I am sure that is where I got lost.
We had to do a lot of backtracking.
Leaving late, getting sleepy, and traveling with kids, anyone could get lost.
It is strange how a sermon can trigger your thoughts about something that happened in the past.
Have you ever been lost or gotten lost driving? Ask yourself and tell your story.
