August 14, 2008 Joliet, ILL.

August 14~~~ Coming into the state of Illinois was a toll highway about 10 miles long. It was the only way to get into Illinois from the North, they charge by the axle so we paid $4.50, We see that back here as they pay for new roads or road improvement that way. We are going through another toll on our way out of town between Illinois and Indiana.We arrived at the "Empress casino" in Joliet, Illinois about 4 PM. The sun was shining and it was in the 80's outside, no rain. The campers beside us told us of a neat place to eat in town here, called the Golden Corral. We went there for dinner and it was great, they had the best chocolate frosted brownies we have ever ate with soft ice dream. YUM YUM!!!! No wonder Sharon is getting fat!!! August 15~~~ We rode the train (25 miles) to Chicago to sight see today, we caught a trolley when we got there and rode it quite a bit. There was one seat beside the door facing the driver right up by the front windshield, we sat in it and the driver a native Chicago person, told us what all the buildings were and about them. (pictures) It was the best unpaid tour we have ever had. We have never seen a seat there before to sit in an any of the bus or trolley's before. The driver was so neat, she even had everyone sing Happy Birthday to a sweet little girl about 5 who told her it was her birthday. We enjoyed lunch at Uno's Pizzeria which was recommended to us by several people. We finished up the day at the "Sears Tower Skydeck. (picture)It is no longer the tallest building in the world, it is the third tallest with 103 stories. It was beautiful up there and you could see the beauty of Chicago. There was a lot of old history all over and lots of old pictures and memorabilia about the famous people who are from Chicago or Illinois. We bought some carmel corn at the famous" Brenamins Popcorn" store, it was very good, but not any better than the carmel corn made by Thresa and Ex-Pat. Theirs is sooooooooooo good!!!!!! We caught the trolley and our driver was there again to take us to the train station for our trip home. It was about 9:30 PM when we got home, tired but happy for all the fun we had. August 16~~~Today Kent is doing the laundry and Sharon the cleaning and writing on the blog. We are going to the casino for dinner and a little slot fun this evening. We are leaving for Indiana in the morning.