vacation – Andertoons Cartoon Blog

2016 Vacation

July 5, 2016January 10, 2017 andertoons

Just about a week ago my family and I returned from a two-week road trip. It took almost a year and a half of organizing, saving, and planning, but it went off without a hitch and we had a terrific time.

We started out from Chicago, visited Indianapolis, Columbus, Pittsburgh, spent a week in Washington DC, and then came back the way we came.

We were gone 15 days/14 nights, traveled 1940 miles, spent 43:26 hours in the car, took 1271 pictures, and ate twice at Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream.

Here’s a list of the places we saw:

And here’s some pics if you’re interested:

I’ll write more in the next few days of some more cartoon related stuff, but I hope you enjoyeed this as much as we did!

San Diego Vacation 2014

June 19, 2014January 10, 2017 andertoons2 Comments

The family and I just returned from an amazing week-long vacation in beautiful San Diego so I thought I’d share a few (OK, a lot) of pictures. Enjoy:

LEGOLand

Loved these guys, and even the cacti behind them enjoyed the music.

Um, wow.

The animal sculptures in the Adventurer’s Club were amazing!

This polar bear comes right at you! Look out!

This wolf in Fairy Tale Brook is determined to get some bacon.

Loved him checking his iPhone!

Part of the Las Vegas section of Miniland, probably our favorite part of the park.

A Miniland New Orleans jazz funeral.

Love the stilt walkers in this parade!

The architecture stuff in Miniland is pretty amazing. Even my wife was checking out some of the techniques used.

This is part of the new Star Wars section of Miniland, although it looks like it could be from the movie.

Unbelievable, right?!

Love the little mini-Luke!

Laugh it up, fuzz-brick.

Aren’t these great?!

Part of the Enchanted Walk we found after gorging on Granny’s apple fries. (OMG!)

Loved the LEGO details on the walls while waiting to get into Pharaoh’s Revenge!

Cabrillo

The scenery here was just amazing. I took so many pictures!

Lighthouses are an Anderson family vacation fave.

Birch Aquarium

Not too many pics here (mostly fishtanks inside), but this statue outside was incredible.

Botanic Garden

We went here on Father’s Day figuring LEGOLand, the Midway and the zoo would be crowded, and we largely had the place to ourselves.

I don’t know what these are, but wow!

So pretty!

Here’s me relaxing. Ahhh….

What a great way to spend the morning!

Museum of Making Music

This place was such a little gem! We adored everything about it. I mean, you start out with a piano desk! PIANO DESK!

The brass player in me was soooo happy.

Trombones! WOO!

Did you know Steinway made a special piano during the war? Neat huh?

OMG, I had that exact Fender Rhodes.

For whatever reason, my 8-year-old daughter is really into the banjo, and they actually had a special banjo exhibition going.

San Diego Zoo

And of course we went to the zoo! That’s a red panda being uncooperative.

We went right to the panda section as soon as it opened and spent loads of time there before it got crowded. So nice!

Dust bath!

The capybara is one of my daughter’s favorite animals, and the zoo had tons of them!

Koala!

Loved this sun bear just hanging out.

These were super loud. Every time they made a noise I jumped.

Petco Park

Another little gem. The 90 minute tour was fascinating! We ate a picnic lunch next to the wiffle ball field outside.

Children’s Pool Beach

This was the last thing we saw and it was an amazing way to end the trip. Look at all the seals! Wild seals! Right there!

This guy seemed to love having his picture taken.

Well, that’s it. That’s not even everything we saw and I took hundreds more pictures, but I hope you enjoyed this little peek into our trip.

Weekend Chicago Vacation

January 3, 2010January 3, 2010 andertoons6 Comments

This weekend the Mrs. and I were treated to a nice weekend downtown. As a Christmas gift, Margie’s folks booked us a room and watched the kids for us.

Ahhhh… So. Nice.

Anyway, here’s the pics:

We stayed at the Hotel Burnam, which is the old Reliance Building.

To Chicagoans of the 1890s, the glass-covered exterior of this building seemed to almost defy gravity. A century later, it is internationally recognized as the direct ancestor of today’s glass-and-steel skyscrapers. Extremely narrow piers, mullions, and spandrels, all covered with cream-colored terra cotta decorated with Gothic-style tracery, divide wide expanses of glass and clearly delineate the interior steel framework that supports the building. The light and airy facade is almost entirely windows–both flat and projecting bays–of the type known as a "Chicago window:" a wide fixed pane with narrow movable sash windows flanking it. A flat cornice tops the 14-story structure. The severely deteriorated exterior was completely restored by the City of Chicago in 1996.

Just a fantastic hotel, and gorgeous architecture to see around every corner.

The hallway to our room.

First we checked out Adler Planetarium. And, while perusing telescopes and Mars rovers, I ran across what looked like a cartoon:

Daumier’s 1844 "Un astronome satisfait"…

"…pokes fun of the ‘satisfied’ astronomer, who eagerly describes his wonderful discovery to a shocked listened; ‘Yes, my dear friend, I have just discovered a comet, and according to my calculations, I have great hope that in 45 days, it will encounter Earth.’"

Sidney Harris it’s not, but fun to see!

That night we went to see a show entitled "A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant" at A Red Orchid Theatre. Above is a quick shot of the set before the show.

The next day we spent the morning and some of the afternoon at the Art Institute: