Our Trip to Chicago

by Sydnee Maxey

We sold many boxes of Girl Scout Cookies – my favorite cookies are the Thin Mints. We sold nuts, chocolates and magazine subscriptions. We had a spaghetti dinner and a turkey dinner( where we served over 500 people at each. I personally sold over 150 tickets to our Turkey Dinner. We had silent auctions at our dinners and the community helped support us by providing some really great silent auction items.

On June 18 we left Onekama Consolidated School at 5:30 a.m. to meet the Amtrak at 8 a.m. in Holland, Michigan. Every Girl Scout and their mother were very excited.

Our scouts arrived to Chicago’s Union Station and the best part of it was the escalators. We walked to the International Youth Hostel which was about 10 blocks away and were all very thankful that there was air conditioning, as it was over 90 degrees in Chicago.

After we dropped off our back packs we walked to Shedds Aquarium. The Jelly Fish exhibit was very cool and there is a complete exhibit to invasive species to the Great Lakes. We then walked to the Field Museum and I was amazed at the size of “Sally” the T-Rex that is in the main area of the museum. To end our day we had Chicago Style pizza – very thick and with the sauce on top. Although the pizza was good, I like Big Al’s Chicago Style Pizza better.

Day two of our trip we woke up and enjoyed breakfast at the hostel. We then took public transportation to Navy Pier. Chicago has busses that bend in the middle while going around corners – cool! We enjoyed a boat ride on the Chicago River showed up the various architecture of Chicago. They had to rebuild after the Great Fire – using Michigan Lumber.

The Ferris Wheel at Navy Pier was neat, you can almost see the entire city from there. We ate at the largest McDonald’s Restaurant I had ever seen while at Navy Pier and then went by Metra (Train) to the Brookfield Zoo.

I enjoyed watching the dolphins and we had dinner at Ed Debevic’s where the staff pretends to be rude to the customers. The wait staff also gets up on the counter and dances. The food was very good.

On the third day we started our day again at the Hostel for breakfast. Breakfast was a buffet of various breads, muffins, bagels, cereal, milk, juice and waffles. You have to wash your own dishes at the hostel.

Many of us had blisters on our feet from walking so much the two previous days. We took a bus tour of the South Side of Chicago. It was nice to rest our feet, but it was very warm on the bus.

We got to see President Obama’s Chicago home (there was secret service outside) and where the President and Mrs. Obama had their first kiss. We visited the Willis Tower (Sear’s Tower) and got to go out on the sky deck. We then got some special Chicago popcorn that is caramel and cheese together. It made a mess of my hands and I probably would not get again. We took the Amtrak home at about 5 pm, but the ride took a long time because we got behind a cargo train.

Overall, I had a great time. My best memory was going to Willis Tower and going out on the sky desk over looking Chicago. My mom took a picture of me lying on the sky deck with the ground over 110 floors below. I would like to go back to Chicago in the future and do some shopping.