Windy City

Aunt Jannette and I went to Chicago to meet up with my brother's family who was there on business and to see some relatives while there.

All packed and ready to go... everything but the kitchen sink :)

Met my brother for lunch at the Filling Station in Davenport.  It was very good!

We just HAD to make a pit stop at the Premium outlets in Aurora to visit Vera Bradley.  I wish I could have had several hours at this mall, but we were somewhat on a schedule to get to the hotel and see the nephews.  We stayed at the Hilton Indian Lakes Resort.

Wednesday morning we took the Metra to downtown Chicago to meet my longtime friend Diana.  I was a little fearful of these trains, but alas they were quite boring.  It was kinda scary when you are sitting at the station waiting and a different train comes roaring through.

Among the many places we went we had to stop at the Hershey's shop.  We also ate at the Cheesecake Factory.  The avacado eggrolls are incredible.  I was a little hesitant but I will try anything once.  I also had the mozzerella, tomato, basil pizza.  Another good choice.  I don't think I can recall a meal that I have never had some type of meat.  Thanks for broadening my horizens Diana :)

Chicago is a neat place ot visit, but this country girl could never live there.  It made me too claustorphobic.  Tall buildings, throngs of people, cars constantly honking... not for me.

View looking up.  I couldn't look up for very long or it made me dizzy.

Diana and I.  It was so good to see her again!

The bean

Aunt Jannette and I met Andrea & Michael (my cousins, Jannette's niece & nephew) for supper at one of the famous "Chicago style" pizza places.  Note:  the GPS took us to Evanston via downtown Chicago on 90.  I no longer think the GPS knows everything.  IT WAS INSANE!  It took us 90 minutes to go 10 miles... and I got road rage...and I dislike taxis... and other inconsiderate people.  Which is another reason you will never catch me living in a big city.  Oh... and try doing this with a stick shift.  Rant over.  We both decided that the toppings were excellent but we weren't a fan of the crust.  It was like a baking soda biscuit-y type crust.  Not bad, but not anything to write home about.  Maybe I just had really high expectations because of all the hype.

On Thursday, my sis-in-law, the kids, and us went to IKEA (no pictures because I was too busy being completely enthralled by the store).  I can't wait until the one opens in Kansas City!  The boys did awesome shopping with us!  We then went to Lego Land.  They had so much fun!  It was so fun to spend time with the kiddos!

Friday Aunt Jannette & I went back downtown and took the Double Decker Trolley Tour of the city.  I would recommend it to anyone who hasn't been there before and doesn't want to walk 7.5 miles (which is what we did on Wednesday).  They have 13 different points where they will drop you off and pick you up at.  I enjoyed the street performers too.  I did feel sorry for the people we saw begging, with their cardboard signs.  It's really too bad that we can't tell if its for real or not though.  They told us not to give them any money, just food/water.

We went down to Navy Pier and took a speed boat tour of the Lake Michigan Shore there.  It was neat to see the city from the water. 

Then we ate at Bubba Gump's.  Little did I know that I was drinking a $8.00 glass of lemonade here... but I did get a souvenier glass that lights up on the bottom! LOL!

We headed back home Saturday morning and stopped at the Amana Colonies near Iowa City and Trader Joe's in Kansas City on the way home.  We had so much fun and look forward to the next little trip to Minneapolis in June 2014.