After the tour we headed over to Washington park to check out the arch and caught a taxi back to our neighborhood here in Midtown. We took Coco for her afternoon stroll and K dropped me off to get my nails done along the way (I needed it badly!!).

We headed back to the house and got dressed so we could walk over to Times Square to catch How to Succeed in Business with…drumroll…….HARRY POTTER!!! Yep, Daniel Radcliffe himself played the main part in the show, and he was FABULOUS. I’m not even a Potter fan, and was expecting the hype to be bogus, based on the Potter fans of the world gushing at the chance to get to see him in person. I was wrong. He did a phenomenal job. Also John Larroquette, better known as Dan from Night Court, was the other main character and did a wonderful job. It was an excellent show.

Another taxi ride to the Upper East Side after the show and we found ourselves at Amber sushi, enjoying mediocre sushi (I purchased a groupon before we left for nyc). Eh, you can’t win them all I guess.

Al in all another great day in NYC.

Pictures from our day

(click to enlarge)

We were the first ferry to the island that day and it was perfect. The weather was great, the crowd wasn’t too terrible and security moved quickly. Before we knew it, we were on the island exploring the home of one of the most recognized sculptures in the world. The museum in the pedestal was very interesting and the statue itself was breathtaking. The green patina of her copper shimmered in the sun light. We weren’t able to go into the crown (fine by me) but we did explore the top of the pedestal. It was great.

The ferry took us to Ellis Island next. Kevin was looking forward to experiencing the place that his ancestors traveled through to begin their lives here in America. The island was beautiful and the building was stunning. There is an audio tour that takes you through the immigration experience, with photographs along the way. It was a very emotional display. I is truly amazing to think of what people went through, making the grueling journey to the United States, some only to be turned away. We spent quite some time exploring the island and the building but eventually made it back to the ferry bound for Manhattan.

We grabbed a couple of slices for lunch and explored Wall Street. We had quite the architectural tour of the financial district seeing the Stock Exchange, Federal Reserve Bank, Woolworth Building, City Hall and Trinity Church. Then we made our way up to Canal Street, through China Town and Little Italy before catching a cab back to the house.

We were able to nap for a bit before heading out for the night. Kevin walked Coco (if Abby, Sophie or Chance ever find out what we’re doing on this vacation, I think there will be hell to pay!) while I got ready and then we both headed to Birdland Jazz club. Tonight it was Natalie Douglas performing classics by Nina Simone. She was fabulous. The food was delicious and it was a perfect way to spend the evening.

We meandered through Times Square and shopped a bit before calling it a night. Once back home it was one more walk for Coco (not a word to my dogs!) and then the three of us headed up to the roof top terrace to take in the lights before heading to bed.

Pictures

(click to enlarge)

While thousands upon thousands of people traveled from far away to attend the memorial held at Ground Zero this morning, I wanted nothing more than to be far away from it, somewhere peaceful and serene. The plan was to get off of the island and leave the “real world” behind us for just one day. And that is exactly what we did.

Despite having gone to sleep at 3:30am, we were up and out the door before 6:30 this morning. We took a taxi to LGA where we picked up our rental car and headed for Montauk. Montauk is a sleepy beach town at the very tip of Long Island. I had seen this beach in Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind (one of my favorite movies) and thought if it were half as pretty in real life, it would be well worth the drive. Plus, you drive through the Hamptons to get there, which sounded just fine to me.

We made our way across Long Island, heading east for quite some time. It was early and the roads were empty. We drifted on and off of the freeway, checking out small towns along the way. We drove through Amityville, Babylon and a couple of others before we arrived in Hampton Bay where we grabbed Starbucks (they were all that was open, apparently no one rises before 9 in the Hamptons) and headed to the beach. I was so happy to see the white, powdery sand was exactly as it had been in the movie, absolutely beautiful. We explored the beach for a bit before heading to Southampton. We cruised through the adorable town, caught tiny glimpses of the mansions that line the water front, and snuck out to another beach for a quick peek. I had read about the farmer’s market there in Southampton, and decided we must check it out. As we pulled up to the market I thought to myself “are they still setting up??”. It was a sad display compared to the frenzy of the markets back in California. There were about 8 tents, very little fresh produce, and about 5 consumers. We chuckled a bit. Not because of how small it was, but because of how we so often forget that the rest of the world is not like California; yet we find ourselves assuming it is. There is so much we take for granted in the Golden State, and today we realized our farmer’s market is fairly high up on that list. Regardles, we did manage to score some delicious cheese and a loaf of French bread and packed it up for an afternoon snack.

We ventured through the rest of the Hamptons and finally arrived at the Montauk Lighthouse. It was gorgeous. We took a nap in the parking lot overlooking the lighthouse and the beach (we were EXHAUSTED) for about an hour, and then headed out to explore the land’s end. Montauk lived up to its movie reputation, and I was a happy girl. We headed to Main street and found a little café that claimed to have the best lobster rolls around. I had never had one and was eager to try it, and, well, it was delicious. The lobster was warm, and coated with a little bit of butter, then stuffed into a toasted roll. The flavor was amazing, and I immediately regretted sharing with Kevin. I know I will think about that lobster roll for years to come.

After Montauk we headed northwest to Sag Harbor. The cheese man at the market told us they were having a festival up there this weekend, and who doesn’t love a festival? It was the epitome of a small town festival. There were food and craft tents all along the pier and whale boat races going on along the beach. The town folk were out enjoying themselves, the boys counts selling sodas and hot dogs, it was exactly something you would see on “Heartland America” or one of those shows. We had a great time at the festival, but it was approaching 4pm and we knew it was time to start heading back to reality.

We hopped on the highway and made a quick stop at a Costco somewhere in the middle of Long Island. I was sad to see it was exactly like ours at home. Oh well.

Within 2 hours of leaving Sag Harbor we found ourselves back in Manhattan. The clouds had rolled in and it was a gloomy night in the city. But, we had plans for the night and were excited, despite the exhaustion and gloom.

As luck would have it our friend Abbe, who we met last year through home exchange, just moved to Manhattan last week for her new job. She moved into her apartment 1 week before we arrived. Every time we try to get together with her in San Francisco or Tahoe, we can never manage to work it out. But now, across the country, we found ourselves seeing her for the second time in two days! I had e-mailed her a few days before we left, when the guy canceled on us last minute, to see if any of her friends were interested in an exchange. She said no one could pull it off on such short notice, but that she had a trip to Chicago Mon-Fri which meant she wouldn’t be home, and that she needed a dog sitter. So, here we are tonight, staying with Abbe, and Coco in her Midtown apartment. In true Abbe fashion she completely understated her home, saying “it will be clean and have air conditioning, which is better than what you have now!”. When we arrived we headed right to the 34^th floor (only the penthouse is above us) and into her beautiful apartment with gorgeous views of the Chrysler building just a few blocks away. Yes, this will do. (Granted, I’d much rather be on the 1^st floor, but I have Xanax on stand by if needed).

We had dinner with Abbe and she mentioned that she had spent the day in a bit of a funk, and that she thought it was because it was such an emotional day throughout the nation, but especially throughout the city. When she said this I was grateful that we were able to get away from it all for the day and just relax.

Pictures from our day

(click to enlarge)

We started the day late, weren’t out the door until noon, but we still managed to cross a few great things off of our list. We met our SF home exchange friend, Abbe, for lunch at Bule Smoke, a bbq joint down the street. She just moved to Manhattan 10 days ago and is living 14 blocks from us. What a small world! We had a great lunch with her and just loved getting to spend time with her (we’re always missing each other in California, go figure we’d find the time to sit down and visit all the way across the nation!).

After lunch we headed to the Empire State building. We had heard the lines could be treacherous, but figured now was as good a time as any and that they weren’t likely going to get any better seeing as it is fashion week, 9/11 memorial and the U.S. Open….we couldn’t have picked a busier week to visit Manhattan! But, astonishingly, we walked up and were able to literally walk through the entire queue. We bought our tickets and were on the 86^th floor in no time. I had forgotten, since Chicago last year, how quiet it is way up there. There is a hum, or buzz, from the city, but nothing is truly loud like it is on the ground. The weather was great and the views were beautiful. We were lucky because we headed to the south side first and took in the view just as a fire broke out on the roof of one of the buildings in that direction, so soon after we were there, a gigantic plume of smoke filled the air and blocked the view. We walked around the entire observation deck, and then made our way back down. I was ready to go down as it started to get crowded up there and I wasn’t in the mood to wait in line to get my feet back on solid ground.

Once we were back on the ground we grabbed a taxi and headed north to the Guggenheim museum. I have seen this building a thousand times in textbooks, movies and the like, so seeing it in person was very exciting. Though, I must admit, I always though it was bigger! I guess everything looks bigger in the movies? Regardless, we finished our pretzel (had to hit up a corner vendor, but I’ll admit, the pretzel was nothing worth writing home about) on the bench out front. Oh, the bench, it was wet. How did I know? I figured it out when my butt was soaked. GREAT. Oh well. So, back to the museum, we headed in and too the elevator to the top, working our way down. There was an exhibition, can’t remember the name, but I can truly say I detested it. I can NOT believe what is considered art sometimes. I kid you not, there was an piece that was a square piece of metal on the floor. That is it. Nothing else. Just sitting there. ARE YOU SERIOUS?! The other similar pieces had some rocks, pavers or steel rods thrown in the mix. I was talking to Kevin in a voice that must not have been as quite as I had thought and said “…did he get all of this shit at Home Depot or what?”. And, as I finished, the docent looked at me and cracked up. Then confided in me that he agrees and is completely on the same page as I am regarding this particular exhibit. Bah! As we worked our way down it got more interesting, and finally we got to the good stuff. Monet, Cezanne, you know, REAL artists. Then, a very cool modern art exhibit, a huge room with 100,000 $1 bills nailed to the wall. At least I could see the value in this piece!!

We said goodbye to the Guggenheim and grabbed another taxi that whirled us back to our home base. We paid the bills (forgot to do that before we left…oops!!) and then got dressed for our night on the town. Abbe had recommended we eat at Blue Fin, one of her favorite spots in the city. It was conveniently located steps from our theater, so we took her advice and headed in that direction. Another short taxi ride, and a few minutes later and we were browsing the menu at Blue Fin. Abbe was right, excellent food. We shared a tuna tar-tar appetizer, a lobster sushi roll and a fish entrée that had homemade gnnoci with it that was out of this world. After dinner we walked downstairs to the theater so we could catch the Adam’s Family. Brook Shields was playing Morticia tonight. It was great. She did a fabulous job, and the entire thing was an experience; very quirky and dark. Unfortunately I was so exhausted I had trouble keeping my eyes open during the first half, so at intermission we ran to the bar and bought a coffee and a cupcake. We figured between the caffeen and sugar I was bound to make it through the second half. Well, unfortunately, I think I over did it, because now here it is, nearly 2:30am, and I’m WIRED. I don’t even recall blinking recently. I NEVER drink caffeine, and holy cow, now I know why. I can see how people get so hooked on the stuff, cause I have no clue how I am going to pull myself out of bed in 3 hours and make it through another full day without the stuff!

After the show we did some shopping at Times Square, and then started walking in the direction of our house. We had perfect timing and could hear the rumbling start. As we got to the corner motorcycles started to pass by, first a few, then more, and more, and it went on for 20 minutes. Hundreds, if not thousands of motorcycles filled the street. It was wall to wall people and bikes. They were an organized parade in honor of 9/11, police escorts and all. It was really incredible.

It is a surreal feeling being here in Manhattan on 9/11. There is a mix of emotions thick in the air, pride, sadness, tension, and all things in between. The coverage of the attacks is everywhere, all of the time, and you can’t look in any direction without seeing an American flag. Security is high, very high, due to the terror threats, and the police are literally everywhere. Streets are closed down, others have checkpoints on the corners, and there are officers on foot, on horses, on motorcycles, everywhere. It almost feels more like a movie set than anything (like the set of The Town that we stumbled upon in Boston 2 years ago).

President Obama and former President Bush will be here in the morning for the memorial ceremony at the World Trade Center. The families of the victims are going to be allowed to view the memorial park for the first time tomorrow. The event will be televised, starting at 6am. We are hoping to be off of the island by then. As amazing as it is to be here, in this resilient city, on the 10 year memorial, I would much rather spend the day away from the center of it all. So, we are renting a car and heading to Long Island for the day. I’ve always heard of the Hamptons and love Montauk in Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind, so we figure tomorrow is as good a day as any to go explore the beaches of the east coast. Now…if I could only fall asleep…

Our plane arrived a little late today but our bags popped out and onto the carrousel almost immediately. We made our way to the ground transportation area to catch the private car Nicole had reserved. We were told that the Taxi line could be upwards of an hour and that a private car is only slightly more without the line. It was a great choice. Our driver, Jennifer, who her work refers to as JLo, was awesome. She was a super fun, high energy Jamaican woman. She entertained us with stories of driving celebrities and the who’s who of New York while having facial blindness (yes it’s real). Essentially she doesn’t recognize people by their faces so important or famous people get in her car and she has no idea who they are. Sometimes they laugh, sometimes they are offended; either way it made for great stories.

We made our way to the condo we are staying in in Kips Bay. It’s a basic little studio apartment and will work well for what we need. It’s on the 11th floor so it is hot up here but all we need to do is shower and sleep so we’ll buy a fan today; good enough for us. We decided to lay down for 30 minutes since neither of us slept on the plane. That 30 minutes turned into 2 hours. That was fine though, because we both needed the sleep big time.

After our much needed nap we made our way out to NYC. Our first stop, a neighborhood brick oven pizza by the slice restaurant for lunch. We ordered margherita pizza slices which were delicious. After that we pretty much spent the day wandering around New York. We made it to the outside of the Empire State building, Grand Central Station, The New York Public Library, a 9/11 Memorial at Bryant Park, Times Square, and the 12th Avenue pier area. We enjoyed a couple beers on the pier before heading out on the twilight cruise.

The cruise was absolutely amazing, starting at 6:30 we were able to see New York transform from a daytime city full of reflective glass to a city of towering, gorgeous, sparkling lights. The Statue of Liberty was front lit so we were able to take pictures. We made our way to an Indian restaurant Tiffin Willi for dinner and walked back to the condo for some much needed shut eye.

A few pictures of the day

(Click them to enlarge)

Up until yesterday at 10am we thought New York was going to be added to that list. Nicole had arranged for us to exchange homes with a user who lives in Florida, but has an apartment on the Upper East Side of New York, around 61st and 6th ave. He was fairly short in their communication back and forth but told Nicole we were confirmed a month ago. Well, on Tuesday he called Nicole to tell her that he had made a mistake and double booked and that a couple of his employees were going to be using the apartment. He apologized but pretty much didn’t give a damn that we had plane tickets, broadway tickets, time scheduled out of the office etc. None of which could be cancelled. This left us with everything we needed for our vacation except somewhere to sleep…which is pretty important.

Nicole, and I this time, went into panic mode and started contacting anyone we could on either Home Exchange or VRBO (Vacation Rentals) to find a home. Nicole emailed upwards of 50 exchanges and another 25+ VRBOs to see if anyone had a home available. She tried to get a priceline hotel for under $200/night but was unable and also emailed our friend Abbe from San Francisco, who just moved to New York, to see if she knew anyone in New York that would exchange with us. She even called Home Exchange to see if they could help. The Home Exchange emails and VRBOs turned up very little other than “We are so sorry this happened, what a jack ass, our apartment is booked”. What did turn up? Abbe and the Vice President of Home Exchange.

Amazing People To The Rescue

First, Abbe. What an amazing friend. She offered to let us sleep in her apartment, even on an Aero bed, while she worked all week. She had no problem letting us completely invade her life. She also realized that she would be out of town the week we were there so after a few days we could have the apartment to ourselves. While we may have to watch Coco, her sweet little dog, at least we had an option. Next, a call from the Vice President of Home Exchange. He felt terrible about what had happened and had found one of their employees who had a home in New York available. Their programmer spends half his time in New York and half in California. Luck would have it that hew was leaving on Friday, the same day we were arriving. He hadn’t rented his apartment out so he was overly generous and told us we could use it while he was away.

