Treasures of the Walt Disney Archive - Revolution Brewing

We took advantage of a day off to visit Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry specifically to view the traveling exhibit "Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives". The museum is a great family destination and definitely requires a full day to take in most of the exhibits. Other benefits of visiting MSI are you'll likely get a nice long drive with pretty views down Lake Shore Drive and you get to visit a building that was part of the 1893 Columbian Exposition (World's Fair).

The "archives" exhibit is a hard-ticket add-on purchase to your museum admission that allows you into the special section at a specific time. We arrived at the museum a few minutes before our exhibit entry time and looked at the large model train setup and the chicken incubator.

The "archives" exhibit starts with a looping video of the history of Walt Disney and The Walt Disney Company. Next up is some coverage of Walt's early life and his Chicago roots (there is a group trying to restore and preserve Walt's Chicago birthplace - check out http://www.thewaltdisneybirthplace.org). Next, we get the pre-Mickey history with some focus on Alice comedies and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit before moving into the late-twenties and early thirties focus on Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony films.

The following sections covered the making of Snow White and demonstrated the process of making animated feature films. A lot of this section was covered in the form of story boards (lots of reading) and a display of character maquettes - models sculpted of the characters to help animators with perspective and details. The accomplishments of the 1950's seemed to collide into one section with coverage of live-action films, the move to television, and the development of Disneyland. The centerpiece of this area was a mock-up of Walt's office. Some items on display here: letters to Walt from celebrities and presidents, Davy Crockett's cap, a model of The Nautilus, and Mouseketeer artifacts.

There was a large section dedicate to Mary Poppins - likely assembled to help support Saving Mr. Banks. Items on display included outfits, Mary Poppins' bag, the nursery blocks, and snow globe.

The next exhibit area covered the creation of the theme parks. A highlight was seeing (might have been a copy) the live-scale Herb Ryman Disneyland concept drawing. The last video in the main exhibit was the building of EPCOT so the history portion ended in 1982. There was a poster acknowledging the continued Disney legacy with Marvel, Star Wars, etc.

The final portion of the exhibit held a few modern film costumes and props and also housed the Disney Animation Academy. This was similar to the Animation Academy attraction in Disney's Hollywood Studios, except our class was taught by some dirty hippy MSI employee. We got to draw Donald Duck.

We left the museum and headed to lunch. Dave really wanted to go to Revolution Brewing's brewpub. We got in the car and headed North on Lake Shore Drive. We let Siri navigate vs. using our common sense - wrong answer. We got off LSD and ended up in the mess of 3 highways colliding at once on Good Friday lunch hour. It took forever to get uptown and west the mile from the highway to the Logan Square location. After finally finding street parking we walked in the bar to find the last two seats available - by the door - and it's freezing.

They didn't have the one beer we really wanted to try, the coffee porter, so Dave panicked and ordered a beer he's had many times. After an "are you kidding me?" Look from Holly he changed his order. Revolution had a few guest taps and many bottles from other brewers to choose from. They had about twelve of their own beers on tap. For food we went with the sweet potato cake appetizer and burgers. All the food was good. Dave got samples of several other beers and found a few he liked. Revolution keeps their beers true to the style and only over-hops the beers that should be over-hopped. Their Eugene Porter is one of our favorites.

That wrapped up our time in the city. Just shows how much you can cram into a few hours.

May Charity of the Month: Crohn's and Colitis Foundation

Charity of the Month is the newest way Team Tizzel is helping to support some very worthy organizations. As part of this program, we will dedicate a post to a charity that we will sponsor through the month by donating Holly's training run money.


April: In April we sponsored National Brain Tumor Society via Team Victoria and the Race for Hope to help an awesome family that includes a special girl fighting brain tumors with so much courage and hope. Our donation of $100 will be matched by a corporate matching gift (you can donate too through this link) and we've been told our post inspired a donation by someone else!
May's Charity:

Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America Team Challenge - Jessica Awotona http://ccfa.org

Our good friend Jessica (a Team AllEars member) has been running in support of charities for years. She first learned about Colitis with both her sister's and uncle's diagnoses and treatments a few years ago.  Here's her story:

Up until a few years ago I had no idea what Crohn's Disease or Ulcerative Colitis were. In 2011, that all changed.

After months of stomach cramps, diarrhea and other digestive problems, my sister Elizabeth, was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. She spent many days in the hospital ER trying to figure out what was causing these symptoms. After a few months of trying different treatments and no results, she was hospitalized in August of 2012.

At that point she was so malnourished and in so much pain the doctor wanted to try steroids and pain medicines delivered by a Picc line for a week to see if that would be any help. The x-ray to check on the picc line placement saved my sister's life. It showed that her colon had already perforated in multiple places. An emergency surgery was done to remove her entire colon. She now has an end ileostomy. This ileostomy has saved my sister's life. I can't imagine a life without my sister, she is one of my best friends. I can't imagine her son growing up not knowing his mom. I hate this disease. The doctors are still not sure if her original diagnosis of Ulcerative Colitis is still accurate or if she has Crohn's Disease. They are leaning towards Crohn's Disease, which can spread through her entire digestive system, making a reattachment surgery an unlikely choice for her. 

You can read all about her journey through this at her blog: mamasgotastoma.blogspot.com 

In the spring of 2012, IBD doubled down on my family. My Uncle Dave, was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis and ended up with an emergency Colostomy also. 

I have been a runner for almost 10 years and the Napa Half Marathon is the most important race for me yet. It is my way to support my sister, uncle, and the IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) community. 

Spring Chicago Night Out

One of the best times to visit Chicago is Easter Weekend. There's a small chance of nice weather and cheap hotel rates. We used Hotwire to get a 4-Star hotel in the Magnificent Mile Area for under $100 with tax. Overnight parking adds on another $50.

