The Adventure Begins...

Every good adventure has a background. This is the background of Saturday’s adventure.

On the last Friday at work before Christmas, my phone buzzed with a text message. It was Amy, George’s wife. This was a rare but not impossible occasion so I was curious indeed. She wrote to mention that she’d just ordered tickets to go to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. They had a Star Wars exhibit that was running until early January and she’d gotten tickets for the last Saturday that the exhibit was open. A moment too late she’d considered that I might want to go along as well. Did I?

Despite the fact that I’m not a Star Wars fan, I wanted to go. Watching George’s reaction inside would be worth the trip. Besides, I hadn’t been to that Museum in… far too long. In general, the Museum would be fun.

It is not uncommon for me to go on otherwise family trips with the Gentekis clan. This is especially true now that there are three children. This way the children don’t outnumber the adults. That helps more than you’d think. It’s not a deliberate part of the decision making process when I’m invited to come along but it’s a good reason all the same.

One problem with this situation is that Amy had accidentally double-booked herself. She had plans to go to Delavan (a small town about an hour west of Milwaukee) that night. Since our tickets for the Star Wars exhibit were for 15:00, we would have to run from the Museum right to Delavan in order to get her there in time. George’s excellent driving skills would easily get her there.

Of course, the biggest problem with the whole concept of going to the Museum of Science and Industry is that it would involve going to Chicago. Nothing good comes from Illinois. Not literally of course but, you know, they suck. It’s a good-natured distaste of our Mid-West ‘brothers’. It’s good-natured until you go there anyway.

There’s nothing quite like going to Illinois to make you never want to go there again.