What an amazing turn of luck. Abbe, Home Exchange, and their employee DJ have gone above and beyond to do their best to get us to New York without an added cost of a hotel room.

Just a few more hours of sleep, work and packing and off we go. Thanks to everyone who stepped up, our trip wouldn’t have happened without you!

Okay, I just finished our blog from yesterday. Now, to get today down and I’ll be all caught up!

It is now 3:30 in the morning, so try to hang in there with me. I hope this all comes across in English, but I make no promises.

We crawled out of bed this morning for just enough time to confirm that our feet were bruised on the bottoms. Yesterday took a toll on us and we weren’t ready to face the day just yet. Thankfully we didn’t have any morning plans, and so we laid in bed and watched the rain pour down and the bolts of lightning streak across the sky. Once we were ready to emerge for the day the rain had let up and we headed north again, this time to a little diner a few blocks away. I was craving eggs benedict, and this place delivered.

After breakfast we hopped on the El train to head to the south area and check out the college, a frank lloyd wirght house and maybe some other things. BUT a combination of motionsickness and some rough looking people/projects that our train was going through had us turning back before we made it all the way south. I didn’t realize the EL train would move so much more than the Subway, but that thing rocked back and forth and made me one miserable girl in no time. So, we hopped on the train going the opposite direction and headed into downtown. We went to Pfitzer park and checked out the giant eyeball. Very cool. Kind of creepy, but cool none the less. Then we hit up a dunkin’ donuts, a drug store for motionsickness pills and a gas station for gingerale. I figured ONE of those three things had to cure me!

We spent the afternoon checking out Downtown, (OMG, I’ve never seen Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and it just came on the TV…and it is in Chicago! I’m looking at exactly where we were today! So cool!!!), we did some shopping and then headed back to the house to rest up before Dave part Deux.

Now, we didn’t have the up close and personal general admission tickets for this show…instead we were in section 216, otherwise known as BFE. Thankfully we had insurance, and weaseled our way back into the gen admission section! We weren’t as close as the previous night, but we also got there right at showtime and were just happy to be in gen. admission at all!

Jason was good, again. Then it was time for Dave. My fingers were crossed. PLEEEEEEEEASE DAVE, we traveled 2k miles, show us what you’ve got!!! He came out, and started the show on a strong note, good song, good energy…and then…it just kept getting BETTER! The show tonight, AMAZING! Easily the best we’ve ever seen. He played so many great songs and was 100% into it. We’ve seen him on his last night on tour before and his whole demeanor changes. It is kind of like the last day of school…before you graduate. So happy to be done, but so hard to say goodbye. Dave sang, and danced, and played his guitars, and sang some more. The really cool thing about this show, and about being in the gen admission section (this show sold out in less than 5 minutes) was that we were surrounded by his fans. His real, honest to goodness, fans. At one point he played the very beginning of a song, and before he could start singing, the audience belted out the lyrics and sang the ENTIRE song to Dave as he played. It was beyond cool!!! His face was priceless, he was just in awe. It was PHENOMENAL!!! The whole show was excellent and I’d do it all again in a heartbeat!

After Dave said goodbye and the lights came on a guy approached us asking if we’d e-mail him some of the pictures I had been taking. We said of course and got his info. He thanked us profusely, we talked about Dave, how good the show was, and other small talk and then he said “you guys wanna grab a beer or something with us?”. US was him, his wife, and another couple they were with. We said “sure” (we knew we had nowhere to go after the previous night of people-gridlock). So, we followed them to a reggae bar down the street. We got in, no cover charge (I think it was their “white guy discount” cause we were the only white people in there!! Hahaha) and they bought the first round. We listened to the music, danced, drank and moved on down the road. Next we ducked into an Irish pub and scored a sweet corner spot, and then a table with room for everyone. It was perfect. John and Courtney are from New Jersey and Gretchen and Dave are from Pennsylvenia (I think, I’m really sleepy). We also met up with Josh, a kid they met the previous night who had driven up from Memphis for the shows. The seven of us sat, drank, talked and had a BLAST. We drank until the bar closed…which is 3am out here. What a fun group of people!! I love when nights work out like that, nothing you could have expected or planned on, but awesome none the less!! We exchanged info, and all promised to keep in touch.

