Blanketed in Buildings

Aahhhhh. The weekend. I don't think I have ever cherished my weekends this much. Ever. I count the minutes, the hours, the days, and the weeks before school is out. I know the kids are doing the same. At this point I think it's just a matter of tolerating each other for the next 3 weeks. I can do it. But 3 weeks has never seemed this long.

Before I forget, I wanted to tell you about our trip to Chicago last weekend. We really didn't have plans beyond the Eddie Izzard show, so the world was our oyster. Friday after the show, we decided to check out the new Trump hotel downtown. We went up to their bar on the 16th floor to have drinks. The view was pretty cool, but the bar/restaurant itself wasn't extraordinary. We all were expecting something more unique. But like I said, the view was cool. It felt like you could reach out and touch the Wrigley building and the Tribune tower. Here's a picture I tried to snap. I think it turned out pretty cool, even if you can't see what it is (it's the Wrigley building):
Saturday morning, we met our friend Julie and her cousin for breakfast. We went to one of our favorite places, Tweet. Chris and I love one of the waitresses there, because she's really friendly and upbeat. We were so excited when she was our waitress. Yes, I know, it's the little things.

After breakfast, we headed to the lake to meet Patty at her boat. Stein went to watch the Red Wings game, but hung out with us until he had to go. For a day that was supposed to be rainy, it turned out to be a beautiful day. Perfect for being outside. And unfortunately, as you can see in the last few pictures, perfect for a sunburn too. Here's a shot from the dock while we waited for Patty to come:

After hanging out on the dock for a while, we headed out on the lake. If you have never seen Chicago from the water, you should try it. It's such a different view that you get, and one that I don't get tired of. There are only a few places in the city where you can see buildings and the lake, usually it's one or the other.

I love this picture because it captures the sky, the water, and the buildings. This is Patty and some friends on the bow of the boat. We were cruising toward the river where we would go through the locks and up the river.

Here's Patty on the bow of the boat as we went down the river (the Wrigley building is behind her). I joked with her and asked if she thought the trip was 'blogworthy'. She said it was. Oh yeah, it was.

Here are a few more pictures from the trip:

Because Chicago is my hometown, I feel a sense of comfort when I'm surrounded by all the familiar sights: the skyline, the lake, the river. I was "in my glory" as my mom would say, being on the boat. It was a beautiful day, I was with my friends, and I was blanketed in buildings. Nice.

That night we went to a bar that just opened near Chris' house. It's funny because the restaurant that used to be there was the place where my family and I would go for ice cream. They had the best hot fudge according to my mom, who is an expert in such things. Anyway, we had to take some more pictures. These are the ones where you can see our sunburn: The next morning, we out to breakfast at Orange with Rick and Monik. This restaurant now has a couple locations in Chicago, and has received some mixed reviews. They don't have traditional breakfasts, but a twist on normal things. Here is one of their specialties, "Fruishi". They arrange fruit and fruit-flavored rice to look like sushi:

After breakfast, we were riding home, and noticed (how could you not?) this outside the Buddhist Temple:

It was Buddha's Birthday! I don't know if you can see in the picture, but Chris pointed out that Buddha was doing the "we're number one!" sign with his finger. We had never seen that on Buddha.

"...One town that won't let you down, it's my kind of town."