The Balows Do Chicago

Last weekend, Dave and I had the best time visiting our friends Erin and John in Chicago. We drove down to the Windy City Friday morning. We had an absolutely awesome time. I really wished Erin and John loved closer to Shakopee, but Chicago is a really cool place to visit them. And next summer, Morrison, Ill., will be a cool place to visit too (The Luckeys are moving there next June). I've been meaning to write this post for a week...but the trip was so busy and wonderful that it's hard to put in words...and we did a lot, so I knew I had to wait until I had lots of time to write (so there's your warning this is going to be a long post!)

So what did we do? Lots and lots.

Friday night we went to dinner at a restaurant in Lincoln Square. Then we went to this cool bar that had billiards and bowling. They actually had people at the end of the lanes whose have to set up the pins. Then we went to another bar. We were tired so we didn't stay too long.

Saturday we woke up and went out to eat for breakfast at the Golden Nugget. The French toast I had there was the best ever! (Apparently, they have the best pancakes there too).

There was a Cub's game Saturday afternoon, so we walked to Wrigleyville to partake in the atmosphere. I must say that the atmosphere in Wrigleyville is so much cooler than the area around the Metrodome where the Twins play. There really isn't much that surrounds the Metrodome. There's one bar...then there's just parking lots and the light rail. The Metrodome has a roof on top, so you can't hear the crowd cheering the team from outside the stadium. Not so at Wrigley Field. The sound of the crowd and the announcer oozes onto the street. It think the neighborhood was built around Wrigley Field. There are bars and stores surrounding the stadium, where all you see are people in Cub's apparel. The vendors even make their way onto the streets around the stadium. Dave got a t-shirt from one of the vendors on the street. There were also people selling bags of peanuts. The tickets were too much money for us, so instead we went to a bar nearby and watched the game and some drunk Cubs fans. We had fun.

So much fun that we went back to the apartment to take naps. That evening we went down to Navy Pier. During the summer they have fireworks at the pier overlooking Lake Michigan. It was the coolest fireworks show ever (didn't I just say that about the fireworks we saw a week ago.) But the really cool thing about these fireworks was that the show was choreographed to music! And one of the songs just happened to be one by Justin Timberlake...and that made the show just that much cooler....especially since I was with Erin (the two of us were obsessed with Justin and *nsync during high school.)

Sunday...we just hung out at the apartment for the morning. We didn't eat breakfast, because we were saving room for our fabulous lunch. We went to Lou Malnati's, where we had the best pizza ever. Erin and John recommended the sausage with garlic, and so we all shared a large. I'm not even a huge fan of pizza (yes, I am weird), but this was the best. Chicago is famous for its deep-dish pizza...and this had to be the best ever. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

Then Erin and John took us one a walking tour of downtown Chicago. We saw the Chicago River, did a little bit of shopping on Michigan Ave, and then went to the Hancock Building. Erin and John took us to the bar on the 96th floor. Yeah, that's not a typo. It's the second tallest building in the city. We were lucky enough to get a table next to a window. Actually, the exterior of the floor is all windows, but not all the seats are by windows. The view is awesome (I feel like I am using too many awesome/spectacular/fabulous-adjectives, but everything was so great). There were hardly any clouds in the sky, the air was clear and you could see for miles. According to John, you can see three states -- Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana -- from the 96th floor. Erin had a nice surprise for us at the bar. She got Shannon to stop by and see us! It was cool to see her, since we were in the city.

Not long after we got back to Erin's house, we left again for our next outing. We went to the art and folk festival. John was volunteering at the medic tent. Dave, Erin and I walked around to check out the music, the food and the art. We got some dinner and then I bought my nieces the cutest Bohemian sun dresses ever! I can't wait to give them their dresses (but I have to wait because they're gone camping). Before we left the festival, we got chocolate milk shakes for dessert and then stopped by the medic tent to say goodbye to John. At the tent, we met another resident from Minnesota. Coincidentally, he went to Lourdes high school in Rochester, where Dave's mom went to high school and where some of his cousins go/went. His dad actually still works there. Then we walked home and Erin and I reminisced about stuff from high school. High school was awesome. I'm really lucky that I went to Vis and had such a great high school experience and made some great friends.

So after we walked back, we just hung out at their house for a little bit longer before going to bed. We had to wake up at 3:30 in the Monday morning so that we could get home because Dave had to work. I was happy that we got to stay Sunday night so we could have a little bit more time with our friends.

I will post the photos soon. Probably tomorrow. lol. I think I blogged enough tonight. And I still need to put them on the computer. And I think Dave and I are going to paint our bathroom! That's the first step in our plans to remodel our bathroom! I'll take pics of that too!