Now, we’re finally home, exhausted, sore, tired and totally happy. Kevin is passed out and I’m ready to join him!

I can’t help but wonder where Dave is this evening and if he’s thinking of me too.

I’m writing this on September 18th, well, 19th technically. It is 3am and I’m ready for bed, but I’ve sadly fallen behind on my blogging, so I’m going to try to play catch up right now!

On Friday we decided to lay pretty low because we were going to have a long night on our feet at our concert. We left the house just before one and walked north to Oz Park which is created in honor of the creator of Wiz. of Oz, or something like that. Cute little neighborhood park with sculptures of Dorothy, Toto, Scarecrow and Tin Man. We went through Oz park and then over to Lincoln park. Lincoln park is big, and has a free zoo smack dab in the middle. We perused the zoo, saw some cool critters, giant spiders, giraffes, meerkats, rhinos, bears, seals, and other things here and there. It was really neat to see all of these exhibits just in the middle of the park, just stroll through, say hi to a polar bear, and be on your way!

There is also a large flower conservatory that we walked through before deciding it was time for lunch. Lucky for us, America’s Dog was just down the street. We hit up our new favorite spot for 2 dogs, a Chicago dog and a Regular dog plus pickle (Kevin was living on the edge!) and a heap of curly fries. YUMMY!

After our dogs we walked back down to the house, changed our clothes, and headed out to Wrigleyville. We’re about 3 miles south of Wrigley Field and decided to hop on the Subway to get to the park. We weren’t the only ones with this idea! The two billion Dave fans all seemed to be on the subway as well as all of the commuters just trying to get home from work (yes, we headed out at 5, later than we had hoped). We couldn’t squeeze on the first train, but luckily forced our way onto the second.

Once at Wrigleyville we joined the sea of people and floated along Addison Street to the front of the stadium. There is a web cam there, so we stopped to wave at Angela and Jordan who were waiting on their computer at home to see us. Technology is so cool!

You don’t really realize how big a ballpark is until you’re standing in center field! We joined the other loyal fans down in the general admission pit and were fairly close considering what a late start we had gotten. I’d say we were 60 or 70 feet from Dave. Would I have liked to be closer? Of course. Heck…even if I were sitting on the stage with him…I’d STILL want to be closer. But as far as concerts go, I was closer than I had ever been before!

Jason came out first. He cracks me up. Such a free spirit. Bare feet, tea and cantaloupe sitting on stage waiting for him. And, holy crap, can that boy sing! He was charming, entertaining, sweet, talented, and I loved seeing him!! After about 45 minutes he cleared the way for Dave. The crew came in and made the appropriate changes. 45 minutes after Jason left, Dave began. Oh happy day!

Now, I hate to be a Debbie Downer, and even though I’d be happy listening to Dave sing the ABC’s to me, I have to say that the show, Dave’s show, wasn’t all I had hoped and prayed for. It was, lackluster. He seemed tired, drunk, hungover…maybe all of those things combined?! I mean, the crew is talented, and Dave is, well, DAVE. But both Kevin and I left the show that night feeling like something was just missing. Oh well. What could we do? Just hope for better stuff tomorrow!

After the concert THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of drunk Dave fans poured out into the streets of Wrigleyville. We joined them, as we had no other choice, and walked down the street in the direction of our house. We walked until our feet could carry us no furthur, and then we ducked into a Mexican restaurant and sat on the patio. Long story short our waiter was drunk, forgot our order numerous times, brought me a salad and then asked “what, you want dressing with that?” but eventually we got our food, it was good, our feet were rested, and we were ready to finish the journey home. Luckily we stumbled upon a taxi dumping drunk people off somewhere, and so we hopped in and were home in no time at all. Exhausted, sore, and wondering how we were going to do it all again in 20 hours we called it a night.

We awoke this morning to a cloudy sky that soon opened up and dumped rain on the city. Thankfully we were still in bed when this happened and not walking the streets yet. We finally crawled out of bed at 9:30 and decided to take the subway down to the John Hancock center (the 3rd tallest building in Chicago) which is at the beginning of the Magnificent Mile (one mile of supreme shopping and sightseeing).

