We spent Memorial Day with our son, Jesse, and his wife, Linnea. They have been living in Oak Park, lllinois, for the past year, the first suburb west of Chicago where we lived for more than 25 years and where our children grew up. We moved away from Oak Park several years ago but visiting Jesse and Linnea there has been like going back to a home that we never really left.
They will move to Burlington, Vermont, next month. Their leaving Oak Park is like another, more definitive departure for us. This weekend it seemed like we were saying goodbye to our family’s days in the western suburbs of Chicago. We ended up visiting three old favorites on Memorial Day: Brookfield Zoo, Emilio’s Tapas Restaurant in Hillside, and Peterson’s Ice Cream parlor in Oak Park.
It was full-summer hot, in the 90s, but nevertheless a day at the zoo seemed more appealing than fighting the crowds at a museum. Brookfield Zoo has room for everybody and it was a short, traffic-free drive away.
At the ticket booth my instinct was to order tickets for “two adults and two children” but I had to remember to kick it up a generation and ask for “two seniors and two adults.” We had no children along as an excuse for this visit—that would have been fun, but we just had to trot out our own inner kids. It was not hard to do.
We ordered the tickets that gave entry to four special exhibits. We started with those and worked in the more standard displays and creatures as we went.We strolled for a long time in the Butterfly House, gathering delight, then found Stingray Bay. This turned out to be a large, shallow pool where you can pet stingrays. You wash your hands and arms and then lean over the edge of the pool and stroke the slimy creatures as they cruise by. A few touches was enough for me but Vic was really into stroking their fins and cheeks, even ticking their bellies. They seemed to like it.
We made our way toward the dolphin show, picking up lemon ices to eat while we waited. It was good to observe that these dolphins had either been brought in decades ago—some were pushing thirty--or had been born in captivity. If you’ve watched The Cove, you don’t want to go to any shows that use recently captured dolphins. They did good tricks. We clapped and cheered.
The Extreme Insects were extremely disappointing. No insects! Only giant insect sculptures, some of them moving, and an indoor exhibit with videos and activities that were designed to make you squirm. It was sponsored by the supermarket chain Dominicks and Terminix. One of the squirmy videos was of cockroaches multiplying and devouring a sandwich.
We strolled through the air-conditioned Desert House (I loved the meercats) and the un-air-conditioned Swamp House and many more. We were hot and tired by the time we made our way past the rhinos, kangaroos, and bison, and back to the car.
We had time back in the apartment for showers and naps before we headed out west again to Emilio’s, where we ordered old favorite tapas (garlic potato salad, marinated octopus, goat cheese–stuffed eggplant) and discovered new ones (grilled scallops, calamari with lemon and garlic). We were about to order a final dish when Linnea reminded us that earlier I had expressed a desire for Peterson’s ice cream.
So we left room and drove back to the ice cream shop that our family used to visit on the hottest summer days. We ordered remembered favorites. I used to waver between black walnut and peach but this time I chose peach. There is something about the flavor, texture, and color of the peaches that makes this sinfully rich, full-cream ice cream even creamier. I would never order any other flavor at Peterson’s from now on.
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