Chicago

Friday night Bob and I dropped Cecily off at the farm and headed to Chicago.  First time we've ever left her over night... yeah... I know.  I suppose this trip was to celebrate our 5th anniversary, which is the end of April, maybe more just because I wanted to go to Chicago.  *grin*  We could also just pretend we decided to celebrate on my grandparent's anniversary... the Ides of March...

We stayed at the Palmer House- it's a pretty cool place and I've always wanted to stay there.  I mean, this is the lobby:    

 

Notice the green accent lights... yeah... it was St. Patrick's day weekend in Chicago.  I wouldn't recommend going that weekend in the future. 

We didn't get up into the city until 9ish and poor Bob got to deal with me attempting to navigate and playing tour guide- "oooo, there's the Calder stabile, and that building was designed by Mies Van der Rohe, and we need to turn really soon..."  hehe.   I did pay attention in ACS!  And Bob did awesome driving in the city- we drove right to the hotel.    

We headed out mid morning to explore and find lunch.  With tons of people dressed in ridiculous green outfits... yeah... the St. Patrick's Day parade was that day.  So we got to take in the sights of Michigan avenue with lots of drunk people heading to the parade.  It was like Unofficial only times 1000.  ugh.  Oh well.  Bob had never had real Chicago deep dish pizza so we went to Giordano's for lunch.  There was a little bit of a wait, but it was so worth it.  This, this is pizza.  (And Bob didn't know he was in the picture.)    

 
Then we wandered back to our car and stopped in at Marshal Field's/ Macy's.  I don't think Bob had ever been there.  Such a cool old building....  minus the prevailing smell of beer on the other patrons.... gah... did I mention I wouldn't recommend hanging out in the loop on St. Patrick's weekend?  Marshal Field's should NOT smell like beer.  *sigh*  Oh well, still a Chicago tradition.
 
We drove farther north along the lake (and saw the green river) and got parked in plenty of time for Blue Man Group so we wandered around a bit and got ice cream.  I'm really not sure how to describe Blue Man Group,  they're just fun.  I went with chorus in High School and remember it being super cool.  And they appeal to my strange sense of humor and deeply repressed desire to paint myself blue... or something.  I enjoyed it greatly, and I think Bob did too...  

It took us forever to get out of the city- between the traffic and all the crazy drunk people (don't go to Chicago on St. Pat's weekend) it was slow going.  We stopped at Portillo's and I got a Chicago style hot dog... keeping in the theme of classic Chicago food.  We are not into gourmet, haha. 

Meanwhile, back at the farm, Cecily was having all kinds of fun.  Mom and Shelly took her ice skating and it sounds like she loved it.  I am jealous- I feel like I've missed out on all of the things that make winter bearable- skiing, skating, sledding...  due to my delicate condition.  Mur. 

She did not go to sleep very well for my mom- she said she saw 2am.  Yikes!  Silly girl... but it looks like she was up bright and early demanding cocoa (with marshpillows). 

 And she got to meet Petey at Matt and Lena's. 

She wouldn't take a nap for Mom either and was still going strong when we came to pick her up.  She fell asleep almost right away in the car, silly girl.  She didn't sleep in this morning either... I ended up bringing her home from church at noon because she was so tired and stumbling around (and she refuses to sleep at church anymore...).  Hopefully we're all rested and (mostly) recovered from our fun weekend.  I am feeling really stiff today- I am so out of shape and my shoulder hurts from carrying my heavy purse all day. 

So yeah, it was really fun.  I like the city in small doses.  We were both glad to get back to our quiet street in our quiet town.  *grin* 
Blessings.