Laura and I this year decided to see if we could mix up our Christmas celebration with Laura's Family. One fall afternoon I proposed the idea to them, 'Hey what would you think about having Christmas in New York or maybe Chicago?' Laura's mom was immediately interested and Laura's Dad, the hermit he is was not excited. Long story short we decided to hang out with her family in Chicago.
Since we've moved down here we've talked about having a long weekend up there doing all of the tourist things we could and this seemed like a great time.
We did tons of fun stuff:
We saw the Blue Man Group which was so fun, they put on such an excellent show, I didn't realize it was half 'play' half music. Definitely a great experience that I would recommend to anybody.
Day two we went to the Shedd Aquarium which was great, last time Laura and I went there the dolphin and whale Aquarium wasn't open, and this time we got a Christmas themed show with dancers and a Santa on a Boat and even some really cute penguins along with our Dolphins. We also stopped by the Sears Tower (I know the name changed but come on) We got to see the sun set over flat flat flat Illinois and my pictures from up there didn't turn out so hot. We also walked the Mag Mile a bit, and got thoroughly disappointed on Navy Pier. If you're looking for someplace fun to take a bunch of screaming under 15 year olds that is the place, aside from that it was a major bust, we were just hoping for a place to eat and the selection was dismal at the best. Whew! The fun part came next.
After a long walk and a rumor that part of The Dark Knight was filmed in our Hotel we decided we needed to explore. We took the elevator up to the top floor to take a look around. When the doors slid open pounding Hip-Hop forced it's way into the elevator and Laura and I froze! What to do!? My curiosity got the best of me and when I peered out I noticed that the party was on only one side, so we went to the other. After a nice look over the Chicago River and out of Bruce Wayne's Penthouse windows we decided to call it a night and take the stairs back to our room.
Halfway down we the first flight someone opened the door and shouted HEY! Whats going on? Wanna party with us? I was feeling spunky and said sure! Laura and I ordered some big city ($$$) drinks and danced to some tunes. Before everyone cleared out we creeped out so we wouldn't embarrass anyone including ourselves. It was a bit awkward being the least dressed up, by a very long shot. That was our first full day!
The Next day we hit up the Museum of Science and Industry which is HUGE! To really see the whole place one needs to spend two days looking over everything, which at a museum I like to do. Admission was free and there were some really fun interactive exhibits for kids of all ages. After that we planned on a fantastic meal at what a better place than the top of the John Hancock Building. The food was delightful as was the service and the view of course topped it all! We were looking pretty much parallel with the top of the Sears tower and that was really cool, and since its in a different part of town the change in perspective was really exciting.
The highlight of our trip (for me) was after this though, Laura found a great Wine Bar to stop in for a relaxing after dinner drink. They offered a blind tasting flight and the more answers you got right the more of a discount you can recieved. I chose the white wine flight and managed to get enough right to meet the first tier of discount! I was very proud of myself for managing to sort of guess wine by flavor alone!
I had a wonderful time with Laura's family and are happy we got to mix up our holiday time with them this year. I have once said, I love Chicago but I could never live there. I take it back, I still love Chicago, but I would live downtown with a large enough disposable income to thoroughly enjoy it's many many treats. See you again windy city.
P.S.
I would also like to thank 4G and Google maps for getting us everywhere quickly.
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