I promised...
Ok, so I promised Laney that I would post an update of something...so I am going to write about my vacation.
I worked from 6 am to 10 am on Monday the 18th, then got home...showered and met my parents at the airport. We hopped on a plane nonstop to Chicago-O'Hare airport and my dad's best friend (since 3rd freaking grade!), Dave Jarvis picked us up. On the way back to their house we HAD to stop at a restaurant called Portillo's because they have the most amazing Italian beef sandwiches and Chicago dogs. So we got one of each and then proceeded to PIG OUT! (God I love that place...the food is soooooooooo good!) Then we chit-chatted for a bit and then crashed out. The next day my dad and I took my mom down to downtown Chicago for her conference and the we just lounged around the Jarvis' house for the rest of the day and that night I made plans to hang out with Paul for the next 2 days.
So the next day Paul came and picked me up at the Jarvis' and we spent most of the day at the Brookfield Zoo. I got to visit with the people I had worked with during my internship, and I met Paul's girlfriend, and pretty much just had a really good time wandering around the zoo. Then we drove into downtown and I got to have my first real Chicago deep-dish pizza. And OMG it was amazing. Paul made sure we went to one of the true "original" places for deep-dish in Chicago. After that we walked around Michigan Ave. in the heart of downtown for awhile and then meandered into the John Hancock building. It is one of the tallest buildings in the city, and on the 94th (yes...94th!) floor there is an observatory, and since I had never been into an observatory we decided to go up. The elevators that they have go over 20 mph, so we were up on the 94th (yes...94th! lol) floor very quickly. And the views from up there were AMAZING!!! It was so worth it! After that Paul dropped me off at my mom's hotel (cus I was going to stay with her in the city for a few nights) and my mom met me in the lobby. My mom was staying at a hotel called the Palmer House, which has been around since 1871! And it was a LUSH hotel! It was really awesome. It had painted ceilings in the lobby, and marble everywhere...just a really fancy hotel! So my mom and I, and a bunch of her city clerk buddies had a drink in the lobby and then I went up to bed.
The next day Paul picked me up from the hotel and we went to the Museum of Science and Industry...mostly because they had a Harry Potter exhibit! It was a lot of the props and costumes from the movies, so it was pretty neat to look at! I can't believe how detailed they were with everything! After that Paul brought me back to the hotel and I met up with my mom and her friends again and we went out to eat, then went and saw the play Jersey Boys. It is a musical about the life of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons...and I went into it thinking ok this will be cheesy, but I'll go anyways. But it was a REALLY good play! We all LOVED it! So that was a lot of fun.
Before Paul dropped me off he suggested that I get over to the Art Institute if I got a chance, so that's what I did on Friday. They were having free admission (which was AWESOME for broke me!) and I spent over 4 hours in there. But they have SOOOOOOOO much art in there that I didn't even have a chance to see it all! They had recently opened a new modern wing, and I didn't even make it over there! I was too enthralled with the impressionists and the old European paintings! I discovered that I really liked the impressionist paintings of Pissaro. And some of the REALLY old European paintings (ie 1400's and 1500's) still have such VIVID colors in them. It brought tears to my eyes. I was looking at something that was 500+ years old...and it was still so beautiful. Anyways...my back was starting to get sore after 4 hours there, so I had to head back to the hotel. Later that night I went with my mom's group to a banquet at Navy Pier. The entertainment for the night was Gary Sinise and the Lieutenant Dan Band. And they were AWESOME!!! They had so much energy - they played for 2.5 hours straight without any breaks! And they played a really wide variety of music too...from the Who to Janis Joplin, Evanescence to the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy! Plus the guy that was singing was really hot, and DAMN could he dance! So I was lusting after him the entire time I was watching them play. LOL Then to cap off that night they had a special fire works show over Lake Michigan for us. So that was another really fun night!
The next day I caught a train back to the Jarvis' house and we just relaxed and played some pool and ping pong and stuff.
And I think that's more than enough for one post, so I'll stop here and possibly write about the rest of my trip later!
I worked from 6 am to 10 am on Monday the 18th, then got home...showered and met my parents at the airport. We hopped on a plane nonstop to Chicago-O'Hare airport and my dad's best friend (since 3rd freaking grade!), Dave Jarvis picked us up. On the way back to their house we HAD to stop at a restaurant called Portillo's because they have the most amazing Italian beef sandwiches and Chicago dogs. So we got one of each and then proceeded to PIG OUT! (God I love that place...the food is soooooooooo good!) Then we chit-chatted for a bit and then crashed out. The next day my dad and I took my mom down to downtown Chicago for her conference and the we just lounged around the Jarvis' house for the rest of the day and that night I made plans to hang out with Paul for the next 2 days.
So the next day Paul came and picked me up at the Jarvis' and we spent most of the day at the Brookfield Zoo. I got to visit with the people I had worked with during my internship, and I met Paul's girlfriend, and pretty much just had a really good time wandering around the zoo. Then we drove into downtown and I got to have my first real Chicago deep-dish pizza. And OMG it was amazing. Paul made sure we went to one of the true "original" places for deep-dish in Chicago. After that we walked around Michigan Ave. in the heart of downtown for awhile and then meandered into the John Hancock building. It is one of the tallest buildings in the city, and on the 94th (yes...94th!) floor there is an observatory, and since I had never been into an observatory we decided to go up. The elevators that they have go over 20 mph, so we were up on the 94th (yes...94th! lol) floor very quickly. And the views from up there were AMAZING!!! It was so worth it! After that Paul dropped me off at my mom's hotel (cus I was going to stay with her in the city for a few nights) and my mom met me in the lobby. My mom was staying at a hotel called the Palmer House, which has been around since 1871! And it was a LUSH hotel! It was really awesome. It had painted ceilings in the lobby, and marble everywhere...just a really fancy hotel! So my mom and I, and a bunch of her city clerk buddies had a drink in the lobby and then I went up to bed.
The next day Paul picked me up from the hotel and we went to the Museum of Science and Industry...mostly because they had a Harry Potter exhibit! It was a lot of the props and costumes from the movies, so it was pretty neat to look at! I can't believe how detailed they were with everything! After that Paul brought me back to the hotel and I met up with my mom and her friends again and we went out to eat, then went and saw the play Jersey Boys. It is a musical about the life of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons...and I went into it thinking ok this will be cheesy, but I'll go anyways. But it was a REALLY good play! We all LOVED it! So that was a lot of fun.
Before Paul dropped me off he suggested that I get over to the Art Institute if I got a chance, so that's what I did on Friday. They were having free admission (which was AWESOME for broke me!) and I spent over 4 hours in there. But they have SOOOOOOOO much art in there that I didn't even have a chance to see it all! They had recently opened a new modern wing, and I didn't even make it over there! I was too enthralled with the impressionists and the old European paintings! I discovered that I really liked the impressionist paintings of Pissaro. And some of the REALLY old European paintings (ie 1400's and 1500's) still have such VIVID colors in them. It brought tears to my eyes. I was looking at something that was 500+ years old...and it was still so beautiful. Anyways...my back was starting to get sore after 4 hours there, so I had to head back to the hotel. Later that night I went with my mom's group to a banquet at Navy Pier. The entertainment for the night was Gary Sinise and the Lieutenant Dan Band. And they were AWESOME!!! They had so much energy - they played for 2.5 hours straight without any breaks! And they played a really wide variety of music too...from the Who to Janis Joplin, Evanescence to the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy! Plus the guy that was singing was really hot, and DAMN could he dance! So I was lusting after him the entire time I was watching them play. LOL Then to cap off that night they had a special fire works show over Lake Michigan for us. So that was another really fun night!
The next day I caught a train back to the Jarvis' house and we just relaxed and played some pool and ping pong and stuff.
And I think that's more than enough for one post, so I'll stop here and possibly write about the rest of my trip later!