Chicago Best Western Plus Hawthorne Terrace Hotel

We have to put out a special thank you to the Best Western Hawthorne Terrace Hotel in North Chicago. When we decided to profile the city of Chicago, the Hawthorne Terrace , only a ten minute walk from Wrigley Field stepped up to the plate and offered us a place to stay.

Beautiful day

It would seem the Mexican sunshine arrived in Ottawa with us! It was a beautiful Sunday yesterday with sunshine and perfect temperatures around 23C (73F). First thing on the agenda was a 5 km (3 mile) walk.

Chicago to Ottawa

You would think it would be fairly simple to get from Chicago to Ottawa. And it should be, but for us it was an all day affair.

Chicago Museum of Science and Industry

We didn't leave ourselves enough time to see the whole thing...just couldn't seem to drag ourselves outside at a decently early hour even though it was a beautiful day. And then, we got sidetracked into buying a new camera!

The Field Museum of Natural History

First of all, I have to qualify this by saying that it was only in March that we visited world class museums in Mexico City. Not to say that the Field Museum isn't world class, it's just that I think we are "all museumed out"!

The Shedd Aquarium

Yesterday morning we took the bus down to the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum of Natural History. They are pretty much across the street from each other and we chose to do the Shedd Aquarium first.

City Segway Tour - Chicago

You may or may not have heard of a "Segway". Introduced to the world almost 10 years ago, they are a two wheeled electric mode of personal transportation. Two things have hindered their popularity, even though they are a VERY neat mode of transportation.

Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise

The Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise aboard Chicago's First Lady Cruise's is certainly one of the more popular ways to learn more about the skyline and some of the more interesting buildings. The one and a half hour cruise takes you down the Chicago River and onto both branches where the river splits.

Adler Planetarium

We slept in yesterday morning, and then had to write three blog posts! So we didn't actually get on the bus towards downtown until about 11:00am. We had three more events planned for Wednesday, the Adler Planetarium, the Chicago Architecture Foundation River Cruise, and the Chicago City Segway Tour.

Urban Kayaks - Chicago

This was a very cool experience! It's pretty neat going kayaking to begin with, but to do it while weaving your way around the skyscrapers of Chicago was absolutely fantastic!

The Willis Tower

The highest building in North America. Formerly known as the Sears Tower, this 108 story building was the tallest one in the world from 1973 to 1998.

Chicago Greeter Tour

Tuesday was such a busy day that it's going to be tough to put it all into one post. So we're not going to! In fact, this will be the first of a series of posts over the next few days as we detail each activity on it's own in order to give you the best view of Chicago from our eyes.

Mexico to Chicago

Kind of squeezing two days into one here so it's a bit of a long post! Let's go back to late Sunday morning and try and catch up from there...

Before leaving Hacienda Contreras, I wandered down to Whiskey's tree. I had mentioned a couple of days ago that a bloom had appeared and it looked like there were more coming.

Hello, Chicago!

Just a quick note to say...we are in Chicago! We had arranged to bring some Mexican sunshine with us, but I think it hopped on a different flight because it hasn't arrived here yet!

Goodbye, Hacienda Contreras...

Last night was our last night. We are leaving Sherman behind and heading out to new adventures for the next five months or so. We spent a lot of time here this winter and enjoyed every minute of it.

Back to Day 1

Ruth has been diligently working to get all of our old blog reports up on this site. Our first year or so was done on the old tripjournal website and the reports were never available to read here.

Cinco de Mayo

A little history lesson this morning on May the 5th (Cinco de Mayo). Our son asked if we were going to any celebrations this weekend to mark the event. But Cinco de Mayo is celebrated more in the U.S. than in Mexico. Here's why...

Saying goodbye to new friends

Our new friends Doug and Nancy headed out yesterday morning on their way to the coast. I should tell you the story of how they made a decision to come to Mexico.

Business cards and breakfast

When we travel, we meet a lot of people. And when you meet people, you want to stay in touch. We learned when we set out almost five years ago that we needed "business" cards so that it's easy to give out our email address and website address, and now our Facebook page.

Another fiesta by the big tree

A fiesta and a feast that is.

Who says you need a reason for a fiesta. Barb and Sal invited some of their friends and relatives and we had a little party by the big tree!

April, 2012. Our cheapest month ever.

But the cost of having an inexpensive month is that we didn't really do very much. That was the plan though, because we were due for a break after a busy March when we took in the sights of both Mexico City and Las Vegas.

A donkey and a flower

Just a relaxing day around the park yesterday to rest up from the 10 km hike we did on Sunday.

A big hike

There are four different high points surrounding the valley where we are, and we had hiked to the top of three of them. I wanted to get that fourth one in before we left here so yesterday was the day of the big hike!

