Chicago

Last weekend Gary and I took a MUCH NEEDED mini vacation. Just us...no kids...so we jumped in the car and drove to Chicago!!! It was great!!! Can you sense my happiness??? We packed in lots of cool stuff..

We took a subway ride to the White Sox Game.

We always try to go to a baseball game when visiting other cities. Sorry Cubs fans...they were away that weekend! Great stadium...fun fans ...and an awesome win!

We stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel...34th floor.. with a view of Lake Michigan. Not too shabby. There were only 3 rooms on our floor. When you got off the elevator it felt like you were walking into a chamber. The room itself was really nice...unfortunately not one picture was worthy of posting.

Saturday, we got up early and headed out. I love to explore so we walked all over downtown. The parks were amazing!!! The first thing we came across was this GIANT silver bean like structure...it was so cool. Hard to describe but lots of fun!

This picture is taken from underneath in the middle...
It's just huge!
Then next to it was an open air concert stage with the coolest lawn. Check out the criss cross structure that had speakers attached. Apparently, if you get up early they have free yoga, pilates and thai bo classes in the early mornings (I was on vacation...so nope). Next were some metal sculptures done by Chinese Artists...pretty cool huh!

Of course we HAD to stop for ice cream. Turned out to be really, really good ice cream. He wouldn't share so I had to get my own...woe is me..

My goal was to get into the Shedd Aquarium. At 2pm we arrived and obviously had not planned well as there was a 2 hour waiting line. Too long to waste the day so we hit up the local museum. They had a really cool dinosaur exhibit!

Saturday night we went to see the Blue Men Group. Wow...if you haven't seen the show...go! It was so much fun...we laughed a ton! Check out this clip from the show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tWP6aYwi5M

Sunday we were much smarter! Got up early so Gary could watch a bit of golf and then we went right to the Shedd Aquarium. Wow... it is an awesome aquarium. I love whale watching in Hawaii...and the aquarium housed 5 Beluga whales (one baby) and dolphins. The first photo is a bit blurry but I wanted to give you an idea of how close we were able to stand and watch them. We had lunch outside on the terrace - wishing it was sunnier - but definitely a pretty view! The penguins were characters.

Here's hoping the video of the whales works for you. The aquarium had 3 levels so you could actually watch the whales swimming around under water.

That's it for our weekend.

Sending all my love & good wishes to my friend...The Texas Woman...I'm praying for you girl.