Chicago

   C and I have run away from home for the weekend. Between the stress of the system conversion at the store and some family matters that we have been dealing with over the last several weeks, it was time for a short break.
  We decided that a long weekend in Chicago was the the ticket. We would go and leave our worries behind us for a few days. We would come back refreshed, well rested and ready to go again.
  We started out for Chicago on Thursday morning stopping in Small Town to attend my weekly Toastmasters meeting. C was greeted with enthusiasm. He had joined for a brief period and many in the club remembered him and welcomed him. In fact he was called on to be a Table Topics speaker. At the end of the meeting he was given an award for being the best Table Topics speaker at the meeting.
  We stopped briefly at the post meeting social time to catch up on a few matters.Then we were on our way.
   We drove through Wisconsin listening to music, doing a little chatting and noting some cheese shops that would would stop at on the way back. We paused for lunch near one of the cheese shops and debated getting some ice cream. It turned out that neither of us were hungry enough for ice cream after lunch so we decided to stop there on the way home. They have black walnut ice cream which is C's favourite.
  The hotel that we stay at is in a suburb and close to the Botanic Garden. It's a large hotel. The rooms are clean and comfortable. It's close to all the places we like to go. We got into our room and unpacked. Then we went in search of some dinner. We had originally chosen an Asian restaurant, but overshot and found ourselves in the parking lot of Morton's, a steakhouse. C decided that he would really like a steak and we went in.
   They were just opening for business and we were among the first to arrive. We we seated at a tablet on the edge of a large, elegantly decorated dining room. The server brought menus and took our beverage order. There were many choices of steak and a list of sides to share. Among the sides was my favorite, brussel sprouts. I told C that he could choose the potato and I would choose the brussel sprouts. He didn't look happy. He said brussel sprouts were only good with fish. I replied that I liked them and wanted to get them. We went on like this for several minutes when I finally caved and got the creamed corn instead.
  The steaks were excellent and mine was done perfectly. I prefer mine more on the rare side and many times mine gets overcooked. The mashed potatoes were tasty and the creamed corn was good too although I believe the brussel sprouts would have been better. We decided to get dessert. Normally we only have dessert on Sunday, but this was a special occasion. I got carrot cake and C got a seasonal berry crisp. The carrot cake was moist and had a slight taste of lemon in it which I think came from whatever they iced it with. We left the restaurant satisfied and ready to enjoy the rest of the evening relaxing in our room.
  I spent the evening working on a shawl for myself. I had hoped to have it finished so I could wear it on our anniversary in August, but I'm not getting it done fast enough.
  Yesterday we decided to go into the city. The question was how were we going to travel. The last time we had gone in we drove and it took over an hour. We thought that the train would be faster. C looked at the train schedule and saw that It wouldn't be faster and could actually take more time than the drive. C called down to the front desk to ask for advice about the train. The man he spoke with suggested driving another route. This route would take us along the lakeshore and while it would still be slow, the traffic would be less and we would have a good view.
  We packed a camera and other things and headed out for adventure. We got some directions at the front desk. We drove through several neighborhoods. The houses were amazing. The reminded us of the mansions on Summit Avenue in St. Paul. This was much larger, there were miles and miles of homes on manicured lawns. There were more modern looking ones and ones that had obviously been there for many years. It didn't seem like an hour had gone by when we hit the edge of downtown by Navy Pier. We found a parking garage and left the car.
  We walked along Navy Pier. Charlie got several shots of the tall ships that were sailing. I indulged in a little people watching. Then we decided to walk a bit downtown. We walked along Michigan Avenue. There was a tea shop that I wanted to go to. It was near the Chicago Times building. I love the Times building. The inside lobby has quotes about journalism and the press on the walls. I imagine reporters coming for work looking at those quotes. As am amatuer writer those quotes inspire me to take the job of writing seriously. How much more would it be for a professional, with a duty to inform the public of what is happening in the world and locally? The outside of the building has pieces from other famous places embedded into the walls. The first thing we did was go into the tea shop which was next door. I got a hibiscus tea sangria. Sangria is an alcoholic drink that I used to enjoy during the summer. Now that I don't drink anymore, I miss it sometimes so I always look for non alcoholic versions and try them when I can.
  It started to rain while we were in the tea shop. This created a problem. C had his camera, but not the waterproof camera bag. I was little annoyed at him for this. It had been cloudy all day with a chance of rain. I didn't want to be stuck in shop for the rest of the afternoon. We discussed our next move. It was nearing four o'clock and one thing we wanted to do was get a pizza. A real Chicago deep dish pizza. One of the places that had been suggested to us was Giordano's. There was one within walking distance, but we needed to protect the camera. C asked the gal at the tea shop counter for a small bag. It was paper, but it wasn't raining hard and it would protect the camera until we could get something better.
  We walked to Giordano's. There was a small line. Since the pizza takes awhile to bake, they asked us to put in our order. We did. Soon after we placed out order we were seated. We ordered a house salad. It had the best vinaigrette dressing I'd ever had. I don't even like vinegar based dressings. I happily ate my salad. The we waited for the pizza. I looked at the other diners enjoying their orders. It was going to be good, really good. When our pizza finally arrived I was not disappointed. It was without question the best pizza I'd ever had. It wasn't greasy. C even ate the crust, something he usually doesn't do. I never understood the whole Chicago pizza thing. Now I do.
  We enjoyed another relaxing evening in our room.
   Today we will spend most of it at the Botanic Garden. I'm looking forward to it. Several hours of wandering around lush gardens, flowering plants of all sorts. Time spent watching bees thier thier clear glass hive and maybe even watching the trains in the train garden will be just the thing to soothe two tired souls. We'll be ready to come back and pick up our challenges again.
  But not until Monday.......