This is an updated entry with more pictures.

I collected 2 travel bugs during my trip to Plano, Texas. For those who don’t know, travel bugs are part of geocaching game. The bug has a unique identification number so it can be tracked. Travellers move the bug around from cache to cache and share its journey and pictures on line. It is a pretty neat idea.

I have moved several travel bugs. A few bugs went on a trip with us to Sweden last year. This past February, I brought one back to Chicago from my Barcelona trip. The one I picked up at Plano called Digicam is from the UK. We also got one near O’Hare airport called Tigger.

Anyway, sometimes life can really get in the way of geocaching: I couldn’t find time to move those 2 bugs around for almost 2 months. Sunday’s weather was cooperative. So on Sunday morning my son and I accompanied the 2 bugs for a brief tour of Oak Park.

This is a shot of Scoville Park, next to the library. We come here quite often:

We watched some Star Wars movies lately and got Benjamin a light sabre toy last week. He’s been pretending to be a Jedi ever since. The sabre is collapsible and has a hook so it can be hung on a belt, very much like the “real” one in the movie. He hooked it on his trousers while walking around. He wanted to keep his identity secret and was pretty successful for the most part.

Here are two shots of the Jedi at work.

We then proceeded to Hemingway Museum, right across the street from the park. The museum, which is downstairs in the building, does not open on Sunday morning. But we entered the building because there was some religious service upstairs so the main entrance was open. I visited here a few years back and probably should visit again. One thing that touched me particularly then was reading one of his love letters. I read the Chinese translation of The Old Man And The Sea awhile ago. I am not sure if I read any of his other works while in China. A few years back I started one of his Spanish Civil War novels but didn’t finish for whatever reason. I will give it another try some time later, but that has to wait until I am done with a few other English and Chinese books I am about to read.

Anyway, here are a few shots of the museum

Travel bug Tigger and Digicam in front of Hemingway Museum

Hemingway Museum

Old style drinking fountain inside

Sign in front of the museum

Here is a shot of a restaurant called Hemingway’s Bistro across street. It has interesting meat/game/fish dishes, probably because Hemingway is an avid hunter/angler. We never eat here before so I cannot comment on its food.

Walk around 150 meters north, you will be at Hemingway’s childhood house on Oak Park avenue. It is also a museum now. Note the two travel bugs sitting on top of the sign:

A shot of the house

The mischievous Jedi in front of Hemingway’s birth place

By the way, there are some great houses in Oak Park. Unfortunately, housing price has gone through the roof in this area, so we couldn’t afford any, even ordinary ones that middle class people are supposed to be able to afford. One person told me that his friend bought a Frank Lloyd Wright designed house a few years ago. Now the house is valued so high on the market that he could not afford to pay property taxes!

Speaking of Frank Lloyd Wright, here is a shot of his studio at Oak Park:

Frank Lloyd Wright home studio

The sign in front of it

I don’t know much about him. After I read this entry on wikipedia, I actually grew a distaste for this guy. I don’t know about you, but his Prairie Style furniture looks like torture devices to me. They are definitely not ergonomically correct and not natural in my eye. Check out this, especially the chairs. They give me a cold and depressing feeling.

A few other Prairie Style architecture here, some are not designed by him personally. They look interesting, but I don’t know if they are functionally good houses. Just my personal opinion.

Unity Temple, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Again honestly, I don’t care for it that much, but it is (somewhat) famous.