Chicago, Part I

After 5 glorious days of vacation, we have returned south of the Mason-Dixon line feeling rested and refreshed! Even a couple of days of horrendous weather couldn't spoil our time in Chicago. It doesn't get much better than vacationing with your best friend. Walker kept me laughing the whole time and shares my type A personality (and therefore, OCD-tendencies), which makes us excellent travel partners. I took lots (read: way too many) photos, so I can't say for certain how many "Parts" there will be, but here goes...

Our arrival was met with rain, rain, and rain, with some wind gusts thrown in for good measure. Our first priority upon on arrival was food (of course), and what better way to start a Chicago vacation than deep dish pizza? Oh man, the pizza. Deep dish = more CHEESE, which made us happy campers.

That afternoon we took the train (have I mentioned that we mastered Chicago's public transportation system during our stay? Because we did. And it was dirt cheap. And made life so much easier. We were so proud of ourselves.) several blocks north to attend a show at Second City, a famous comedy club that has produced such notables as Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, and Steve Carell, and it did not disappoint. I don't think we stopped laughing the entire time!

We attempted to hit up some local Mexican fare for dinner, and were saddened to learn that people in Chicago do not believe in cheese dip. They have some weird alternatives (i.e., greasy Mexican sausage covered in a poor excuse for cheese), but no where during our entire vacation did we come across the creamy, white queso we are so accustomed to in the South (and believe me, we checked). Ah, I digress.

The next day brought worse weather than day #1, 

so we decided to redeem it as best we could.

Chicago is full of this place, making my husband one happy man (he loves to make pretty faces during solo shots, more of these coming).

Lucky for us, our hotel was a few short blocks away from Magnificent Mile on North Michigan Avenue, home of some of the best shopping in the country (photo taken on a later date when I could pull out my camera without fear of rain damage).

Sunday night we ate here (delicious),

then used our newly acquired public transportation skills and headed out to the suburbs to visit a blast from the past, the Hogan family. For those non-Montgomery folks out there, Brian Hogan was mine and Walker's youth minister during junior high and high school, making a huge impact on both of our lives. His family moved to Chicago the year we graduated from high school, and he now is the worship leader at Wheaton Bible Church. He and his wife Amy's three boys were merely babies when they left, and it was so wonderful to catch up with their sweet family and see and hear how they have grown!

Day #3 of vacation brought SUN, and the chance to finally bring out the camera. Our first stop was Millennium Park...

I introduce you to... the future father of my children...

Let's take a closer look...

Walker lost 15 cool points when he committed this fashion faux pas. Alas, he would not be deterred.

Our next stop was Navy Pier...

Attempt at photo with cool view of skyline, take #1...

Yikes, Walker's hair is tall. Let's try again...

This will have to do. Clearly more takes are not going to help our hair or make the wind go away.

We finished our time at Navy Pier with a taste of home...

For those of you still reading, my apologies for the length of the post. I make no promises that Part II will be any shorter. It will also likely be posted tomorrow, as my week of vacation (and therefore free time) is slowly dwindling.

Until tomorrow...