Thursday, September 9, 2010

Labor Day in Chicago

With Alan and I both having a 3-Day weekend for Labor Day, we thought it would be a great opportunity to take a quick road trip. We considered going home for the first UT football game, and then decided that it would be fun to do something a little bit closer to St. Louis. So, we decided to visit Chicago: The Windy City!

The weather could not have been better! We arrived on Saturday afternoon after a 4 hour drive, checked into our hotel, and headed out to explore the city. Our first stop was Millennium Park where we had fun taking pictures of the big "bean" :) We then went to Navy Pier where we ate lunch, had a drink at the Beer Garden, and just walked around people watching. In the Family Pavilion, Alan spotted one of his favorite things...Garrett Popcorn! We waited in a 20 minute line to get the famous "Chicago Mix" of cheese and caramel popcorn-it was worth the wait! We then headed to Grant Park where the annual Jazz Festival was taking place this weekend. We also stopped by some of the major sites in Chicago: Buckingham Fountain, Field Museum, and Shedd Aquarium. Next we headed back to our hotel to get ready for our dinner reservation!

We had dinner Saturday night at The Signature Room which is on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building. Even with a reservation, we had to wait an hour for a window table, but if you're going to eat at The Signature Room- you must have a window table! We both got the surf n turf which was excellent!

On Sunday, our main plan for the day was to go to the Chicago Cubs game. I asked Alan if I could get a Cubs t-shirt at one of the little places selling them in Wrigleyville, and his response was, "Erica, wearing a Cubs shirt is worse than wearing a Florida Gators shirt!" So needless to say, we remained neutral in white that day. Alan and I met up with my friend, Lindsey, and her boyfriend, Cody, at Cubby Bear which is a little bar in Wrigleyville and had a few drinks before the game. We then went to the game which was a lot of fun! Wrigley Field is one of the oldest stadiums in the country, so it was really cool being at a place that had so much character. The Cubs lost (which Alan was happy about) and we had a terrific time.

That night we met up with Lindsey and Cody again and had traditional deep dish Chicago style pizza at Giordano's. It was really good, but Alan and I agree that we both like Stefano's in Knoxville better. After eating way to much pizza, we took a walk down by the riverwalk and the Magnificent Mile and window shopped all the designer stores. I think Alan was relieved that they were all closed so I didn't have the option to drag him into them and shop, but it was fun just to look and see everything. Monday morning Alan took a run and ran to Soldier Field to see it, and then we headed back to St. Louis. It was a quick trip, but a really fun time to get away for a couple days and see a really great city.

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