Joe took multiple days off from work so we could have a nice staycation to celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary, which was on October 23rd. I can’t believe how much time has passed. As I wrote on Facebook, it’s been a tough year with Wookie’s passing, but if there’s anything positive that came from it, it was Joe and I growing even closer in our shared grief. I’m so thankful to have a supportive partner and best friend throughout all these years. I’m truly very lucky.
Wednesday (10/23) we ran several errands in the morning (including TJ Maxx where I got a new watch band) before going to Texas Roadhouse at 3 pm for dinner. We wanted to get there when they opened to minimize how many people we’d be around as we are still not comfortable eating indoors and possibly catching COVID. We got boosters a few weeks beforehand, though, so we felt the risk was minimal.
The dinner started out rocky when we were seated by the restrooms and Joe noticed an awful smell come wafting our way. We asked to be seated elsewhere and were moved, so everything was good from there. The steaks we ordered were good and since I had gotten a gift card from Discover, I wasn’t stressed about the bill. It’s not like we can’t afford it, we’ve just had bad experiences where we paid a lot for a meal and didn’t feel it was worth it. That’s the reason we didn’t go to Cooper’s Hawk across the street (no gift card via Discover).
That being said, while we did enjoy our meal (minus the louder than necessary music in the restaurant), we both felt we really haven’t missed eating out. Food prices have increased too much and we’ve been just fine getting takeout when we don’t feel like cooking.
Thursday (10/24) we headed into the city to visit Lincoln Park Zoo. Since we wanted to beat the morning rush, we got into the city before the zoo opened, so we first went to Montrose Point where we watched the sun rise.
Sunrise from the bird sanctuary
Instead of trying to find street parking like in the past, we decided to park in the zoo lot even though it’s pretty expensive at $35 for the four hours we were there. But since the zoo admission itself is free, and I read the parking fees go to the zoo, I felt like it was the right thing to do since we’ve enjoyed many free visits over the years.
Since we were at the zoo when the gates opened at 8 am, and the zoo buildings don’t open until 10 am, we walked around the entire zoo, the nature boardwalk, and the farm in the zoo (which is even more boring than before now that the baby chick exhibit is gone) for the first two hours. One of our favorite parts of the zoo is swan pond and waterfowl lagoon area over by the small mammal house. I saw some new species of birds but didn’t add them to my life list since I don’t think they would count not being in the true wild. We sat on a bench by these bodies of water and had a morning snack of banana bread I had baked earlier in the week for our excursions. We always bring some snacks with us so we’re not tempted to buy overpriced food. Also it prevents us from wanting to leave too early because of hunger.
Once 10 am came we went back through the zoo a second time, this time seeing all the indoor exhibits. The only one we could not access were the gorillas since that building was closed for some unexplained reason. We sat outside that building for awhile just relaxing and enjoying the beautiful weather. I told Joe before we left I wanted to swing by the snow leopard for a second time. I’m glad I did, because while the leopard was nowhere to be found, the red panda was out, and I got the single best photo of a red panda I’ve ever gotten!
I’m pretty sad that my photo didn’t get many likes online because I really think it’s a fantastic photo, so much so that I set it as the background on my PC.
We thought about heading to Chinatown for lunch but I want to do more research on the best restaurant to try, plus we plan to visit Jackson Park during spring migration which would be a closer drive, so we decided to save that trip for another time.
As we took the scenic/long drive home, we could not think of a place to stop for lunch until we were much closer to home and we passed this Polish deli called Helen’s. We stopped inside to grab some potato pancakes, stuffed cabbage, soup, and a dessert. Unfortunately they don’t have pierogis or blintzes during the week, or we would have gotten some of those too. We also stopped at A&W for a root beer cream freeze since they are delicious (and it was; we drank it as we drove home). The Polish deli food was really good, especially the pancakes and vegetable soup. I didn’t think the cabbage rolls were as good as the Polish deli closer to home, though.
Friday (10/25) we went on a morning bird walk with the DuPage Birding Club at Fullersburg Woods. I opted not to bring along my camera as I was still tired and sore from all the walking at the zoo. Our guides were a married couple who were both extremely nice and knowledgeable. They made the walk fun despite my aches. They showed us where to find a screech owl and I swear I spotted its side profile for a few seconds, but it’s hard to say for sure. They really blend in well with the tree bark, plus it was inside a tree cavity which makes it even harder to see fully.
After our walk we stopped at Trader Joe’s and Target for a few things and then got Chinese food for lunch (and dinner, and dinner for the next two days too since we always order three large dishes).
As if we didn’t want to torture ourselves enough, we went on another bird walk on Saturday (10/26) to Busse Woods in Schaumburg. Luckily the main walking portion was in the first area we visited and the other two spots were close to each subsequent parking lot. I left my camera at home once more but kinda wished I had it with me so I could contribute to the group checklist on eBird.
When we were at our final spot, I suddenly had a craving for a corndog, and started looking on Yelp for somewhere to grab lunch after our walk was complete. We ended up settling on Sonic of all places. The corndog was ok, but the other things we tried were even better.
The grilled cheeseburger (an app exclusive) tastes like a Wendy’s doublestack but on Texas toast. Very tasty! Their Philly cheesesteak was impressive. We weren’t expecting it to be as good as it was, or as large. The only thing that would have made it better was a little salt, pepper, and mayo. I dipped mine in Sonic’s signature sauce which is also very good.
I got a pretzel twist to take home and it crisped up nice in our new air fryer. The cheese dipping sauce it comes with is good; reminds me of the old school cheese you could get with an order of nachos at the roller rink (showing my age with that reference).
The highlight, however, was the Dirty Dr. Pepper, a drink you can only order in the app.
Very unique and flavorful. I’m not even big on Dr. Pepper, but made this way I’d drink it much more often.
Oh and a funny thing happened earlier in the morning. We had been discussing how ABT was having a customer appreciation sale and that we should really replace our living room TV (it has developed the purple spots of death which have been growing since earlier this year) and were leaning toward getting an LG TV. Joe placed a mobile order for an iced coffee at McDonald’s and the code to give at the drive-thru was LG24. Freaky, right?!?
