Chicago

What can I say, Chicago was amazing! I went with TWO awesome friends and loved every minute of it! The conversation and laughter was just as easy to love as the city!
On Friday we all met at the airport and rode the train in to our hotel. We decided to go "wander" until check-in, with no real destination in mind. We happen to wander down to the Art Institute and went inside to check out the prices. The admission was a little steep, but we saw that it was free that evening so we decided to come back. Just as we were getting ready to go back out, this nice older woman comes over and tells us that she can take 3 more people in on her pass, so to come with her! How amazing is that?? Just out of no where! So we, in shock and amazement, made our way through the beautiful exhibits, and yes, almost had a panic attack when we learned that ALL the pieces are indeed, the real thing! The Institute truly took my breath away!!
After a while our hunger got the best of us, so we headed back out. Buckingham fountain was right there so we went in it's direction. We had fun there, simply by getting rained on from a clear blue sky and chasing pigeons and climbing trees in the park! After that we found our way back to the hotel and then out again for dinner and some more browsing. We got stuck in this bike "parade" i guess you could call it called Critical Mass, which shut down the WHOLE city at rush hour on a Friday night. Motorists were NOT happy, but it was fun to watch. HUNDREDS of Bikers were out riding around the city!
Saturday was more of the same. We started with a boat tour and just wandered from there. Millennium Park was so much fun, that we had to practically run across town to get to 5pm mass at St. Patrick's! It was hot and we were tired when we got there, only to find that mass was canceled due to a wedding!! So off we went back to our hotel to get ready for our trip up the "l" to go watch the Pens game!
Sunday morning came bright and early and we had to say good-bye to Amanda way too early! Lauren and I aimlessly wandered around the "Loop" and headed back to Millennium Park with the great plans of a nap in the sun. We were quickly caught up in the gardens and a couple great shops we had missed the day before. The great lawn was amazing and we spend the majority of our day there, people watching!

Some of the great flowers in the garden!
Amanda did a great job compiling her a slide show that I'm about to share with you of all of our pictures together. Make sure you follow that link and go over and read her accounts of Chicago, because she has done a much better job blogging about it than I have!! Here is the link to the slide show she made, I cannot even begin to tell you all how much I LOVE it!! If this link doesn't work, follow the link above to her blog where the link DOES work!!

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