After arriving in the city around noon, we attempted to gain admission to Shedd Aquarium. For years, I've been wanting to see this amazing gem of Chicago. However, when we arrived, there was a line with a 2-hour wait! Due to the insane cold (and the fact that I had to pee from a double-tall Starbucks latte), we decided on The Field Museum instead, which was another Chicago institution I had yet to see in my 31 years.
Sue, the T-Rex at the Field Museum.
Around 4:30, we were a bit tired from all the walking and made our way to the Sheraton Towers, our residence for our only night in the city. Now when I booked this 4-star hotel on Hotwire.com a few months back, little did I know just how incredibly posh this hotel would be. After the nicest service from a Michelle Obama look-alike, we adjourned to the 26th floor and our room with an incredible view of the city. We dined at a lovely local pub called PJ Clarkes at the suggestion of our concierge, then walked down Mag Mile with a hot chocolate to keep us warm. We then got to experience the Apple Store, where we played Guitar Hero before returning to our room and promptly crashing after a long day.
Wednesday, December 31
We awoke to a beautiful, yet cold morning in the city. After breakfast and checking out, we adjourned down to Water Tower Place, where we were sticker-shocked at the insane prices on regular items you would find at any mall in the Midwest. We walked around Neiman-Marcus, where I drooled over $700 Manolo Blahniks (someday, I WILL own a pair of these. It's the Carrie Bradshaw in me) and was snubbed by salespeople who stared at my handbag and shoes to see if I was rich enough to shop in their store. We ended our tour of the city by heading up to the 94th floor of the John Hancock Building to take in the really cool multi-media tour of the Observatory.
We then headed out to O'Hare for our 6pm flight to Dallas. It was sort of eerie, driving out there, as there was hardly any traffic (cars going in to the city from O'Hare were backed up for miles) on the way to the airport. At a surprisingly dead O'Hare, we settled in for an hour or so by playing Mad Libs and eating McDonalds before our flight started boarding at 5:45pm. I don't think, ever in my life, that a plane started boarding 15 minutes early. We took off at 6:35pm, just 5 minutes after our scheduled departure time. I'm still amazed that a flight actually took-off when it was supposed to!
We flew on a beautiful 777, where each seat had its own personal in-flight on-demand tv with movies, tv shows, music stations and video games! I listened to 80's music while playing Solataire. Needless to say, it was a comfortable and fast 2 hour flight because of the amazing plane we were on!
We arrived at DFW 30 minutes early, where Cathy (my Dad's wife) met us at baggage claim. It was a beautiful 50 degree evening (a nice improvement from the 18 degree day we left in Illinois) in Texas, and we headed back to Dad and Cathy's house to freshen up before heading to a New Years Eve shindig down the street. A newly-married Tom and Melinda (engaged for 12 years!!) hosted us at their lovely home with their three adorable black labs Barney, Chance and Chief. We rang in the New Year nearly asleep, then headed back to the house to snuggle with my Dad and Cathy's five (count them, FIVE) dogs. Maggie the Golden, Max the mix-breed, Toby the black lab, Hannah the beautiful shepherd-mix, and Mo the little one.
Tom, Deb and Rob ringing in the New Year
Rob and Toby
Mo
Max
Thursday, January 1
New Years Day was spent doing nothing but sitting in our pajamas and watching TV. Enough said.
Friday, January 2
Rob and I headed north to Denton to visit Rob's favorite used bookstore, Recycled Books. We had lunch in a little diner on the square before heading back to North Richland Hills. That evening, Dad and Cathy took us to Chef Point Cafe, a gourmet restaurant housed inside a gas station. I'm not kidding! The restaurant was featured in Paula Deen's magazine, and a few days after we had dinner, the Food Network was due in to do a special in the amazing food found inside. Apparently, the chef wanted to open a restaurant but couldn't get the funding from the bank. He could, however, get the loan for a gas station. And thus, history was made. We ate amazing food in a gas station. Who would've thought...
Saturday, January 3
It was a beautiful, third day in a row in Texas, with sun and 75 degree temps. Rob and I headed down to Sundance Square in downtown Fort Worth, where we dined on sushi for dinner, before taking in the hilarious dueling piano show at Pete's Dueling Pianos.
Sunday, January 4
The day of all days... the visit to the infamous Babe's. Followers of this blog know full well of the wonder that is Babe's. All-you-can-eat family style fried chicken, taters, corn, biscuits. I'll let the picture say everything.
Monday, January 5
Our last full day in town was cold and rainy, so Rob and I headed out to Genghis Grill for lunch, then a day of window shopping before spending the evening with my sister Abby. We had an awesome visit, chatting about this and that. And captured a pic of the three of us, the first in probably 15 years.
Abby, Jake and I
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