Once out the door the rain had subsided and it was just below 70* with blue sky peeking through the clouds. The subway dumped us out just a few blocks from John Hancock and the moment I got a glimpse of the building my palms started to sweat. Kevin knew he was going to head to the top, and I had considered it yesterday, when I had viewed the building from 2 or so miles away, but suddenly it looked a lot bigger than I had realized!

We headed down to the lobby (we passed a church that looked like a mini-Notre Dame on the way along with other amazing bulidings, Chicago is an architects dream!!) of the Hancock Observatory and it was virtually empty! No line, just buy your tickets and head on up. Crap. That meant I had to make a decision then and there. After about 5 minutes of going back and forth, arguing with myself, shaking, etc, I decided I could NOT do it. I was too afraid and felt sick. So Kevin bought a ticket, grabbed the camera and headed up on his own.

I stood in the lobby feeling beyond disappointed in myself. It was like the London Eye and the Eiffel Tower all over again. Epic FAIL! I tried to reason with myself, “it is safe, it is fine, etc…” as did the lady at the ticket counter “you’ll be fine, the elevator is fast, the space is wide open…”. Then, as I stood there I remembered my new favorite quote “If you can’t, you MUST”. It took me about 10 minutes of repeating the quote to myself…but eventually I ran up to the ticket counter, threw down my credit card and said “hurry up, before I change my mind!!!”. Kevin had texted me from the top telling me how amazing it was and offering to come back down to get me. I told him to stay put, and that I didn’t want him to do that.

So, there I was, all alone, big girl panties in hand, heading up to the 94th floor allllll by myself. I got in line, and waited for the elevator. The attendant asked me how I was doing, I said “crappy, I really don’t want to do this!!!” and he laughed at me. I felt like I was getting on Tower of Terror all over again! He reminded me that the elevator is the fastest in the nation and that I’d be at the 94th floor in only 40 seconds! I’m not sure that helped his case.

Thankfully three other people got in line so I wouldn’t be making the journey alone. Turns out the couple was from San Diego, were super nice, and willing to talk to me the entire 40 seconds to keep my mind off of the trip. The attendant hadn’t lied. The elevator was FAST. My ears popped half way up, then again, then again. We were moving! When we got to the top the doors opened and all I could do was focus on looking for Kevin. I forced myself to NOT look out the windows, and I just scanned the room. It is a giant “doughnut” room, 360* views, and I couldn’t find him ANYWHERE. So I decided to walk around the building. NOTHING! I freaked out. Called his cell. No service. WTF?! Was he in the lobby!?! I headed back to the elevator and spotted him around the corner. RELIEF! He was staring out the window and I ran up and grabbed his back, he turned around and I SWEAR to you I haven’t seen him look at me like that since the day I walked down that hot, hot aisle in Vegas. Heck, he may have been even MORE impressed that I showed up on THIS day!!! I did it. And you know what, it was beyond amazing up there. The view of Chicago is unlike any other. We spent at least 45 minutes working our way around the observatory, spending a lot of time looking in each direction. It was spectacular.

We headed back down to earth, hungry and ready to shop. We perused the Mag Mile for a big, hit H&M, Forever 21, Columbia, and some others and then were starving and had to eat. We stumbled upon this great place called “Soupbox”. A huge variety of fresh soup and salad, both for $11! We walked in and the place smelled fabulous. We had a few samples, Red Lentil and Veggie Soup, Beef Stew, Chicken Tortilla, Potato and White Cheddar….how does one decide?! Well, then we tried the clam chowder, WINNER! Two bread bowls of soup and side salads please!

After lunch we finished walking the Mag Mile. It was fun, but not necessarily Mag. We decided that it would have been more Mag had our budget allowed us to shop to our hearts content, but we had bigger and better things to spend our money on (food, duh) so we left the Mile empty handed and headed to Downtown.

We crossed Michigan St. Bridge and walked along the river down Wacker Drive. I can’t tell you how beautiful this city is. I had pictured it as crowded, dirty and full of brash people, but none of this is true! The city is practically spotless, beautiful and everyone we have encountered is beyond friendly. I <3 Chicago!

