Shedd Aquarium, Chicago, Illinois

If you have three hours to yourself while visiting Chicago, and you are stumped for something to do,  allow me the opportunity to recommend an afternoon at the Shedd Aquarium.

The Shedd was opened in 1930, and is the love child of John G. Shedd (president of Marshal Field and Company before he entered the fish business). The building itself is worth the time to stop and look. It is reminiscent of the time, and makes one want to re-read 20,000 Leagues under the Sea.  Now, Gilligan-esque tour of the Shedd, did not allow me time to fully explore or see everything, but it was enough time to wander, and not feel overwhelmed while feeling undersea.  

Upon entering you can diverge into three separate directions. I chose to first dive into the Amazon Rising gallery. This series of exhibits runs from adorable ducks, and polka dot freshwater rays, to piranha, monkeys and frogs. Each exhibit is an exploration in itself.  I was especially drawn to the Polka-dotted stingrays, also called the Black Devil stingray.  I think my fascination was more to the fashion sense it takes a stingray to evolve perfect polka-dots…what no stripes? 

Upon leaving the Amazon, I made a firm decision, to keep my blinders on while I found my way to see the whales. Yes, that’s right, whales. Beluga whales to be specific. The Beluga whales are part of the Abbott Oceanairum’s Pacific Northwest exhibit that includes; Pacific white-sided dolphins, a noisy sea lion, and otters. Any of these critters is worth the time to stop and watch, but as I hail from a land-locked state, I was driven to see the whales. Beluga whales  are small white whales that hail from the Arctic. They have a slightly deflated look about them, but their faces seem drawn up into perpetual smiles.  You can observe them from both above and below the waterline, and the peaceful nature of their swimming and playing with one another was magical to see. The stark ghost-white of their bodies gliding through the shadows seems ethereal.  It is truly mesmerizing. I truly wanted to just sit and spend about three hours with these beautiful creatures. Alas, I was on a time crunch, so after about 45 minutes I had to keep moving.

There are so many things to see at the aquarium. My three hours was really just a dip into the waters they have to offer. But the Shedd was the perfect commando-museum ride that I needed. Perhaps it is the flowing nature of the water that allowed for the free form meandering in the aquarium, but even though I didn’t but maybe a third of what the aquarium has to offer, I didn’t leave feeling cheated. Sure, I wanted to stay. I would have brought in a sleeping bag if they’d let me. But my point is, even though I was there with limited time, and couldn’t see everything, it didn’t matter. What I did see was enough for that day.  Sometimes when one is sight-seeing, and one can get tangled up in the hustle of “I gotta see it all” that one doesn’t really see anything.  My short swim through the Shedd, left me feeling uplifted, as as though I was floating through the rest of my day.

Travertine Creek – Chickasaw National Recreation Area, Sulpher, Oklahoma

The recent rash of 100+ days is enough to drive anyone to the nearest source of water for a cool-off. Since an adult can only stand in the backyard and spray themselves with the hose, so many times before the neighbors start to talk, I scoured the OK Tourism site (http://www.travelok.com/) for a swimming hole where we could go dip our toes.  There are many beautiful respte in our state to get wet, but we wanted something special. We found it at Travertine Creek, located in the Chicaksaw National Recreation Area, in Sulpher.  The entire national park encompasses much of the city of Sulpher, including the Lake of the Arbuckles, but the Travertine Creek area is located just West of downtown Sulpher, “…Go through town, when you come to the three way stop sign, turn right, take the first left, follow the signs…” were the  instructions given by a park employee when I called.

