Sunday, August 19, 2007

Our Night In Chicago

We got settled into our hotel yesterday in Chicago. We are staying in a Suburb not too far from O'Hara airport. Its the morning after our trip. As usual, I'm up at the crack of dawn and everyone else is sleeping.

The gang decided to head into the city as a group. Parking in downtown is a royal pain and train rides can be fun, we took the shuttle to the airport to get on the L.

Here's the group hamming it up on the platform waiting for the train. I started chatting with a guy on the train. He was playing chess on his Blackberry and carrying around bags from the 'Grammys.' He told us the directions we were given didn't exactly get us to where we wanted to go. So we decided to listen to him and ride the train a couple of more stops. We were headed for the Miracle Mile and his directions made sense.

Our train ride was made really exciting by the fact that it malfunctioned in a tunnel. It had been limping all the way from the airport and just stopped. The engineer, got off, apparently, and was "Fixing" the problem. We really don't know what happened. All we know, it took FOREVER to get downtown. 3 HOURS!

The walk to the American Girl store is a long one from any train stop. It is located in the Water Tower District on Michigan Avenue.

We passed by one of mine and Brenda's favorite restaurants, Harry Carey's Italian Steakhouse. Without a doubt, the best steak I have ever had, and don't forget...I'm a pretty strick carnivore.

The girls found the store, unfortunately, we didn't have a lot of time to spend there. The shuttle back to the hotel from the airport had a cut-off time.

Emilea had wanted to go to this store since she heard we would be driving through Chicago on our way to Hampton. Seems there are only 3 of them in the entire country.
The girls finished their shopping and we headed home. Matt was keeping a good clock and knew how much time we needed to make the journey home. Along the way, we stopped at the McDonalds downtown by the Hard Rock Cafe.

The trip home was far less eventful than the trip to in to town. The train didn't break down. Thankfully, my iPhone service has been excellent here and we were able to contact the shuttle and order our dinner...Gino's East Pizza!

As nummy as I always remember it, we finished eating and everyone went to bed. The day was definitely full of twist and turns and hopefully memories everyone can smile at.

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3 comments:

Betty said...

Don't you just LOVE Chicago!!! What an experience on the train! We had 5 inches of rain here yesterday. A lot of flooding around the area and we are in a flood warning. More rain is expected today and throughout the week. Went to Menards and tons of people buying wet vacs. Checked Matt and Tracy's house and all is dry. Grandpa says "Jared, you looked like you were having fun in the All American Girls Store!" Drive carefully.

Betty said...

So many people with flooded basements--including Sharon and Mike. Go to your email Matt to see some pics we took while we were out on Meals on Wheels route. Sharon said she saw a car get carried into the ditch last night by RCC--the road was closed it was so bad.

JT's mom said...

Looks like you guys are having a great time. How is it traveling with all those rowdy kids? Say hi to my future daughter in law when you see her! Have a safe trip.