Spring break, Chicago Style

An adventure to the aquarium

How’d you spend your spring break? In front of a TV or sleeping all day? While that is fun, you have to have a little adventure away from Big Rapids.

I went to Chicago for spring break to explore.

Can you say you’ve been in a mall three levels tall with over 300 stores? If the answer is no, you need to experience Woodfield Mall in Illinois. It’s one of the largest malls in America. The mall is very overwhelming, but yet convenient with the variety of stores.

Do you like pets, particularly cats, dogs and birds? I went to a Pet Expo at Arlington Park, and there were many animal shelters represented. At almost every booth there was an animal, and there were over 100 booths.

At the event they also had educational and pet fashion shows, and another show called “That Guy with the Birds,” featuring rescued and trained birds. Every bird in his show was a rescue, whether from a pet store or poor pet ownership. A few of his birds would show the audience tricks, play basketball or dance.

One thing that amazed me was the fact the birds didn’t leave their post, though they weren’t caged and their wings weren’t clipped. He trained them to stay on their perch and only their perch. It was an amazing sight to see.

Continuing my love for animals and adventure, I went to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. I’ve never been, and it was a real treat. I felt like a kid in a candy store. They had a huge variety of sea creatures. While at the aquarium, we played a game called “find the cartoon character’s friends.” I just came up with that name, but essentially, that’s what the game was. We found Nemo’s friends and Spongebob’s friends. Along with finding their friends, we saw an animal show featuring Ty the sea lion, beluga whales and dolphins. It was nothing like Sea World, but it was still awesome.

A Chicago spring break is a relaxing and fun spring break.