Migraine & A Free Day in the City

I have been MIA again and I apologize.

Partly due to physical issues. Last week I had so much pain my right neck, shoulder and hand that I stayed away from the computer as much as possible. Then Friday night, just before bed, I got a terrible headache which turned into a migraine and is still here.

Thankfully, I felt just fine Friday because I had plans to go into the city with an old friend and her 4 and almost 2 year old daughters.

The forecast threatened of severe weather, but we were going regardless. It was a free day at the Shedd Aquarium.

She called me to tell me she'd be late because it was already storming by her and she was having a hard time getting the girls in the car because the storm was scaring them. It hadn't started by me, though I could see lightening to the West, which is the direction from which she was coming.

An hour later she arrived and it was just starting to drizzle. By the time we got to the Eisenhower (I-290), it was raining pretty hard. By the time we got off and were making our way to Lake Shore Drive, it was a torrential downpour. I was so glad she drove her minivan rather than me try to drive my Grand Am! I would have been stalled on LSD with as much water as was on the street.

We made it into the parking area of the Shedd when we saw the sign that it was a 2 hour wait to get in. With the line to get into the parking garage wrapped around the corner, a 2 hour wait, the storm coming down like it was and a 4 and 2 year old, we decided to go to plan B.

Plan B was the Museum of Science & Industry, which is about 4 miles further south. It was also free that day, but it hadn't been advertised on the news and such like the Shedd had.

We felt bad for the kids, especially the little one. They were excited to see the fish.

We got to the museum and turned into the parking garage just as they were closing it because it was full. We were having really terrible luck up to this point. We were giving up and getting ready to turn back onto Lake Shore Drive to head home when my friend decided to go to the right to see what was over there. We turned into an open parking lot near some benches and a pond.

We actually found a spot too and by that time, it had stopped raining. We had to walk a little bit to get to the entrance, but it was so worth it because the parking was FREE!

I can't say I have found free parking in Chicago for anything before. We had expected to split the parking making it either $8 or $10 each depending on where we parked, but Free?!

The museum was crowded, but not like I would have thought, though it was a sauna in there. We had so much fun and it was completely free!!!!

Now, if we had known about that parking lot and intended to park there for free, we would not have found a spot, I just know it. The parking gods felt sorry for us and let us have a spot because just after we parked, a stream of cars came in asking us if we were leaving as we were unloading the kids!

It's rare to get a free treat like that and it was even better to have it with a friend I hadn't seen in a year and two incredibly sweet little girls.