Quickshot: Tivoli Theatre

What’s up everyone?

This will be a quick look at one of our local attractions.  Today we will be checking out the Tivoli Theatre in Downers Grove, Illinois.

The Tivoli Theatre was designed by Van Gruten and his group of architects.  Its has built in 1928 and opened on Christmas Day of that year.  It was the second theater in the U.S. to have sound, only second to Brooklyn Paramount in New York.  It has a whopping 1012 seats.  Throughout the year the theater has gone through several remodels to give it a French Renaissance feel.  

The Tivoli is still alive and kicking today.  It is currently owned by Classic Cinemas.  Unlike many modernized theaters, the Tivoli has not been remodeled to contain more screens.  It still has it classic single giant screen.  You can see live performances as well.

Over the weekend, we decided to go see La La Land.  The Tivoli seemed to be the perfect fit to see this movie in.  From the first time that you walk in it feels like you have been transported back to days gone by.  As we sat there waiting for the doors to open we knew that we were in for a treat.  The usher opened the door to reveal rows upon rows of seats.  Unlike any modern theater that we are used to.  The auditorium felt more like a playhouse than a movie theater.

Like theater of old, we had to find some seats.  No assigned seats here.  We pick some seat around the middle of the theater.  The middle here would probably be equal to a back row in most modern theaters.  As we sat there watching the the movie pre-show, a trapdoor open up on the stage and a man playing an organ rosed up from it.  He continued to play up to the begin of the previews.  Then vanished back beneath the stage.

The Tivoli Theatre offer a interesting and unique experience.  I highly recommend at least going there once for the experience.  Whether in is a showing of a modern or a classic movie.  And hey, after the show you always head downstair for a few rounds of bowling.

Hope you enjoyed our quick look at the Tivoli Theatre.  Thanks for stooping by.  Until next time.

Josh

Going Cruisin'!

What’s up?

Over the last few years we’ve been fortunate enough to be able to travel on a cruise ship.  Not trying to sound snobbish, but we were able to take two of them in the past year.  Respectfully, one for each side of the family.  

I have come to believe that cruising can be one of the best ways to travel.  What?! You don't believe me.  Well, lets think about this.  You can see a lot of exotic locales in a short period of time.  You have a staff of waiters and crew that are actual delighted to help and assist you with your needs.  Of course, there is plenty of things to about the boat to keep you entertained.

The trick to cruising is find the one that fits your situation.  There is quite a few different cruise lines out there, so do your research.  While you are weighing your options makes you think about, price, duration, and destination.

A cruise can be as affordable or as expensive as you want it to be.  Prices usually depend on the season as well as the type of room that you get.  For the most part, there are basically three type of staterooms.  Inside cabin, outside cabin, and balcony rooms.  Of course, there are also suites and other fancier cabins.  Inside cabins tend to be less expensive, where balconies ten to be more.  I ask myself, How much time do I plan on staying in my cabin?.  My usual answer in not very much.  So personally, I don't think it a big deal to have an outside cabin.  I will say that its sometimes nice to have your own balcony to escape the hustle and bustle of the ship.

Duration is pretty self explanatory.  It just depends on how long you want to travel and I guess the destination, but we’ll get to that later.  I tend to prefer the seven day cruises.  If you are like me, you have a limited amount of vacation days from work.  The seven day seems to give me the right amount to time to forget about my troubles and escape the normality of life.  But theres one out there for everyones taste.

To me, the most important part when picking a cruise is where you are going.  A destination can make or break a trip.  You have to take a look at your interests and what you would like to sees or do.  The first cruise that I had ever went on took us up to the great state of Alaska.  This was an awesome cruise for me to get started.  I have never really been a lay on the beach and play in the ocean type of person.  Growing up in Utah, for me it was getting out into the woods, playing in the dirt, and embracing the wild.  So what could be better than seeing one of the last frontiers.  I was able to see awe inspiring landscapes and experience the history of the area.

Every port of call will have a plethora of activities for you to do.  And Shopping. Oh yes, shopping!  And you will go shopping.  Whether you want to or not.  Most of the time they are reputable places, but either way I suggest a little caution.  There are shopping personal on the ships that help you with any questions and give you recommendations.  There are a few places that you may encounter after your excursions where you will be, more or less, made to walk through there trinket shops.  I’m looking at you Dunn’s Falls.  The people can be a little pushy.  I wouldn't recommend shopping in these places but the choice is ultimately yours.  So be advised.  If you do not want to deal with them just say No Thank You and keep moving.

Regardless of what cruise you go on you are almost guaranteed to have a sea day.  A sea day is when you have a day of travel without a port of call. They usually occur the first or last day of the trip.  But don’t fret, because there is plenty to do on board.  From here i am kind of generalizing things from my experience on Royal Caribbean.  Every cruise line will be different.  For that matter, even the ships in the same fleet will differ from each other a little.  I wont go into full detail here about all the things you can do.  Maybe for another post.  But you can expect swimming pools, hot tubs, bars, gym, casino and a lot more. 

For the next few weeks I will be tell you about our more recent cruise experiences.  Hopefully it will inspire you to see what lies beyond your front door. 

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time.

      Josh

What is in a Name?

Jay Pritzker Pavillion

What’s up?

You’ve probably seen or heard me use the term Chicagoland in some of my post and have no idea what I'm talking about.  Well I’m here to tell you that you are not alone.  I thought it was just a name of a racetrack until we moved out here and learned that its much more than that.

Downtown Naperville River Walk

Chicagoland is an informal name for the Chicago metropolitan area.  The term was first coined in an article in the Chicago Tribune called “Chicagoland Shrines: A Tour of Discovery” by James O’Donnell Bennett.  In the article he states that Chicagoland encompasses 200 miles in any direction with Chicago being the center.

Chicagoland had undefined borders until 1950 when the U.S. Census Bureau established the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).  An MSA is a geographical region with a high population that is linked by social, economics, and culture.

View of Chicagoland for Willis Tower
(Sears)

The original Chicagoland consisted of six counties.  Cook, DuPage, Lake, Kane and Will counties from Illinois and Lake county from Indiana.  Oh yes, Indiana.  Many people don't realize that the city actually shares a border with Indiana.

With the population growth of the city as well as its suburbs, the area of Chicagoland continues to get bigger.  It now consists of eight counties from Illinois, four from Indiana and two from our neighbors to the north Wisconsin.  Chicagoland has grown to be third largest metropolitan area in the United States with 9.5 million people.  Only beat out beat out by number New York and Los Angeles the number 2.  Poor L.A. always the bridesmaid and never the bride.

Cantigny Park

I hope that you found this useful and cleared up any confusion.  There is a lot of use out there.  We are all unique in our own ways but we are all connected to each other as well.  Try to be patient and kind to each other, for we all bare our own burdens that other can't see.

Thanks for stopping by. Util next time.

    Josh

Credit Where Credit Is Due

Happy New Year Everyone!

With a new year ahead of us, it brings us new us new adventures.  We have some fun and exciting adventures planned for this year and can’t wait to share them with you.  We are also excited to share some of our older adventures that we did not get to last year, since I was slow to start this blog.  

So, lets get into it.  

If you know me, or my family for that matter, you would know that the outdoors has played a huge part of my life.  As far back as I can remember, we have been exploring the great outdoors.  We have so many awesome stories that would could probably write a book, but many of them you would shake your head at and say “thats not real”.  Let me reassure you they are true.  Maybe one day I’ll share them with you, but for now it will remain a mystery.  What started out as simply camping with family and close friends has exploded into so much more.

I don’t want to date myself. But! Long before YouTube and social media.  About the time that the internet was starting to take off.  A spark of an idea had been lit in our heads.  We used to watch a lot of motorcycle and Jeeping videos and thought to ourselves “Why can’t we do this”.  We usually filmed the things we did so it seemed logical to use to share it.  But like I said, this was pre-YouTube so getting our content out there was difficult.  We eventually came up with a name for our group and some ideas.  Unfortunately it never got out of the planning stages and fell to the waste side.

The spark never really went away.  Over a year ago, my brother decided to start it up again.  He put in a lot of time and effort into coming up with ideas for spreading our love for the outdoors.  In December of 2015 Route to Adventure debuted.  With “Launch Day! Here We Go” being there first post explaining a little background about them and what to expect.  They post awesome content bi-weekly.  They are based in the Western U.S.  So you get a lot of stories out of Utah, California and all those other Western States.  

I would like to say that this blog was my idea, but I followed those that came before.  If you like my content or even if you don’t.  Make sure you stop by routetoadventure.com or checkout their YouTube channel.  You will not be disappointed.

Thanks for stopping by. Until next time.

      Josh