Saturday, May 18, 2013

Chicago, Chicago, that toddlin' town


Up and at 'em at 5:30 AM to catch a cab to the Seattle airport--not my favorite thing but I survived.  :)  We had an uneventful flight to Chicago, arriving at 2:30 PM with the time change.  Checked into our hotel, the Blackstone Renaissance downtown, and had a late lunch/early supper at Mercat a la Planxa, the on site restaurant with food by Jose Garces.  He's been on Iron Chef and some other shows.  We had a bunch of tapas and let me tell you, they were fabulous!  I think he's my new favorite guy.  I'd like to say that we had a full and fun day but by the time we ate, we were exhausted and really did not do anything but chill out on the first night.


Day Two we hit the streets and walked for miles and miles and miles and miles.  The sun was out and I was happy just to be out in the warm weather!


We had lunch at Rick Bayless' Frontera Grill--Mexican small plates which were also quite delicious but I think I have to say that I like Jose Garces' better.


Frontera Grill


Then we walked all the way to the Navy Pier and wandered around.


Rode the ferris wheel


A couple of view from the ferris wheel


A tall ship


Navy Pier

I had a little bit of therapy with Bob Newhart, aka Dr. Bob Hartley


Walking along the river



A little bit of performance art


I've been having trouble with my phone on this trip--sometimes I can get calls, sometimes I can get texts, sometimes I can get neither.  It's pretty annoying since I got this phone from Alaska Wireless so I could use it at home and while traveling.  I am feeling like I should have just kept my cheap little tracfone which at least worked everywhere BUT Unalaska.  I don't really need it in Unalaska anyway.  Ugh.  I have cousins in the Chicago area so we've been trying to communicate about getting together on Sunday and it's been a hassle getting through to each other. I've also been trying to plan a trip to the federal prison in Terre Haute, IN so I can visit two of my former clients but cannot seem to get in touch with the staff person I need to reach.  I've left my number but I am afraid he can't get through if he calls back.  So it's been a bit frustrating all the way around.

Otherwise, we are having lots of fun in the windy city!  The third day was a little more chilly but still nice enough to get out and walk around.  I will continue with that in the next post!

PS Anyone know why the song calls Chicago "that toddlin' town"?  I looked it up and there are a couple of different explanations!  

2 comments:

Suzassippi said...

What a fun post to wake up to at 4:30 AM. I am not doing anything near as exciting as catching an airplane, just on the apparently never ending roller coaster that follows major body parts getting rearranged.

On a guess, I would say toddlin' town because it was a young city at the time? Maybe just getting started in music or something?

Suzassippi said...

Oh, PS: love that funky chicken!