Chicago Field Trip What do you get when you put 23 Valley Art students, 5 adults, and over 30 Cuba Art and Drama students and adults together? You get a GREAT trip to Chicago on a beautiful Spring day (between rain and snow storms)! A total of 63 folks were part of a fun filled day. The day started in the dark of night and dense fog that left many of us missing the Valley parking lot at 5:30 a.m. We grabbed the Illinois Zephyr from Galesburg and arrived in Chicago to sun-shine and light breezes. Many of the kids had never experienced a train ride. We walked north to The Rain Forest Cafe for lunch and the students enjoyed the tall buildings, architectural details, and art along the way. After lunch we gathered a few blocks away and boarded a Metra El for a ride on the Red Line which took us further north to Briar Street Theatre and live theatre with Blue Man Group . If you have never seen their performance live, you can’t really understand the dynamic inter-active musical theatre that is known simply as Blue Man. Someone asked early in the planning why we weren’t going to the Art Institute and I answered “you will get plenty of art at Briar Street.” Their performance was a jam packed 2 hours of musical presentation making fun of 20 th century art and music! After, we were fortunate to have a Question and Answer period with one of the Blue Men, a drummer, musical director, and stage manager. Yes, there has been women Blue Man. The day was rewarding, fun, and crammed with adventures our students will long remember! While they weren’t looking, they learned and experienced a world outside of rural Illinois. .