My plane flew out of Long Beach and I was thrilled to get a window seat. Neal’s work is somewhere down there:

I think I stared out of the window almost the entire time. I did sit by a cute couple who were headed to Chicago to celebrate their best friend’s 80th birthday. The man had a heart attack a year ago and had worked hard to get cleared for this trip. They’d only been married ten years and it was fun to watch them care for each other – especially since she doesn’t like to fly and the flight was bumpy.

Chicago is one of my all-time favorite cities. It manages to feel like both a small-town and a major city. This was my fourth time to Chicago . E has family outside of Chicago so the first time we went we spent our time with them. On my second trip I went with a nine-month-old Will to visit a cousin who lives in the city. My third trip was last year with Lyndsy (my sister) and was hard to top. What I liked about this go-round is that I had time by myself. I arrived Wednesday night and E surprised me by coming to the airport to get me. We rode the train back into town and I unloaded. We had a great dinner at Pizzeria Uno. We walked around the city and had a glorious time just chatting.

Thursday was my mellow day. The boys had been sick before I left and so I was low on sleep. It was heaven to sleep-in, not to mention watch a few episodes of Law & Order (my usual hotel room treat). I walked around town for a while and ended up at Navy Pier. They have a great conservatory so I sat and read my book for quite some time. That night I met up with E and his co-workers. We had a wonderful dinner at some Italian place. It was fascinating! I mean, I was the only woman and these were all big-tough, midwesterny fellows. Listening them talk shop, talk women, talk children made for quite the evening. We ended up at Tavern on Rush. Now this was completely out of the ordinary for me (how many nights am I at a bar until 2am?). They’d been doing it all week so they were all used to it. We arrive and one of the guys whips out some large bills to grab us a space in the reserved section. Soon we’re sitting across from a Chicago Bull’s player – who was also quite the playa. I had so much fun! I people watched like crazy. There were only (besides servers) like ten women in the entire bar versus the sixty or so men. Not being in the scene, but close enough, allowed for great observation! It is not a night I will soon forget – though I was glad to get home and go to bed (am I old?).

On Friday E went down to the convention center to pack up the stuff. After that we met one his co-workers, who is from France, and had a delightful lunch at Giordano’s. His co-worker, Paul, had never had Chicago-style pizza and was delighted with the food.

Eric and I walked down to Navy Pier – which he hadn’t been to in a while. I know it’s sappy- but it just felt magical to have that time with him.

Of course, in total parent style we kept commenting on things the boys would have liked (and I even took pictures of things JUST to show the boys). One of the highlights of Navy Pier was the Stained Glass Museum. I had heard about it – but honestly, wasn’t that enthused. When we saw it though I quickly changed my mind. I always think of stained glass as strictly religious and particularly gothic. This exhibit was exquisite with examples from Tiffany (who knew!), Frank Lloyd Wright, and a variety of others.

We went to dinner at Ed Debevic’s which can now be found in cities other than Chicago BUT started there and Eric had never been. Work that hat baby:

One hot momma:

On Saturday we got up and walked the Miracle Mile. We sat and had hot chocolate & coffee and watched the town come alive. Honestly, you wouldn’t have thought there was a recession watching all the Saturday morning shoppers! We debated going up the Hancock Tower but since it was something we’d already done before we passed. I did get this snazzy picture of Eric by it!

We walked through the First Presbyterian Church which was gorgeous – especially with gray skies:

We stood in line to get Garrett’s popcorn – which we hadn’t had before and brought home as treat for thank you’s. It was worth the wait in line – even though I hear we were lucky because we didn’t wait that long and it usually goes out the door. Here they are making some:

I didn’t got to Wicked – but Eric made me get a picture:

We did tour the Lego store.
The Hancock Tower

Pretty dang cool – and you can probably guess what my favorite thing was:

We were both excited to get home to the boys – especially Eric who had been gone almost ten days. Glad we got to have the trip together especially in a city we both love.