Chicago

"I see no reason to keep silent about my enjoyment of the sound of my own voice as I work." -Muriel Spark

I’ve told ya’ll once before.. If I hear of someone taking a vacation to somewhere i’m interested in going, I’m inviting myself and making it happen! Luckily, this time it was my mom’s vacation I was crashing. I hadn’t seen my mom since my last trip home in late April, so she was excited for me to be tagging along (I think). I flew in a couple of days earlier than her and met up with my friend Jackie. Jackie and I rushed Phi Mu together back in my Southeastern days and have kept in touch over the years. She recently moved to Chicago so I was excited to see what her life there was like. I flew in on a Friday and took the train from the airport to her neighborhood. Jackie lived in Lincoln Park, which was an area of town that I hadn’t gotten the chance to visit yet. I’ve been to Chicago a handful of times but always stayed around The Loop. Lincoln Park was a really nice area! Once I flew in on Friday, I was pretty tired from all of the traveling and work the night before so we grabbed dinner at a place nearby her house and called it a night. On Saturday I woke up feeling completely refreshed and rested. We started the day with manicures because I was in DESPERATE need. After that we went to Jackie’s friends going away party in Wrigleyville, which was another new area of Chicago for me! We went to a bar right across from Wrigley Field and spent most of the day/evening there. That night I went and watched the fireworks from Navy Pier and I am such a sucker for a good fireworks show. Nothing tops the fireworks at Disney, but the ones at Navy Pier were a close second. On Sunday my mom flew in! We stayed at the Sheraton Grand which is right on the Chicago River. Our room overlooked the river so what an awesome view to wake up to! Once we got lunch and checked in to our rooms, we walked to Navy Pier and then did the Chicago River Architecture Tour. Highly recommend to anyone who goes to Chicago, the water is beautiful and so are all of the buildings in Chicago. After the river tour, we went to the McCormicks Place where my moms conference was held and they checked in and got their bags. The conference center was HUGE! I had actually worked in the conference center a couple of years ago for a meeting that I worked with Vitalogy. It was weird but cool showing my mom one of the places I had worked and now she was working there. Probably one of the only times we’ll ever “work” in the same place! ;P That evening for dinner we went to my FAVORITE place in Chicago, Giordano’s! A trip to Chicago is incomplete without deep dish pizza. It was my mom and Collette’s first time having deep dish so they were in for a cheesy and delicious treat! On Monday, they went to the conference so I took it upon myself to do some exploring on my own. I love walking around a city on my own, not that I don’t like company, but I get to do whatever I want to do without there being any kind of debate about it. So I did 8 miles of walking that day! I didn’t realize how much walking I had done until the day was over. I get so caught up in looking at all the different things around me and don’t even realize. I started the morning by going to The Purple Pig, which was a place recommended to me by a couple of people. Now, I’m not going to knock this place, because I’m sure the food is really good.. But if you know me then you know I’m a pretty picky eater. I will (sometimes) try new things, but Pork Shoulder, Pig’s Ears, Pork Liver, and Roasted Bone Marrow (to only name a few) is where I draw the line. Nope, no thank you, maybe next time (probably not) so with that being said I ordered a drink and grilled broccoli. Lucky for me, the broccoli was really good and it was a large portion so it surprisingly left me satisfied. From there I walked to Millennium Park and Grant Park. Millennium Park is where the Cloud Gate (The Bean) installation is and Grant Park is where the Buckingham Fountain is. After I left the parks I went up to the rooftop bar at the London House hotel. London House is right on the river so of course the rooftop had a beautiful view! The weather made it even nicer, a little more humid than LA but not near the humidity in New Orleans. By the time I enjoyed myself a couple of drinks and soaked in the view, it was time to go back to my hotel and meet up with my mom and Collette. That evening we went to SkyDeck which is in the Willis Tower, previously called the Sears Tower. The building is 110 stories making it the tallest building in Chicago and the SkyDeck is located on the 103rd. So we weren’t all the way at the top, but close enough for me! SkyDeck has a glass box that hangs over the side of the building for you to walk out on to. It’s pretty weird because whenever you look down you realize you’re just hanging 103 stories high over the street. After we made our way back down, we went back to Grant Park and Millennium Park and I showed them the Grant Park Rose Garden, The Buckingham Fountain, and Cloud Gate (the bean). After such an eventful evening we worked up an appetite and went to Shula’s, the Steakhouse in our hotel. It was AMAZING and the food was really good! On Tuesday I did some more sightseeing on my own and made my way to the Contemporary Art Museum of Chicago. They opened an exhibit that weekend that I was really wanted to see called “I Was Raised on the Internet”. I had been to the museum before and at the time they had a David Bowie exhibit, so I had pretty high expectations for the new one. If you ever have the chance to go to the museum, go! I won’t spoil it, but it was everything I expected and more. That night my mom and I went to a sushi restaurant close to our hotel and had dinner. Overall, it was a great trip and nice to take a vacation to somewhere other than New Orleans to hang with my mom. Already looking forward to Philadelphia next year!! :P

xo

charli