I was SO excited for Chicago. But before I delve into how much fun I had in the windy city, I should explain my road trip home a bit more. My amazing, though worry-wart mamacita didn't want me to drive all the way home from New Hampshire by myself, so she offered to drive home with me. However, my mom is a teacher and my return would be occurring after school began, which meant she couldn't take off more than a week of school. The solution? I would drive to Chicago by myself, she'd fly to Chicago to meet me, and we'd drive the rest of the way back to Cali together. Hence the reason I had been driving solo through Canada, etc. Even though I had originally planned to do this whole adventure by myself, I learned on my way out to NH with Katie how great it is to have a co-pilot to help with the driving and to have someone to chat with/share the fun of the adventure with, and this was solidified by my marathon solo drive.
Now, my mom wasn't going to be arriving in Chicago until Saturday afternoon, but I got to Chicago on Thursday. Why, you ask? So I could spend time with my friend Kristi of course. My AWESOME program coordinator (who obviously became a good friend) from my time in Costa Rica had recently returned to her home town (Arlington Heights, which is a suburb of Chicago) and I was going to hang out with her and her family for a few days while I waited for my mom to arrive. I couldn't have been more excited to see Kristi and to explore Chicago with her.
If you read the last post, you know I wasn't in a great mood when I got to Chicago because I had been in the car tooooo long, got a speeding ticket, and had to sit in traffic through Chitown, even though I just wanted to get out of my car. But as soon as I got to Kristi's house, she poured me a glass of wine and we jumped into chatting and catching up! This is just one of the reasons Kristi is the best. You can show up at her doorstep a complete mess, and within just a few minutes, you're feeling great about yourself and your life.
Since it had been a long day, we decided not to head into Chicago quite yet, and would just hang out close to her house. In between her traveling adventures, and while in school, Kristi had spent a lot of time working as a waitress and knows the restaurant industry inside and out. For dinner, we headed over to
Tuscany, which is a restaurant Kristi worked at for years and has
amazing food. She knew everyone that was working, which was fun, and I let Kristi order all the food. We shared a bunch of appetizers (including a yummy octopus salad (polpi) and literally the best calamari I've ever had in my life!), an entree, three "mini" desserts, and a bottle of wine. The food was phenomenal and the company couldn't have been better. And, since she knew a person, we got a super great discount! (yay!) After dinner, we went and grabbed a drink at the local dive bar/great bar and chatted some more! We had a shot that tasted like maple-syrupy-delicious breakfast in a glass (mmmmm!) and vodka on the rocks (okay, with a splash of cran and a lime because I'm not that hardcore) but that has since become my new favorite drink :) Thanks Kristi!
Tourists in the Windy City
On Friday morning, Kristi and I got up and ready to be tourists in Chicago. The weather was supposed to be crappy so we packed umbrellas, but the day turned out to be really nice. Our first stop was, of course, the Sears tower (now called Willis tower-so lame). The tower was amazing!
View from the ground! See those little outcroppings? Those are the glass boxes you can stand on in the Skydeck! YES!
Las machitas at the top of Sears tower.
Such great 360 views. Kristi pointed out all the great things to see in Chicago from up above! There is SO much to do here, so I will just need to visit many more times :)
Standing out on the ledge!!
Ahhhh, I'm sitting outside the tallest building in the western hemisphere!!
Me in one box, Kristi in the other!!!
After goofing around long enough in the must-see Sear's Tower, we walked a bit through town and took a bus over to Navy Pier.
Filled with great views of both the beautiful Lake (small ocean!) Michigan and the Chicago cityscape, and lots of restaurants and activities, Navy Pier is a very cool place to check out. One must-do is the Navy Pier Ferris Wheel which was modeled after the very first Ferris wheel that was built for Chicago's 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Kristi had never actually been on the Ferris wheel, so we obviously did it!!
And then we had another delicious lunch at the Riva Crab House Cafe right on Navy Pier. Digging in!!!
Kristi was supposed to work on Friday night, so I was going to hang out with her twin sister Kaley. Literally as we were driving over to her other sister Megan's house (where Kaley was babysitting her nephew), Kristi got a call asking if she wanted to be cut from working that night, to which she promptly replied YES! We ended up chilling at Megan's house for the rest of the afternoon, just chatting, vegging and playing with the baby, which was nice. I ultimately got to meet all of Kristi's family members (except I did miss her grandparents...next time!) and they are all as great as she is. I felt like I had known the Relaz clan for years! Eventually we ventured outside (the weather had taken a turn for the worse and it was cold and windy) for some dinner and a drink, and then Kristi, Kaley and I headed back to the burbs. Kristi and I "went out on the town" that night and had so much fun drinking our vodka and chatting, and meeting some interesting characters!
My Mom Arrives in Chicago!!
On Saturday, Kristi and I had a leisurely morning, and then she came with me to pick up my mom at the airport. Upon grabbing her, we headed into Chicago and our first stop was lunch, aka a CHICAGO DOG. Kristi had shown me the book, "Don't put ketchup on my hotdog" and explained the greatness that is the Chicago dog (steamed dog, poppyseed bun, yellow mustard, onions, sweet relish, dill pickle spear, tomato, pickled pepper, celery salt). I wasn't sure I'd like it but it was
amazing!!! BEST. HOTDOG. EVER. And it was great when paired with a giant goblet of Blue Moon :)
After lunch, we dropped Kristi off at Carnival, the restaurant where she's currently a waitress, and also has awesome food, with the promise of seeing her later for dinner! Then my mom and I stopped off at the hotel (which was blocked off due to a street fair and traffic was nuts and even though Chicagans are the nicest people ever, they are ANGRY drivers and I got cut off and flipped off a few times, but only because I am an equally aggressive driver. what now!) and then we hit the pavement. We walked all around Chicago to take in all the sights....
We LOVED the bean. And so did everyone else! So many great pics!!
We walked by the water so my mom could see the beautiful Lake!
And then we walked down to the other end of Miracle Mile toward the John Hancock building and went past the old water tower (only building that survived the huge Chicago fire - very pretty).
We decided to have a pre-dinner drink at the top of the Hancock tower and to take in the awesome evening view of the city. When we got to the top, they were seating groups of four over groups of two, so we teamed up with the couple behind us to get a seat ASAP.
They were the cutest, nicest couple ever and THEY ended up buying OUR champagne! How sweet and amazing is that?!?!?! (My mom was totally going to buy their drinks but they beat us to the punch!) We really enjoyed chatting with them for a bit and getting yet another dose of Chicago hospitality! (awkward pic, I know...)
After the Hancock tower, we made our way over to
Carnival, which even at like 9 at night was hopping. The wait time for a table was pretty long, but since Kristi put our name in for us, we got a table in like five minutes and had our first appetizers in front of us like five minutes after that! We didn't bother looking at the menu, preferring instead to just let Kristi surprise us with delicious food and drinks! Hands down, this was the coolest dining experience ever. We felt like VIPs from the moment we got to the restaurant because Kristi just totally took care of us. It was awesome. And the restaurant is soooo freaking cute. Highly recommend!
My mom and I went back to our hotel that night as such happy campers! It was the perfect first day on our road trip together, and I had the best time hanging in Chicago for those few days. We were both sad that we'd have to leave the next morning! (It was my mom's first time in Chicago, my second, and we'll both be back for sure!)
Thanks Kristi and Chicago!!!
ENCM
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