Chicago Trip

Holy Cow! I haven't posted all summer. I thought teachers were supposed to have more time in the summer, but I sure don't! I am BUSY!

In June, BA and I went to Chicago for five days and four nights. This was a huge deal to us, as we have not been away on a real vacation for that amount of time in forever. Also, we went to two baseball games. The Cubs (my team) were playing the Twins (his team) at Wrigley Field. We were both so stinking excited about this trip, and we weren't disappointed.

We went on a radio station bus trip, which might sound crazy, but it was cheap and was pretty stress-free - no driving, no accommodations to make, etc. We left early on Thursday, June 11. When we boarded the bus, it was almost completely full, and we were stuck sitting with strangers half way across the bus from one another. I tried to be pleasant and chatty with my seat neighbors at first, but after a couple pit stops when no one offered to move or make any accommodations for us to sit together, I started getting a little pissy.

We stopped for lunch at the Amana Colonies. I kindly explained to one of the trip hosts (a DJ for the radio station) that our purpose for the trip was to spend some time together without the kids, and being separated on the bus was basically wasting a whole day of our together time. She moved some people around, and we were reunited for the rest of the trip. Hooray!

Riding the bus was much more pleasant when you could go ahead and lay your head on the person next to you and sack out for awhile. :)

We stayed at a decent Holiday Inn with lots of little quirks. When we arrived Thursday night, we hauled all of our luggage up to our room, then went to the bar for a couple drinks.

Friday we went to Montrose Beach. We went for a lovely walk, saw Lake Michigan, and walked down to the end of the pier. We got some great pictures of the Chicago skyline, Sears Tower, etc.

Then we were off to Wrigley!!! BA loaded up on overpriced concessions, as he feels the greasy food is part of the major league experience. After he got his dose of cholesterol, we headed for our seats. When we stepped out into the seats and I saw Wrigley in person for the first time, I got all choked up and got teary. Dang, I wasn't expecting that to happen, but it was just so darn cool to be there.

Unfortunately, the Twins won that one. It was still loads of fun and such a cool experience for me, though.

After the game, we went to the mall and ate at Red Robin then headed to our room.

On Saturday, the bus tour was going to downtown Chicago to do the Sears Tower, a museum, and the Navy Pier. While we don't contest that these are cool places, we were looking to have a break from the bus and the throngs of tourists we would encounter on a Saturday at those sites. So we opted out of the tour that day and set out on our own. We swam and hot-tubbed at the hotel, took a little walk in the rain, and then took the hotel shuttle to the mall. We walked from the mall to IKEA, where we spent hours. It's a good thing we were riding a bus, or I'd have filled the whole van with cool stuff we didn't need. Instead, I loaded up on small-enough-to-take-on-the-bus items. We also walked to a few other stores, then headed back to the mall to meet our shuttle at the appointed time.

We were deadly tired from all of our trudging and shopping-bag toting and couldn't wait to get to the hotel to drink some beers and order some grit, but our damn shuttle didn't show up. After twenty mintues, BA called the hotel. They assured us they'd be right there. After three more calls and another hour or so, a non-English speaking maintenance man finally showed up. We were steaming mad.

To try to make it up to us, they gave us free food and beers at the hotel bar, which we took full advantage of. We also thought we'd give the juke box a whirl, but the six didn't work, and most of the good songs had a six in them. I tell you, there was something or another a little off about every service and area in that hotel. It was nuts.

Sunday we went to another game. The Cubs won!!! Woo hoo! We had an awesome time again, and the weather was perfect at both games.

After the Sunday game, we took a cab to Target to buy a duffel for all the souvenirs and purchases we had made, then walked to a local bar/restaurant called Crossroads to enjoy more beer (Boy, it had been awhile since we had beer three nights in a row! We only had a couple each day, though-nothing like our glory days.) and delish food.

Monday morning we got up early, loaded our stuff, and boarded the by-then dreaded bus. We stopped somewhere near Iowa City at an outlet mall for lunch. Big mistake. Who wants to waste time eating when there's shopping to do? BA must have missed Sophie (Who didn't??? As well as the other three kids!), because I was able to coerce him into buying her a whole slew of new adorable clothes at the Carters outlet store.

The ride home went pretty quickly, and we got home around 5:30 to see Sophie, who had been having a really good time with Grandma Nan and Grandpa Jim. The poor little thing had an ear infection when we got home, but was still pretty good for Grandma. We got to see the other kids on Friday, and we were so glad to be home and with them, yet so glad we had gone. We had such an incredible time and are so glad we had the opportunity to go.