Saturday we decided to visit the Oak Park Conservatory because we were too lazy to get up early and go somewhere further from home. When we arrived they were working outside on the building – it turns out they are adding landscaping plus a new outside garden. From what I’ve read the project was supposed to be done in May but it looks like it just began so I’m guessing we’ll see the end result next year.
The conservatory is pretty small so we were there under an hour but it was fun to use my SLR again. Plus I love the parrots, turtles, and koi that call the building home.
While driving around Oak Park for a bit I spotted a building that looked suspiciously like the Marshall Fields in the Loop until changing to Macy’s. After a quick Google search I learned it was in fact a Fields for many years before going out of business. I have a good architectural eye I guess; Joe was impressed, anyway.
After we drove around Oak Park for a bit we had lunch at Penny’s Noodle Shop. I first fell in love with Pad Se Ew at their Chicago location on Diversey about twenty years ago (although I didn’t know what it was called at the time). Unfortunately it isn’t as good as I remembered. I’m not sure if that’s because I had an inexperienced Asian palate at the time or the food has changed. In any case, their Pad Thai, which Joe ordered, was quite good, so I’d probably get that if we ever dined there again (although I doubt we’d bother).