The creek runs along a winding road  in a series of pools and falls with pull offs to stop and just jump in. The big draw of the area is Little Niagara, a stair stepped flagstone pool deep enough to jump into off of the falls. However, it draws quite a crowd, and if you prefer something more intimate, drive the winding road, and pull off where you find a spot.  There are campsites once you pull into the Travertine creek area, and several more scattered around about the area.  Once we finally found a stop, by the time we hiked down to the creek we were hot! But the sight or the babbling brook  that greeted us was a welcome oasis to the days of heat we’d been enduring. The water is the crystal blue stuff of the imagination, and boy is it cold! There are trails to follow up to the source of the creek but this trip we were happy to find our own pool fed by a lovely tumbling waterfall to plunk down into.  The pool was deep enough it sit chest deep in, and the falls were a simple tumble off, no taller than our eleven year old. However, the murmur of the falls, and the wind in the trees made the place feel like magic. As we sat in the cool water it was as though our bodies were being reset. There is something so soothing about a waterfall. And to sit in your own personal private pool complete with waterfall is akin to a day at the finest spa.

Our day at Travertine creek was only a toe dip into everything that the Chickasaw National Recreation Area has to offer, but it was a well-deserved ---and relished--- taste.

oENOlogy - Chicago, Illinois

Oenology is defined as the study of all things wine. The word itself is derived from the Greek – oinos for wine and – logos for speech.  Which I find mildly amusing considering how wine can affect one’s speaking abilities profoundly. But I digress. While I was staying at the most lovely Hotel Inter Continental in downtown Chicago, I was most excited to visit their onsite wine-cheese-chocolate bar Eno (danger Will Robinson!) the shortened of oEnology.

Upon entering the smell is something reminiscent of cherries and port, with a sharp twang of dairy. The smell enveloped me and pulled me even deeper into the gastronomical voyage. It smelled GOOOOD!  The seating is what they called “open,” meaning that you find seats and sit wherever you can, possibly at the table with strangers. We found three open seats up at the bar and plunked down. The interior is somewhat like 21^st century French pub-charcuterie-café. Dark, a variety of seating groups. The tables have lit insets of different names of wine. Of course candles. It was quite cozy with a twist of hifalutin (but in a good way). The staff was quick to make on feel at home. We were immediately handed a LARGE wine/beer menu, and the barkeep suggested choosing a wine and  she would recommend a cheese flight to go with it.

They serve wines by the bottle, glass of flight. A flight is a tasting set. It has three different varieties all equaling a regular serving. I chose a single glass of an Inama Carmenere “Piu,” Veneto, Italy,( something I’ve always wanted to try) and we took the Oenoligists recommendation of a cheese flight trio called Bella Bella; which included Robiola Bosina, Fiore Sardo DOP, and Tesun al Barlo along with a bowl of Marcona almonds, grapes, baguette and fruit-bread slices and a blackberry mostarda (really tasty preserves).

All three cheese hail from Italy. The Ribola is a smooth creamy blend of sheep’s and cows milk from Northern Italy; The Pecorino was a hard sharp nutty sheep’s milk cheese from Sardinia; and the Testun, arguably the prettiest of the three, also a sheep’s milk cheese from the Peidmont region of Italy is coated and aged in the crunchy wine pressing leftovers (i.e grpaes skins…mmmm) was a creamy white with a lovely purple coating.

First I smelled the wine. Nice. Heavy, with a sweet aroma of cherries (“Ah this is why this place smells so good!” is what I thought to myself). I tried the Testrun first, just because it was so pretty. Nice. Smooth with a slight sharpness, and a delicious grapeiness. FYI- the seeds are still in the winey “crust but they really just add to the texture. Next I moved to the perorinao, which I have tried before. It is sharp, and not really my favorite. The final cheese, resembled a brie, which has been my reigning favorite chees for some time. I took a slice of baguette, smeared some of the ribola, and topped with a shmeer of the mostarda, with a whole intact blackberry. Now, I have never doubted that the right wine paired with the right cheese would be a pair matched in heaven; but, I was not prepared for the amazing melody the Robiola, mostarda and my Carmenere would play in my mouth. It was as though the three of them were separated at birth. I was torn between alerting my compadres to this magic and keeping silent and hogging up the whole thing. But, I decided this was a joy that had to be shared, so I alerted them to the combo, and they were in full accordance.