Excess Americana

Started the day with another obscene breakfast, then spent the morning at the excellent (and free) Lincoln Park Zoo. Then we watched the Festival of Lights Parade which makes its way down Michigan Avenue to the Christmas Tree at the end.

It was a lot of fun, but made me glad I wasn't a teenager at an American high school. The distinction between the perky and maniacally grinning baton bearers in well designed costumes and the shuffling, glum back row of the marching band in ill-fitting uniforms seemed to magnify the worst elements of being a teenager.