Another Mexican wedding

Yesterday morning, Barb and Sal were going into town so we hitched a ride with them. Saturday is market day, and that's when we buy our supply of fruits and veggies for the week.

Quitupan and a parade

We relaxed for the morning yesterday and then we hopped in a taxi with Doug and Nancy to go visit the nearby town of Quitupan. We had never been there before so it was a new experience for us all.

Company

Well, we have some company here at Hacienda Contreras! Long time readers Doug and Nancy arrived yesterday afternoon, just in time for happy hour.

Planning

Well, our time in Chicago next month is almost all figured out. It's going to be a busy five days! And our trip overseas in June is coming together as well. There's going to be another month of downtime in between the two, but then it's going to be a busy few months after that!

Interesting stuff

Guatemala, Romania, and Bulgaria. What do these three places have in common? They are all on the list of the 50 cheapest places to live in the world.

Hacked?

First, I have to apologize for the advertising yesterday. Some of you will have seen two posts show up here that were not normal. Some of you even warned that our blog might have been hacked! But it wasn't...it was just us earning some income.

Out exploring!

Yesterday, we went out exploring with Sal and Barb. We hopped in their pickup truck and went for a drive. There's still a few areas around here that even they haven't been to, so it was new for them as well. (And finally, some pictures!)

St. Lucia

This looks like a great place in St. Lucia.

Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands seems like it could be an interesting place to visit.

A whole bunch of stuff

Sometimes we have to think of things to talk about, especially when we're not traveling. But not today!

Looking back

Funny thing happened yesterday to some of our readers. Anybody who has been following by Google Reader saw an update from us that said "Mission, BC". This update was from November 29, 2007!

Mexican politics and a house for sale

Okay, so not very interesting travel topics. But with a general Federal election coming up on July 1st, there is a lot of political activity going on in Mexico, and last night we attended a political dinner with Barb and Sal.

England, the dentist, and a new blog format

Not at the same time though. Three different stories actually! We had some news regarding our trip to England in June, and Ruth went to the dentist yesterday. And you might have noticed the new blog format. First, the dentist story.

Australia

Thought I'd tell you why we want to win a trip to Australia. There are several reasons.

"Budget" travel

What does that term mean exactly? Surfing the internet the other day looking at travel sites and I came across a website for the Budget Travel magazine. Hmph, I thought, this might be an interesting site.

The animals at Hacienda Contreras

We enjoy the fact that there are some animals here at Hacienda Contreras. We call it the Hacienda Contreras Zoo!

Past travels

We think we've done a fair bit of traveling in our lives, but we really haven't been to that many different countries. In fact, I think we've only been to ten countries! That's gonna have to change!

Things are coming together!

Received some exciting news regarding our trip to Chicago! We have been issued media press passes that allow us entry to all of Chicago's famous and popular attractions in order for us to tell you all about them. The City of Chicago is welcoming Kevin and Ruth with open arms!

Ruth's highlights of our past six months (Part 2)

Okay, it's on to Part 2 of our past six months in Mexico.  We explored many new places as well as a few of our favourites.  It is really hard to pick some of these as we have so many wonderful experiences but we don't want this to go on forever for you so I'll try to keep it to a minimum.

Earthquake!

Our facebook followers already know that we felt an earthquake yesterday. There was a 6.4 earthquake (originally reported as 7.0) about 200 kms south of here late yesterday afternoon.

Ruth's highlights of our past six months (Part 1)

Well Kevin did his reflection of our time in Mexico, now I going to do my version of some of our favourite highlights.  Be prepared there are just a FEW pictures!

Oil change

You know things are slow when the most exciting topic of the day is Sherman's oil change! I last changed the oil towards the end of September while in Texas, about 6,000 kms (3,700 miles) ago.

Couchsurfing

Some of you have had questions or comments regarding the couchsurfing program we have used recently to stay with local hosts in Mexico City and Las Vegas.

Here's an interesting article published in this months "New Yorker" magazine online....

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/04/16/120416fa_fact_marx

Reflecting on the past six months

We had a GREAT winter! Of course it didn't start off so well with the death of our faithful traveling companion, Whiskey. That was definitely not a highlight. But the rest of the winter went according to plan.

Food budget

We went and did our weekly grocery shopping yesterday and we posted on facebook that we spent $22.68. It actually turned out to be $23.28 because I forgot about some celery that we bought at a different store! Anyhow, readers Roxanne and Susan seemed like they want a little more detail.

What have we been up to?

Not much, which is why for the next month or so we will be profiling some of our favorite pictures over the last 4 1/2 years. Every day will see a new picture from the past as the header.

Entering contests

Have you ever won anything worthwhile? We did once, back in 1999. A long weekend in Copenhagen, Denmark!