American Pickers

One of the shows that our family likes to watch is History Channel's American Pickers. If you've never seen it, the show is about two guys (Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz) who travel across the country to pick through other people's stuff, looking for "rusty gold" (i.e. antiques and other Americana). To me, all of the junkyards, barns, & rooms stuffed to the rafters are just a nightmare of hoarding run amuck.

Since my in-laws will be downsizing eventually, one of the things that R needed to do on this trip was go through his stuff that is still at their house. And so this afternoon, my very own set of pickers went to work...

Now they're ready to go see the Pawn Stars in Vegas to see what their new-found "treasures" are worth!

The Genius Files

Earlier this year, J read “The Genius Files 2: Never Say Genius” by Dan Gutman. In the book, the main characters, Coke and Pepsi, have been recruited into an agency for super-smart kids. They are on a cross-country road trip to their aunt’s wedding. But along the way, they are being pursued by bowler-hat dudes who are trying to kill them. The author has used various real-life places in developing the plot of the story, even providing websites and additional info about those locations in the margins of the book.

One of these spots was the McDonald’s #1 Store Museum in Des Plaines, IL. So when J asked if we could go visit, how could I refuse?! Besides, R and I have never stopped by there either!

Spontaneous Fun!

I have a confession to make. I am a planner, but that should not come as a surprise to anyone. However... (pause)... I had absolutely nothing on the schedule for today. Oh, the horror of it all! *gasp!* Well, maybe I did have some ideas just in case, BUT I was fully prepared to do nothing and be perfectly happy about it!

That being the case, I have no explanation for why I was wide awake at 5:30AM!!! But I'm so glad I was, because I checked Facebook and saw a late-night message from our good friends from college... who just happened to be in Chicago, too! They were flying back home late today, but wanted to try to meet up before they left! Yippee!  

Deja Vu

Twelve years ago, we left IL and moved to CA for my new job. Last year, my brother started working for the company I left. Since we were fully cooked (about medium well, I'd guess) after our day at Great America, we left around 5:30PM to meet G for dinner. But the boys wanted to check out his place first. When we pulled up, it all seemed vaguely familiar. I'm pretty sure he's living in the same complex that I did when I first started there 19 years ago!

We went to eat at The Silo in Lake Bluff - used to come here a lot for lunches out with people from work. The food was decent, but the service was a little slow. Poor kids were so tired they were ready to fall asleep at the table waiting for the check to come!

Call Us Crazy

The thermometer in the car read 92 degrees at 9:00AM this morning. Ugh. Not looking good for spending the day outside at Great America. Traffic was slow on the Edens, so we went local -- quite surreal for me, because that was my route to work for more than 7 years. Instead of going to the park via the tollway, we stayed on Route 41 and used the south entrance off of Washington St. I would highly recommend going this way rather than through the main entrance off of Grand Ave. We zipped right in, driving underneath American Eagle on our way to the parking lot.

All of the warnings about the heat today must have scared away most of the sensible people, because only a manageable number of CRA-ZEE people like us were in the park today. Even though it was H-O-T, there were minimal lines for the rides -- at most, a 15-20 minute wait. R and the boys (including cousin D) were able to go on everything they wanted at least once.  

As we did for Magic Mountain, here is the second installment of the Saiki-delic Awesomeness Review...

The Adventure Begins (Again)...

0245 PDT: Let me just start out by saying that I am *not* an early riser. “O dark hundred” is not a time that anyone should be awake. But I was worried that we would oversleep and miss our flight, so ~3 fitful hours of sleep will have to suffice today.

0300 PDT: The boys are up. I didn't have to wake them. And they’re soooo chirpy. Why are the boys up?!

0400 PDT: All packed and ready to go. There is a Hertz rental location at my workplace and they have special deals for one-way rentals to/from the airport. It’s cheaper than long-term parking and definitely better for my stress level since we don’t have to worry about a shuttle picking us up on time.

Magic Mountain vs. Cedar Point

I didn't realize that Magic Mountain and Cedar Point had such a rivalry, battling it out for the title of "Roller Coaster Capital of the World". I just found this article on the Los Angeles Times website. Cedar Point removed a coaster earlier this year, which means that Magic Mountain (currently with 17) owns the title... for now.

Last year, the same author wrote another piece comparing rides at the two parks head-to-head. The accompanying photo gallery also has some nice pics. Can't wait to do our own SA review!