Olympian Party Efforts in Chicago

As luck would have it, while I was in Michigan, Al, Micheline and Gabby planned a party to celebrate their 25th Wedding Anniversary, 50th Bday (Al’s) and the Olympics! That's Al above, posing with Michael Phelps, his main competition. And since I was only two states away, I hopped on the Valk and ran over to Chicago for the weekend. Tami even came in for the weekend and I got to play tour guide.

And furthering the luck, there was a Cubs home game on Friday, and after accosting a few street scalpers (honest, this guy wasn’t selling anything other than tickets to the game! I think maybe this was the universal sign for ‘hold the mustard’.), we were handed two free tickets!











The party on Saturday was a huge success, complete with opening ceremonies, many competitions which were rewarded with authentic Olympic medals, and of course silliness.
Since I had traveled the farthest, I got to carry the torch to set off the entertainment and fireworks show (since I was 'performing' I don't have any pictures of that!). You’ll probably recognize some of these guys from Stupid Bowl and other blog entries.

Thanks to our gracious hosts.

Of course getting to ride there an back (yep, the 300 miles took about 12 hours) on the bike was great. Followed the shores of Lake Michigan in both Indiana and Michigan, once again realizing the beauty of the states, if you stay out of the cities.