J and K Adventures: Off to Chicago

After days of preparation, we finally left for our newest adventure.....off to Chicago and points East!! We got to PDX in time to park in Economy parking, get ticketed and get on the plane. When we sat down, a woman with a chubby 15 month old baby girl sat down across the aisle. I gave a sigh, expecting that we would be treated to a crying crabby baby chorus at just about take off time. It never fails! Instead, the lovely little girl fell immediately to sleep! And even when she woke up was smiling and waving the whole way. What a treat! Thank you, thank you little Ava!

We splurged for the "more leg room" seats, and it was worth every penny to be able to stretch out. The 5 hour flight passed quickly and we landed at O'hare right on time, got our rental car (a tiny Ford Focus) and headed into the city following "Vera's" accurate directions. We got to the Willows Hotel on Surf St. just after 10 pm CDT and checked into the worlds tiniest room. Ok, it is tiny, but has everything we need including being just around the corner from Max's apartment, and being really inexpensive compared to every other hotel we looked at online. And it's clean and neat and the front desk staff directed us to Reynaldi's for dinner.....open until 11 and Jeff said it was the best minestrone soup he ever had the privilege to eat. We watched the end of the NBA game and were saddened when the Spurs lost in OT. Strangely a woman we were watching the game with (a Heat fan) asked to sit with us and in the course of conversation, found out it was almost our anniversary and bought us dessert complete with candles. We didn't know if she was trying to pick us up, or just being a nice person. She was pretty drunk. Anyway, we enjoyed the tiramisu and said our goodbyes and had a nice quiet sleep at the Willows.

The next morning, we decided to go downtown to see the sights. We went to Millenium park and saw the Cloud sculpture (looks like a mirrored jellybean), the garden and a lovely fountain. Then we went to the Sears tower and went to the top. An amazing view from the 103rd floor. Lots of facts and trivia covering the walls but we kept skipping ahead trying to avoid or stay out of the way of the hoards of "rudeus tourister's" - a particularly obnoxious breed that seem to congregate where I might want to be.

Jeff here: After lunch, (Italian again) Kat had to go to Daly Plaza to see the Picasso and where the Blues Brother's ended up on their long strange trip to Cook County courthouse. Interesting art and great plaza with a fountain, perfect for children to play in. What I found interesting is the large number of people who commented on my Oregon hat - seems everyone loves the Ducks, after all as I explained to one Illini, "How can anyone hate a Duck! Max works just across the street at the Burnham Building and met us at the Picasso for a brief hello. We are meeting him at the John Hancock building on the 93rd floor for dinner....business casual.

One observation, the folks in Chicago are a very nice group of people. From clerks to waiter's to bus drivers to the man on the street - kind, helpful and just plain nice. Here are some pix from the day's adventure.