This year we spent Thursday night in the city since we both had Friday off from work. After a long trip in due to traffic we checked into our hotel in record time and hit the streets. Our first stop was The Disney Store on Michigan Avenue, which was around the corner from our hotel. After that we hit Jake Melnik's. Jake's is a casual BBQ place with a decent beer menu that we usually always end up visiting.....

After a beer we headed up Rush Street towards our dinner location. Before the trip Dave mapped out a couple of bars that might be interesting to visit. The first one was closed for a private event. Instead of traveling north a few more blocks we decided to land in Hugo's Frog Bar. First impressions were it was a little small and too brightly lit. However, they had a good selection of signature cocktails, beers, wines, a pleasant bartender, and a live piano man singing. We hung out here before venturing off to dinner at Table Fifty-Two.

The first thing we need to tell you about Table Fifty-Two is that it is on 52 WEST Elm, and not 52 East Elm as communicated to us by Siri. After a few minute delay we made it to our dining destination.

Holly had an interest in this restaurant for a while. Yelp! Reviews were dinging the place for bad service and being overpriced. We don't buy into the overpriced statements. Folks have the internet where menus, and sometime even pictures of the food, are available. Diners nowadays have all the resources to make educated decisions based on price. On top of that, these were actually decent prices for a nice restaurant in the tourist area. Our experience with the service was completely opposite of the Yelp! reviews.

The downstairs room where we ate was quaint. Everything matched the southern theme of the restaurant. Our server was prompt with taking our wine order and bringing us our amuse buche of a cheese filled pastry.

Holly chose the Deviled Egg appetizer (which was only $4 - liked them) and Dave had the Shrimp and Grits. Absolutely the best grits he ever had.

For main dishes Holly enjoyed the Buttermilk Fried Chicken and Dave chose the Berkshire Pork Chop with Laurel Aged Rice, Walnut, Ancho Chili, Pineapple-Plantain Chutney. This was right up his alley. Thankfully, this was a proper southern restaurant and pecan pie was on the menu - again, the best ever.

Our waitress and water attendant were on-game all night (the waitress even told a patron to turn off the Youtube she was watching on her phone) and chef Art Smith stopped by our table to check on us three times. A really nice evening.

 

The Drawing Room's private event was over and we were able to get some seats at the small bar in the basement, this place was all about the "art of the cocktail" with ingredients in droppers and liqueurs we never heard of. Holly got the old stand-by vodka soda and Dave a Blanton's on the rocks. The lounge was nice and quiet, but we weren't in the mood for "art of the cocktail" tonight. We left the Drawing Room and hit another favorite, The Bar at the Peninsula Hotel. It's a real comfy lounge with a fireplace and great people watching. We watched a tipsy couple fight (we think it was an affair) and some girls come in that talked like the #Selfie song lady. After a couple signature cocktails filled with mint and berries we called it a night. We had plans the next morning at The Museum of Science and Industry.

 

Bunnies!

Happy Easter! Here are some cute bunnies to enjoy!

 

 

The Rest of Atlanta

While in Atlanta for the Publix's Georgia Marathon were able to hit a few attractions.

Our hotel was attached to the CNN Center and across the street from Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park. This is where the bomb went off during the Atlanta Summer Olympics in 1996. It's a nice sized area with wide open spaces and plenty of Olympic-related sculptures and fountains.

Adjacent to the park is The World of Coca-Cola. It's a museum dedicated to Coca-Cola the product and the company. Boy was this place crowded. There were lots of fun displays highlighting changes in the brand and our culture over the past 100+ years. One of the best features was The Tasting Room where you can sample over 60 different soda flavors from around the world.

 

As mentioned in our race report we had a chance to see the Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial and National Site.

Our last stop before catching our flight out of town (ok second-to-last since we had time to catch a beer downtown) was the Margaret Mitchell House. This was the home of the author of Gone with the Wind. The house is part tribute to the author as well as part tribute to the film.

We were in Atlanta less than 48 hours and accomplished a lot: lunches, dinners, and drinks out with friends, two museums, one park, one historic site, a rotating bar, furry convention. Oh yeah, and Holly ran a marathon.

 

 

Some other Walt Disney World Stuff

In January and February we took trips to Disney World for various running events. While there, we managed to do some other fun things. Here are some non-race photos from those trips:

We rode the fire truck up Main Street with the popular cast member Barbara at the wheel.

Used our new Magic Bands and decorated them with attachments that come off real easy.

Fed the Off Kilter ducks

A couple new character spottings.

We met Talking Mickey. He told us a story about the Haunted Mansion and asked us to pose like a hitch hiking ghost. Too bad he blinked.

We visited the Princess Fairytale Hall. Just like the Circus meet-and-greet room, this place needs a white balance adjustment on your camera.

Be Our Guest Restaurant cupcakes

Dave's favorite, Inca Kola, now in Club Cool. We are now spending too much time here.

Coney Island Chris performs at the Boardwalk Resort a night. His act is a bit on the twisted side.

Fantasia Gardens mini golf on the hard course. Try to get here right when they open so there isn't anyone in front of you.

Visited Sea Dog Brewing (off property) with a couple of friends. Eddie put the mascot head on while no one was looking.

Dinner at the new California Grill. Our meal prep was not timed well with the fireworks and both entrees were overcooked. Dave sent his back and Holly really should have sent her meal back.

Always fun to visit with Mike

Dave finally had Starbucks on property. Loved it!

Dinner with friends one night at Teppen Edo in Japan and other random fun.

Eddie joined our World Showcase Half Marathon victory lap. We got the special tequila shot in the commemorative glass.

Puppets

Flying baby ride fun and getting photo bombed by friends.