Living Life On the Edge with Stan and Mel: Escapade Number 3: Chicago

I think I could get used to this travel thing...Steve and Janae's little boy was born on October 28, and I still hadn't met Dave and Nikki's youngest, so I decided that my nieces and nephew needed some quality Aunt Mel time (and of course I wanted to see my brothers and sisters-in-law...). In the process of deciding which flight to take, I saw that there were many stops in Chicago, where one of my bestest friends lives...so I decided to stop there for a few days :) I flew out the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Hope gave me a royally grand time in the Windy City and I loved every second of it!! We walked A TON, which is probably good because we ate plenty of the best eats. Here's the great time in picture form:

We drove from the airport to Hope's place, dropped off the car, and took the "L" to the city center:

I was so excited to learn how to use the ticket thingy...it kinda scared me the first time because it sucked up my ticket, it spit it back out though, phew!

Hope and I on the train

We went and found ourselves some lunch at America's Dog. It might not have been the best hot dog I've ever had, but it was definitely the most interesting one...

Then we started to meander around Chicago, I was amazed (probably because I'm easily entertained...)by the poster ads they had next to the bus stops, they moved!!! And I caught one in motion :)

We continued to meander, but we had to stop at the most incredible bakery with the most amazing banana cream pie I have ever had in my entire life. Magnolia's Bakery, I'm still dreaming about it...

Hope's friend, Myriah, joined us for much of our adventures, I liked her a lot :)

Macy's Holiday decorating and tree:

Bloomingdale's:

The "Bean":

Christkindlmarket (which I loved, it was like stepping into Germany for a minute...minus the random Indian booth...maybe someday I'll go to Germany for Christmas?):

We went to the Cultural Center to check out some awesome Tiffany Glass domes, but there was a wedding there, so we watched the wedding instead...well some of it anyway until someone kicked us out:

Another train picture:

Sunday was a really chill day. We woke and went to church, then hung out at Myriah's all afternoon. It's a pretty small world. Two of the people in Hope's ward I know from other places. One from serving in Boise, and the other from two places: my cousins' ward growing up and BYU. Crazy. That evening we went to a fireside with BYU basketball head coach, Coach Dave Rose, glad I went to Chicago to hear him speak...Our main activity on Sunday afternoon? Coloring (we're really good at it):

It was probably on Sunday and Monday that I fell in love with Chicago. As we drove home from the fireside, the skyline looked absolutely incredible! Monday morning Hope and I went to breakfast at a Swedish place called Ann Sather's. It was delicious, as is evident on Hope's face...but check out the cool Swedish background:

Hope had to go to work in the afternoon, so I took on the city on my own. Riding the train on my own was a little nerve-racking for a minute, but I met a friend and had a nice visit with him until I got where I was going. I checked out the Museum of Art, which was awesome, but I won't bore you with the pictures I took there. I loved the impressionistic artists though. Then I wandered up and down the streets checking out the awesome buildings of the city. I love the architecture there. Here are only a few pictures:

I checked out the Bean by myself (I can't remember the real name of it) I love seeing the city outline in the reflection:

That night we had Chicago Deep Dish Pizza=heaven:

A visit with Hope would not be complete without a good movie like Emma and some matching socks:

Tuesday morning we went to another little place for breakfast then decided to try check out Navy Pier. I REALLY wanted to ride the ferris wheel...I love ferris wheels...we had a slight obstacle...wind. Not just a light wind. Walking forward was quite the chore: