January 31, 1998: Ice Skating in Chicago

Diane, Amy, Kathy, Beth, and I went to Mitchell's Diner which was near Park Community Church.  It reminded me of the 'Seinfeld' show diner from the outside.   The weather was gorgeous.  Then, Shawn and I walked down Dearborn St over to the ice skating rink on State St.   I hadn't gone ice skating in years.   The last time I went ice skating was with Connie and  Kim Daugherty at L.C. Walker Arena.  

Rented skates for $3 and went out on the ice rink.  I was surprised I was doing pretty well at walking on the ground on skates.  Got on the ice and stayed near the wall as I was scared to skate.   There were tons of people skating fast and racing.    I got around the rink 3 times without holding on the wall.   It was pretty neat ice skating on State Street surrounded by all of the buildings.     Marshall Fields was across the street from the rink.   Then, Shawn and I went to the 'Brew N' View at the Vic' on the corner of Belmont and Sheffield.  We saw 'She's so Lovely'.  They served beer here so that was cool.   Next weekend, they were having Chris Farley night.

January 25, 1998: Superbowl

Went to the Superbowl party with Jill Sumpter and Marilyn from the bible study. Park Community Church was hosting it at the Como Inn on Milwaukee Ave.  It was a beautiful facility.    Played 'Scrabble' with Veronica and won.   The Denver Broncos beat Green Bay Packers.  There were about 400 people at this party.

January 23, 1998: Dennis Rodman's Restaurant, "Illusions"

Lilly Martinez Dunson found out the other day that someone had free passes to Dennis Rodman's restaurant called "Illusions" which was near Planet Hollywood.  So, I asked for several tickets, so a bunch of us from work went after work.

Jennifer Lovato and Ed Slivinskas went in Jennifer's car.  Tony Dragel, Wayne Onak, and I rode in Tony's new jeep.    We drove by America's Bar, which Wayne had gone to before.  

We were surprised at how classy Illusions was.  We sat at this round booth.   They served us free food from 6-9 p.m. We watched the Bulls game and talked about stupid things we've done.

Wayne rented a bus for his friends and charged them $20 for all you can drink beer.  Then, Wayne and I took a cab up to Fullerton/Halstead to this bar that had all you can drink for $20.  His roommate, Greg Castady, had found out about it.    We got one of the last tables.   By 1 a.m., we were pretty toasty and dancing to the band.   We saw some other IRI coworkers there.    Wayne and some others took me home in the cab.   When we got to my apartment, Wayne got out and asked if I needed him to stay at my apartment.   I liked the idea, but figured it was up to him.   Then, he said he thought I would be OK.  
That was hilarious.

January 9, 1998: Gunther Murphys

My friend Shawn Young and I met her co-workers at Gunther Murphys on Belmont St. near Ashland.   It was a neat place.  Then, we went to this other bar on Ashland called Ginger Snaps.

January 6, 1998: Back to Work

It was hard getting back to work.  Bought some Venezuelan rocks for everyone, as well as my photos for them to see.   Wayne Onak was real eager to see the pictures and hear about the trip.   After work, went to dinner with Shawn Young at Dublins Irish Pub, which was on Rush/State. It was around the corner from both of our apartments.

January 4, 1998: Eric, Jenny, and Brandon

Steve's brother, Eric, said he could give me a ride back to Chicago.    His wife, Jenny, was going to be retiring in June.   They just bought a new Ford Explorer.  They said I was lucky to have found a good job in Chicago and had such wonderful co-workers to hang out with.     Steve's brother, Eric, owned a bunch of buildings in Chicago and rented out apartments.  

January 3, 1998: Puerto Rico

We all had to get off the boat in the morning. Charlene and I did some more exploring in Puerto Rico and found this odd building that had old stuffed animals hanging all over it.    Went with Kelsey and Matt to the airport around noon.  I was hoping to get a $300 voucher by getting on stand-by, as the plane was completely full, but didn't get one.   Got to Grand Rapids around 7:30 p.m. Charlene was on a different flight.     Steve had gone to Chicago and stayed at his nephew, Brandon's house.    They went to Uncle Fun's Store and to the Graceland cemetery, which was where many of the famous Chicagoans were buried.

January 2, 1998: St. Thomas

Today, we were at port in St. Thomas Virgin Islands.  Grandpa, Mom, and I walked around the shops in town.   Mom got another Coach purse and I got a swimsuit coverup.   We took a tour of St. Thomas.  It was a beautiful island.   Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton were in St. Thomas on vacation.  We got to see the general area where they were staying.   Charlene, Matt, and Kelsey rented a jeep and went to St. Johns.  They said it was gorgeous.   Mom and I had another pizza for dinner at the pizzeria on the ship.

January 1, 1998: Dominica

Our ship stopped at the island of Dominica in the city of Roseau.  Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, and I took the tour of the island.   We took minivans and drove on the left side of the road.   We stopped at Trafalgar Falls and the Emerald Pool.   We had some delicious passion fruit juice and orange juice.  

Dominica is located between Guadeloupe and Martinique. It's capital is Roseau.  It is 29 miles long and 16 miles wide.   About 74,000 people lived on the island, with about 20,000 living in Roseau.  English is the official language. This island looked alot like Grenada with is lush tropical forests, but seemed to be richer than Grenada by the way the people dressed and their homes.  This island received about 360 inches of rain a year.   The warmest temperature is about 90 degrees.  The coolest it gets is around 75 degrees.

Grandpa asked our tour guide if she had gone to college. She said she gone to some college and studied business.  Grandpa misunderstood her and thought she said pizza.  Then, he said that we liked pizza.  We all thought that was so funny.

Charlene went kayaking today. Kelsey and Matt went snorkeling and Kelsey got sick and threw up in the water.  Told Matt about the kid who threw up in the Jammers Lounge. He got grossed out and said it must've looked like lobster sauce. That was hilarious.    Charlene and I saw the end of the Rosebowl.  Michigan won 21 to 16 against Washington State.

Charlene said I was a good traveler, as I liked both nature, as well as the cities.  I love to travel and hope I can continue to see new places for the rest of my life.