We Love Chicago!!

Taryn got up early and was able to do a bit of fishing while I made breakfast and then we prepared to leave. Today we headed into Chicago without a real plan in place. Gary had a dream of running along the waterfront of Lake Michigan. He would also love to go to the top of the Sears Tower. Me...I felt the shopping call of the "Magnificent Mile".

Getting into Chicago was great, but parking the bbow was another story. At most places they just laughed at us and wished us luck...without much sincerity I might add. But a Honcoop doesn't give up easily so undaunted Gary pressed on. At this point we were by the beautiful and ginormous (thanks Ross!) Lake Michigan and our immediate goal became to get down to the water.

Honcoop persistence finally paid off and we bot two parking spaces in a lot next to the Field Museum and prepared for the beach. Gary spotted the beautiful path along the water he dreamed of and convinced Taryn to start out on her roller blades. We went along that path and were completely captivated by the sun, the beach, the people, the experience...We walked all the way to Navy Pier.

By this time we were beginning to understand what Traci and Mark & Kels are always saying about Chicago - it is a most amazing and beautiful city! We were blown away by the magnificent architecture of the buildings, the beautiful flowers, parks and fountains, its stunning canal thru the city... Every time we went around a corner we were amazed all over again.

After lunch we split up. Gary took the water taxi thru the canal to the Sears Tower so he could "view the world". Taryn and I walked to Michigan Avenue so we could shop the "magnificent mile". What fun!

We regrouped at a Borders Books several Hours later. We had in our minds to enjoy authentic deep dish Chicago pizza for dinner. Gary wanted an SBC latte so he handed me the name of a pizza place he heard was good and the responsibility to ask someone where we could find it. Now I don't have that "social butterfly" gene that makes a project like that easy for me. In fact, I was not sure where to even start this task but started to walk as I watched him float up the escalator towards the comfort of his latte. I was feeling anything but comfort.

There was a Borders employee across the way that I was initially and hesitantly heading for, but then an amazing thing happened - there in front of me were the travel books for Chicago. Instantly I grabbed one and looked up "deep dish pizza". I had it - names, addresses, phone numbers all written out when Gary got back. We decided on one and then asked a security guard which way to walk. This was great! ...except he said "right" when he really meant "left". Not knowing any better we confidently walked numerous blocks to the right - which was wrong. We were hot, tired and exasperated but tuned around and walked back again.

Pizzaria Due had a line out the door and we had to wait nearly an hour but did get in and really enjoyed our authentic deep dish experience at this Chicago legend. By the time we left it was long past time for any free shuttle options so we had to walk back to our bbow - probably 30 plus blocks back. Altho is was a long walk it was also an amazing walk. We enjoyed seeing this incredible city at night. The canal was lovely, buildings were lit in such a way to perfectly accentuate their architecture, the gardens and fountains were exquisite.

And then we came to Buckingham Fountain. Spectacular by day it was absolutely breathtaking by night! One of the largest fountains in the world it has been a popular Chicago attraction since 1927. At 10 pm each nite the water display is accompanied by a major light and music display. This was going on as we arrived. To our delight the music was patriotic. We were mesmerized and so very blessed to hear the words "America, America God shed His grace on thee" boldly sung. We were filled with pride.

The only component missing from our evening was ice cream. There by the fountain was an ice cream truck still selling ice cream at 10:30 pm. We ran up there all excited looking at the selection when it suddenly hit us that we had but one five dollar bill of left. There we stood with not enough money to even get two ice creams. We began to back away when the man offered ice cream to all three of us for our five dollar bill. We said no but he absolutely insisted. What a blessing at the end of a such a long walk!

It was after 11 pm by the time we made it back to the bbow, and we still had a long way to drive. Thankfully traffic was light at this time of nite and we were able to maneuver ourselves out of Chicago. Several toll roads later we were on our way. At 1:30 AM we stopped for the night near Rockport.