Another fantastic weekend is behind us.
Saturday morning we got together with friends to check out St. Charles’ Scarecrow Festival. It was the perfect day weather-wise. It was cool in the morning but the sun was out so it wasn’t too hot or cold.
First we had breakfast at this fabulous restaurant near the festival. I got the same thing as last time – Hawaiian eggs benedict. Joe and our friends each had a skillet. Both men ordered bloody marys too.
After breakfast we browsed the scarecrows before the festival officially opened. I didn’t bring a camera because I wasn’t sure whether I would take any photos, but I couldn’t resist, so I used my iPhone. The photos with the sun behind me came out fine but the other ones leave a lot to be desired. Ugh, I hate the iPhone camera because it’s so inconsistent in quality!
We left the festival temporarily to check out a Ferret show at the Kane County Fairgrounds (our friends are huge ferret fans and own one). They had some really cute hammocks for sale so we got two for the rats. One is a big Halloween-themed cube hammock which I put in Milo and Gizmo’s cage. They love it.
After seeing everything at the show, we headed back to the festival so we could check out the craft booths. By this time it was close to noon so the parking garage we had used earlier that morning was completely full. We drove around the area for awhile and stumbled upon Delnor park which turns out is only a few blocks walk to the area where the crafts were. Score!
We spent some time checking out all the booths together. I bought a chocolate covered pretzel to snack on since I find them irresistible. We also spent some time checking out their petting zoo from a distance. They had a very interesting collection of exotic animals including a kookaburra and wallaby, but we had difficulty identifying one of the animals hopping around. The first thing that came to mind was jackalope which is funny because they don’t really exist. But this thing looked like a cross between a rabbit and a deer which is why my mind went there.
At this point, a stranger who had apparently been listening to our conversation, stuck his phone in my face to “prove” to me it was a capybara. I told him I’ve seen those at a zoo before and they were way larger than this, but he insisted, claiming it was a baby. Whatever. Mind your own business, dude! Finally, I got the attention of one of the animal handlers to ask her what the creature was and it turns out it was a pantagonian cavy.
We were pretty hungry after all that walking around, but the one thing that is not impressive at this fest is the food, so we went to Beef Shack for lunch. It was such a beautiful day we sat outside to enjoy our food. And we officially ruined Portillo’s beef for our friends by introducing them to Beef Shack, haha! Their beef sandwiches are the best!
On our way back home (we picked up our friends at their house that morning so we could take one car), I pointed out to our friends that Fermilab was nearby if they ever wanted to see the bison, so they asked if we could stop then. Unfortunately, the bison were way out in the field so it was hard to see them. We did see a hawk, though, and some killdeer (which is the only place I’ve yet to see these birds).
When we got back to our friends’ place we went inside for a bit to talk and play with their cute ferret. Overall it was a very long, but fun, day. There are very few people I could spend that much time with but even so, I did have a headache and we used the rest of the evening to decompress by watching tv. It has become very clear to us that while we do enjoy time socializing, we are very much introverts who could not do it two days in a row.
Which is why on Sunday we renewed our Costco membership and did some grocery shopping before the Bears game and spent the rest of the day inside. Since it was what I’m guessing the last warm day of the season, we opened the windows to get some fresh air. It was nice to walk around barefoot in the house; I predict I won’t be able to do that again until spring. For dinner I made beef stroganoff in the crock pot and apple muffins for dessert, both of which were delicious. It was a nice relaxing end to our weekend together.