Chi-Town

Chicago was amazing! Definitely one of the best Adventure Weekends to date. I sadly have no pictures because they are all on Alex's camera, but I'll post some in a couple of weeks when he comes up for the holidays.

I flew from Columbus to O'Hare after work on Friday, where I met up with Alex and a guy who is on his project down in Texas but hails from the Windy City. Dan dropped us off at our hotel downtown so we could check in before grabbing a late dinner together. We stayed at the W on West Adams, which was by FAR the glitziest hotel I have ever seen. The lobby was like a swanky, beautifully-designed club, complete with cushy velvet couches, dark niches to sit in and enjoy a drink, Euro music, and a disco ball hanging from the two-story ceiling. It was awesome. I felt like I should have worn all black, gotten a really blunt haircut, and started calling people slags and wankers.

We met back up with Dan for dinner at Rock Bottom, a restaurant and brewery, because Alex and Dan had a hankering for beer (I opted for liquor...I mean, it was vacation, after all). Then the three of us walked to Howl at the Moon, a dueling piano bar nearby. Two grand pianos faced each other on the stage, and the man and woman playing each took turns belting out whatever songs the crowd wanted to hear. They seriously must have known every song in the history of the world, or at least every good sing-along song ever written. As we were dancing around and singing along, it made me wish that I had continued piano lessons when I was younger. Then I could do this at parties, and I'd be the coolest girl on the block. Um, totally. Anyway, it was a weird mix of people at the bar, from high schoolers with fake IDs clutching their precious illegal rum and cokes, to white-haired couples who were definitely older than my parents. There was a bachelorette party going on too, and when the VERY drunk bride-to-be started dancing/flailing onstage with her giant plastic male genitalia, we decided maybe it was getting a little late after all.

Saturday morning, Alex and I woke up early and walked down to the lake. The brisk air and the sun on my face felt good and my slight hangover disappeared quickly. I had never seen Lake Michigan before! When we were thoroughly frozen, we walked back towards the art museum and spent the next few hours gazing at so many beautiful paintings. My favorites were American Gothic and Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte, though I am a sucker for everything Monet as well.

When our stomachs began to growl, we headed over to the Berghoff for lunch. The food was delicious, though never have I seen so many fur coats in one place! PETA would have had a heart attack, though I slightly envied how warm those snooty-looking women must have been. After that, we wandered up State Street to go to the old-Marshall-Field's-now-Macy's store. It was HUGE. And also PACKED. I bought some Frango mint chocolate and took pictures of the massive Christmas tree in the Walnut Room. Once out on the sidewalk again, we watched the characters from the Nutcracker act out various scenes on the tiny stages inside the display windows. It began to snow a little as we walked further up State Street and eventually cut over to North Michigan Avenue. We stopped in a few stores, though we didn't buy anything (my suitcase was filled to the brim to begin with...the curse of never being able to decide what to wear!).

By the time the sun set, we had reached Hancock Tower. We waited our turn to take the elevator to the top, where I dreamily rested my forehead on the cool glass and gazed out over the twinkling city far, far below as Alex pointed to different buildings or areas and told me what they were. I had expected to feel like a giant looking down over Chicago like that, but it really just made me feel small--not at all in a bad way, just more thankful that here we were in this exciting, fast-paced city, rich with history and full of millions of bustling people, traffic, and business, and in the midst of all of it was a guy standing one foot away with a boyish smile spread across his face as he pointed out Navy Pier and described his first Ferris wheel ride there. And this guy, this man really, he was mine. He was with me. How did I get so lucky?

The sky was getting darker and the temperature was getting colder by the time we rode the elevator back down. We took a cab to the hotel to shower and put our feet up for a little bit before going out for the night. We had dinner (and many drinks) at Keefer's, where my scallops were melt-in-my-mouth amazing, followed by the 10 o'clock Blue Man Group show at the Briar Street Theater. I didn't really know anything about Blue Man Group beforehand, other than the fact that Tobias on Arrested Development really wanted to be one. And that there was a section of the audience where you had to wear ponchos due to stuff flying off the stage. But oh my gosh! I was SO impressed! Not only are Blue Man Group ridiculously talented musicians, but they are side-splitting hilarious. I seriously laughed so hard that I cried (though all the wine from dinner probably had nothing to do with that, no siree).

Sunday morning, we woke up early again and went to the Field Museum. I love history museums with every fiber of my being. I soak them up. (I am a nerd, remember?) I wish we had had more time to wander more around all of the exhibits, and if we had had even more time I would have loved to go next door to Shedd Aquarium. But we didn't, so I guess I'll just have to go back to Chicago again!

The entire weekend up to that point was fantastic. Amazing. Wonderful. [Insert other adjectives here.] But when I got to the airport and discovered that my flight had been cancelled (not delayed--flat out CANCELLED), I was a little miffed. Apparently the weather was just cold enough for the rain to freeze on the planes, and all of the de-icing was taking considerable time. Not to mention that the fog in Ohio was causing some planes to turn right back around because it wasn't safe to land. The lady behind the counter was respectfully blunt about it when she said there was no chance I'd be able to get a seat on either remaining flight to Columbus that night. They had booked me for a flight that would put me in at 4:30pm TODAY, but missing a day of work was not an option. I managed to snag a seat to Cincinnati, and bless her sweet heart, Janie had some time to spare and drove down (through the dense fog! two hours each way!) to pick me up. I owe her big time. (BIG TIME, you hear that Janie? I OWE YOU!) We finally made it home around midnight, where I fell into bed (wearing much safer pajamas, mind you) and was asleep before my head even hit the pillow.

All in all, though, the flight drama could not mar our trip to Chicago. It was a truly spectacular Adventure Weekend.