Continuing on with our 2025 Summer travels, time to move on to the next place.
Going through security in Hawaii, Ian had really good luck with people who drop coins near the xray machines.
Our flight today is taking us to Chicago, by way of San Diego. It was an uneventful flight from Hawaii to California. Our flight arrived around 4pm, and I guess the San Diego airport isn't all that big compared to some of the others we've been to. We're hungry from being on the plane most of the morning, and the only decent food place we could find was a bagel place!
We grabbed bagels and drinks and headed from our gate (7) to our next gate (11).
Who would have thought that you have to go all the way out and exit, then go through security again. Grr. Guess we shouldn't have got these drinks then.
Hmm, it says to see the counter. We walked inside and... there's no one at the counter. We walked out to the garage, hoping to find a secondary rental counter, but again there was nothing. Walking over to the exit gate, the guard said that the counter was already closed for the night... He's just there to make sure no one leaves with a car. He doesn't work for Budget.
Well, the next bit was a bit of a mess and a blur while we tried to figure out what to do next. Definitely can't do anything from here, so we got back on the rental car shuttle and headed back to Chicago Midway.
From there, we looked for any open rental car counters. Ah, Chicago O'Hare is open. It's about 45 minutes away, but at least it's in the direction we want to go. I ordered a Lyft and we got picked up outside baggage claim at 2:15am in a run-down Prius. The windows inside had fogged over because the AC wasn't working, so we're driving in the dark with fogged windows, and did we take the easy freeway to get there? No, don't be silly. We're driving through Chicago neighborhoods instead. Oh and I guess now we're stopping for gas and a couple homeless people are coming to the windows while we're fueling up.
Finally a little past 3am, we're at the Chicago O'Hare rental car counters. Thankfully there's someone here.
The one-way car T just reserved was a decent price, but for some reason had 0 miles allowed instead of unlimited. Couldn't get that figured out, so we cancelled her rental, I created a new account and got another car with unlimited miles. Whew... this night needs to come to an end.
Here's our car. We loaded everything in, hopped in, and... the trunk refuses to close. Just stuck in the air like that. Not responding to the trunk button, driver's button, or the key fob. Back inside again to get a different car.
It's getting really late now.
Luckily we can all just roll with the punches and stay in a pretty good mood.
4:25am and we've arrived at the hotel.
Up to the room by 4:30am. Everyone was in bed and asleep by 5am. It's been a long day.
We ignored the alarm we'd set at 12, then the second one at 1pm. Finally at 2pm we decided to get up and start moving. Yes we had plans for the day, but we'll have more fun today if we're rested.
At 3pm we've arrived at our designation of the day. Six Flags Great America!
We've been to so many different Six Flags across the USA, but this is a new one for us! We're always excited to ride new roller coasters!
Love these cheap Six Flags passes that get us into every park! This double decker carrousel in front of the big pool really reminded me of a park in California I grew up with, which incidentally was also called Great America.
Before we start our day though, we're hungry. Our add-on meal pass lets us eat pretty much anywhere in the park. We'll all grab something we want, like nachos, a rice bowl, or chicken fingers.
We spent the next couple hours riding different coasters, like Demon. This was a throwback for me too, because a copy of this coaster, also called Demon, existed at California's Great Adventure. It was a lot more bumpy and jerky than I remember!
No stand-out coasters yet, but they're fun to try.
A giant drop tower (227 feet), it's half the height of the drop tower in California. But Alli's definitely gotten over her nervousness, leading us into the line.
The Raging Bull coaster was a lot of fun, and maybe our favorite at the park.
Wrath of Rakshasa is one of the newest rides at the park, opening on May 31, 2025. We happened to catch it when the line wasn't too bad!
Unfortunately for us, someone had a Code V a few trains before we boarded and everything came to a halt. From there we waited while they cleaned off the train, sent it through a few runs (so people hopefully lose track which of the 3 trains it was) then finally we got to board.
And the American Eagle wooden racing coaster was bumpy but fun too.
Flash Vertical Velocity looks and sounds similar to a new ride opening in New Jersey that we weren't lucky enough to experience (it opened later than expected).
Only 2 seats per row. Unfortunately there's a few rows and seats out of commission. There's also only 1 train because the track isn't a loop, so we've got to wait just a little bit.
But luckily we were able to get a couple good rides in.
The park is closing in 15 minutes! Do we have time to ride one more thing? It's on the other side of the park, so we'll have to run!
We jumped around to different coasters, like Goliath, a wooden coaster that held the title for longest and steepest drop on a wooden coaster at 180 feet and an 85 degree slope.
Dinner time! I love something that's not fried and not a burger.
Smoked BBQ'd meat was just the thing. I was getting Country Bear Jamboree vibes in here with the random chattering (but no movement) of the figures on the walls.
We also weren't sure if they would close the line early.
But lucky for us we were able to get 1 ride in...
Then jump right back in line one more time for a final ride of the night!
It's been a crazy 24 hours, but we had a good time today at Six Flags Great America. It's unfortunate that we didn't have more time here, but tomorrow we've got to drive to Michigan! There's more fun stuff still to do this summer!
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