The Windy City

Doug and I left for Chicago after we dropped off Meg and Cam.  This is our sixth year of taking a mini vacation together while they are at camp.  We spent the first two in Bloomington.  The third year we toured the Finger Lakes in New York and then visited Michigan the past two summers.  Doug could not take as much time off of work this year because of our trips this Spring and Summer, so we wanted to go somewhere that a couple of days would work.  

I had always wanted to stay at the Palmer House in Chicago, so we started there.  It was featured in Devil in the White City and has a rich Chicago history.  It had been remodeled since the 1870s several times, but still had retained its early beauty.  We walked through he hotel admiring the portraits and memorabilia from days gone by.  Bertha Palmer was sisters with the daughter-in-law of Ulysses S. Grant and several presidents had visited the hotel over the years.  It was also within an easy walking distance to all that we had wanted to do on our visit.

Sunday night we ate dinner at the Grillroom Chophouse.  It was across the street from the Private Bank Theater where we had tickets to see The Book of Mormon.  The food was delicious and our server was fantastic.  We made it in plenty of time before the 7:30 opening.  I had been warned that The Book of Mormon was vulgar.  I would agree with that.  It had some really funny parts, however, and we both enjoyed it.  We only had a block and half walk back to our hotel.  It was after ten and we could not believe all of the people still enjoying the hotel lounge.  It was different from our trips previously when everything seemed to close at nine.  

Monday we walked up State street to The Corner Bakery and Cafe.  We chose a table outside across from the Trump Tower.  The food was good.  Not sure how I felt about all of the birds eating the leftovers from the table beside us, but they left when the busboy came out.  From there we walked up Michigan Avenue to do some shopping.  I loved The Hershey Factory Works store and Dylan's Candy Shop.  I found some great items for the Heinisch children.  My find of the day, however, was from the Disney store.  Can't wait to hear how Gabby and Meg like their new shirts!  

We stopped for a late lunch at a local brewery once again eating outside.  The weather was beautiful with just enough wind to keep us form getting too hot.  From there we walked through Millennium Park and took our picture at The Bean.  By the time we got back to our car my FitBit had buzzed as I had reached my 12,000th step.  

We left close to 3 Chicago time.  Traffic was pretty light for mid-day.  We stopped at South Bend to eat dinner at Bonefish Grille.  Doug had a gift certificate that we wanted to use.  We were home well before eight and saw Cal walking by the high school.  He had to work overtime and was out looking for Pokemon.  This summer our trip was shorter than normal, but still a lot of fun.  It has been great taking this time with Doug every year, especially as our life will soon become crazy with the start of school, soccer and Cal leaving for IU.