Chicago

Big Mister and I had a great get-away to Chicago the first week of November. It was a perfect vacation and we absolutely loved Chicago.

We stayed at the Westin Hotel on the 14th Floor, which was great. Out our window, we had a direct view of beautiful Michigan Avenue (The Magnificent Mile), The American Girl Store, The John Hancock Tower and the church where "My Best Friends Wedding" was filmed.

Michigan Avenue at Night. See "The American Girl" star all lit up!

The church where "My Best Friends Wedding" with Julia Roberts was filmed.
They say it costs a pretty penny to rent the church for a wedding.

Another view of Michigan Avenue.
The older building on the right is known as "The Water Tower".

Close up of "The Water Tower"
This is one of only a few buildings that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
It's a cool building with lots of history.

We got to tour around a lot of the city. We saw the high rise where Oprah lives. Big Mister got to see Wrigley Field where the Chicago Cubs play. That was a highlight for him.

We got real familiar with cab rides. They are available everywhere, anytime.

We spent one whole day shopping The Magnificent Mile and had a fantastic time. The shopping is incredible with every store imaginable. It was so fun looking and just being in the city and feeling the nice cool, crisp weather.

Many people told us we must have Chicago deep dish pizza pie. We didn't quite expect this:

On the top is another crust, cheese and sauce. Yummo! But we prefer the single layer like this:

Fresh, Fresh, Fresh. This was really yummy, too.


One evening we went out for a yummy steak dinner with some friends and then attended the Broadway Musical, "Young Frankenstein". It was fantastic.
This is not a very good picture, but it's the lobby of the Cadillac Theatre where we saw the musical. So beautiful.

On another day we went to Navy Pier right on Lake Michigan. This is a very popular tourist destination, especially in the Summer. All Summer long they have a firework display every evening. The buildings are full of shops, galleries, eateries and even an ice skating rink. We purchased some famous Chicago gourmet popcorn to bring back to the kids. But, we couldn't resist sampling a little ourselves!

"Squinty-eyed" me on Lake MichiganBig Mister on Lake Michigan

The next three pictures are views of the city from Navy Pier.

You can tell by the number of people on the pier that it is really not the season for lots of tourists. In December they have a lot of activities along with fireworks that bring the Holiday visitors out.

We also got to visit the top of the John Hancock Tower. In the John Hancock Tower is one of the fastest elevators in the Country. To get to the Observation Deck, the elevator entrance is on the basement level. The elevator goes up to the 95th floor in about 10 seconds. It's like an Amusement Park ride. Coming back down, my ears hurt like when flying on a plane.

The Observation Deck has a place where they sell coffee, hot chocolate, donuts, etc. We had a dark, thick, hot chocolate that was the best we've ever tasted. The views from the Deck are incredible. The lake goes on for miles and miles and it is all just so beautiful.

The kids stayed with my sister and mom who live just around the corner. They had a fun time there, especially because she has two little dogs that are really fun for kids to play with.

We're glad we had the opportunity to see Chicago. We'd recommend it.

We didn't see Oprah...didn't want to.
We didn't go into the super duper tall Sears Tower....because it's now the Willis Tower and not as fun.