We cruised through downtown, shopped some more, checked out historic buildings like the Macy’s on State Street, The Chicago Theater, got a closer view of the Sear’s Tower, and made our way to the Art Institute of Chicago. On our way to the A.I. we passed “American Dogs”. I just happened to have a groupon for that spot, free dog, fries and a drink! It had been a few hours since lunch, so eating again sounded like a plan! It was about 5pm and these dogs hit the spot! I had the Chicago (veggie) dog which had Mustard, Onions, Relish, Pickles, Tomatoes, and Sport Peppers. DELICIOUS. Best hot dog ever. Kevin had the regular dog with cheese, ketchup and relish. C’mon K, live a little!!! Haha.

We ate our dogs and headed to the A.I. We were across the street from it when the mob of people came into view (this was free night!!). The line stretched down the stairs, around the corner and half way down the city block. CRAP. We went back and forth, should we just come back and pay tomorrow? No! We sucked it up and got in line with the masses. After about 5 minutes an employee walked by and said “there is no waiting on the other side of the street”. Sweet! We headed to the other side and practically walked right in.

I should let Kevin tell you about the A.I. I mean, I like art, think it is cool to see the famous pieces, etc…but that boy loves him some oil on canvas. We got to see lots of famous pieces and artists. Waterlillies, Haystacks, American Gothic, VanGough, Monet, Renoir, Rothko, Pollock and Cezanne to mention a few. Very impressive collection, and a stunning building. Any art lover would be happy to spend a day here I’m sure! We spent just under 2 hours and were good to go.

The sun had set and we decided to walk through Millennium Park again so I could see my “jelly bean” at night. It was gorgeous, of course. This has to be my favorite spot in Chicago. I just love it. There was a live band playing near by and we spent some time just staking in the sites. After the sky darkened we hopped on the bus and made our way back up to John Hancock. We had upgraded our tickets earlier that day so we could return at night to see the city after dark. Again, it was breathtaking.

After the Hancock we headed over to the famous Giordino’s for deep dish-stuffed pizza. The wait, an hour. But, you can pre-order your pizza so it is ready just about when you sit down. So two beers or so later and we were in our booth waiting for our pizza. I had opted to get the medium, because, why not!? That was probably a bit of overkill. I had no idea how big this pizza really would be. It had to weigh at least 10lbs, probably more! It was HUGE. But, totally delicious. The sauce was yummy and the crust was this buttery pastry, not your typical dough. Mmm. We ate 3 of the 8 pieces, had the rest packed up, and grabbed a taxi back to our house.

It was about 10:30 when we walked in the door. We had been on our feet, exploring the city for 12 hours, and were completely exhausted. I took a shower in the most amazing shower I’ve ever been in (I’ll have to write a blog just about our house here!!!) and then passed out just after midnight.Somehow Kevin managed to work until 2:30 in the morning.

We both woke up at around 10 this morning. Kevin was bummed we slept so late, but I reminded him, all of our vacations do have to be exhausting alllll of the time! He agreed, and we both got out of bed and realized how sore we really are!!! We’re old. Haha. f

Today we’re taking it easy. We’ll walk over to Lincoln Park, there is supposed to be a great zoo there, and probably get more hot dogs for lunch (I have another coupon). We have to save our energy, because tonight is the night!!! The reason we’re here to being with. Tonight is night one, of two, that we’re heading to Wrigley Field to see Dave Matthews and Jason Mraz play together. Tonight we have general admission, so we’re going to get there early to get as close to the stage as possible and will be on our feet alllllll night long…so we’re pacing ourselves!

If you’ve made it this far, I’m impressed. Today my shout out goes to my Mom and Angela…they are the glue that is keeping our little life back in Sacramento together while we’re gone!! Poor Angela had to field calls from Nana all day yesterday…hahahaha…gotta love Nana! She is doing well and her leg seems to still be moving in the right direction. When I talked to Nana yesterday she told me that the Dr. gave her leg the “thumbs up” yesterday. Yay! Hopefully she’ll be home soon. And Mom, poor Mom is stuck with our pack of dogs who are keeping her busy I’m sure! Thanks ladies. You rock!!!

Now, I think I’ll go have some cold pizza for breakfast.