IGI Gymnastics Meet – Chicago IL

This meet is even bigger than COS (Circle of Stars). This time I wasn’t near as nervous – the area was better, the lighting was better. Nelse had us all set our gear to a Kelvin WB – which really helped with those freaky gym lights, which in case anyone wonders - they flicker from red to green depending on the frequency. 

The IGI meet is on the Navy Pier in Chicago – which sits on one of the lakes – which means – IT’S FREAKING COLD! It snows like off and on all day. We got a little time to ourselves between sessions, as this meet was run so much better than COS.

Rick Perozzi was a little lost in the airport area – picking us up – but with the help of Betty (the navigation computer) we managed to figure it out. I really wanted to ride the “L” like they did in ER. Maybe next time.

There’s really not much to say about these meets, other than it’s long hours, and repetitive photography. Everyone is so tired by the end of the day – it’s not worth trying to do anything (at least at my age it isn’t).

I roomed with nakey marie (if you know, you know) who talked my head off – i thought I was chatty….

I had hotdogs every day for lunch – Chicago hot dogs are really good. We didn’t get to do any sightseeing at this meet either, but I did get to take some pictures of a really awesome stained glass exhibit they had in the same building. The pier is humongous! It’s filled with shops, restaurants – but usually the only thing open when we were done..was bubba gumps shrimp. Oh well, good thing i ADORE shrimp. Chicago has some really cool old historical building that are really lit up nicely at night – remember to take the tripod if i ever make it back there. This meet had a little bonus thing going on – John Maccready and Rothlisberger? were there to do an exhibition – i missed it as i was over doing a level 5 session. I ran into the usual “unusual” people – ones I’ve met on the internet over the year – that’s always so much fun.

Valerie and Diane drove to Dallas to attend UNH vs. TWU while i was gone this weekend. They had a great time – stayed at Sharon and Alex’s. It was fun for D to get to talk with Ed freely now that she’s no longer a “recruit”. They had dinner with the team – D had a good time. I’m sure Val was tired of driving!

Eliteflight's Booth - you can see part of one of my posters there.