It Was Bound to Happen...and it Did: 04.2008

Ah, Chicago...my hometown. Ok, it's the city nearest to where I grew up, but hardly frequented. On this rare occasion, Chris and I took a trip and actually spent time IN CHICAGO. Will wonders never cease. We went because back in December my friend, Jessica, was gathering a ton of us to go to the Wrigley Rooftops. It's a bar just outside of Wrigley Field, and for a set price we got to eat and drink all we wanted thru the 7th inning. I tell you, it doesn't get better than that. I'd wager you would spend just as much, if not more, if you were actually IN the park and the view we had was pretty great. See?

We couldn't have asked for better weather, either. Sunny and high 60s - almost warm enough to wear shorts! According to Tammy, it's never that nice that early in the year and she should know. It was her birthday that day. I give you exhibit A - the day begins:

Awww, BFFs on a special day. And the Cubbies won against the Astros, what more could you ask for?! Sunblock, apparently. Yes, as the day wore on little did we realize how important SPF would be. Who would have thunk you could get sunburned...in Chicago...in April. By the time we got to dinner (birthday girl's choice...Ed Debevic's) we all looked a bit overdone. I submit to you exhibits B-D:

This last one is a good example of Chris FINALLY letting loose in front of a camera (he hates his smile). He's had a few by this point and had taken to singing along with the tunes in the diner on his "microphone". He'll get on my case for posting this, but whatev. I think it's great! And don't you just love our hats? It's a must when you Eat At Ed's. Speaking of which, I ordered a "deluxe cheese dog" not really paying attention to what "deluxe" might mean. It meant this:

An entire FOOT of hot dog. I barely got thru half of it and a bit of my fries before I declared my deluxe dog the winner (or should I say "weiner", har har).

It was great fun and the next day Chris and I got to play tourist before we had to fly back home. We stayed in a hotel in the city because it seemed silly to go all the way back out to the 'burbs when we would just have to turn around and go back to the city the next day. Turned out to be a good plan, even though we didn't get to do what Chris really wanted. He envisioned us taking a tour of the U-505 U-boat that is at the Science & Industry Museum, but alas, all the tours were sold out when we got there. I wish we would have known that BEFORE paying the $14 to park, but it's all good. What we did end up doing was going to Millenium Park to see "the bean". It's a massive structure that is highly polished to reflect ("they" say) the entire skyline of Chicago. It's way nifty no matter if that's true or not: