C-H-I-C-A-G-O

Blake and I celebrated our 4th anniversary in Chicago this past weekend. The weather was amazing getting up to 60 degrees on Friday.... we made the most of it...

We jumped on the "Metra" - Red Line and headed to north to Andersonville for breakfast at M. Henry's. It was so cool because we were the only tourists in the place. It was this cute neighborhood with adorable shops all around.

Then we headed to Wrigley Field to see the famous baseball field. We have to say that Chicago has to have the nicest people... we met Joe and Ben who took time to tell us all about the Cubs and Chicago! Blake is already planning a trip to take the kids back for a game!

Blake's favorite part was the "EL" or the elevated train that is part of the subway system... which is mainly below ground but there is an elevated part called "The Loop," that goes in a circle around downtown - very cool.

We walked through Grant Park which Millennium Park is part of. The famous "Silver Bean" is there. It's a famous sculpture that Chicago has become famous for in the last 3-4 years. It is amazing how the many parts were welded together and then buffed out to make it look like one seamless piece. We took the Silver Bridge across Lakeway Drive and walked a mile down Lake Michigan to Navy Pier, which is like a huge amusement park. When I arrived to Chicago on Monday, the lake was almost completely frozen over and by Friday it had all melted and just had a few ice chunks floating around.
Then it was off to the 3rd tallest building in the world - The Hancock Tower.
We did a 30 min. audio tour at the top, notice how Blake is going no where near the edge... heights are not his thing!

We re-lived our Hawaii honeymoon 4 years ago with a stop to The Cheesecake Factory and a sample of the macaroni and cheese fried balls with marinara. YUMMY!

Then we walked "The Magnificent Mile." and 2-3 miles back to the hotel where we got ready for the musical Chicago starring Blake's favorite "Dancing With The Stars" contestant - John O'Hurley!

That was just the first day.... the next day was way more relaxing after sleeping in we found the second Chicago Pizza place - Lou Malnati's. There are 2 famous downtown pizza places... we had to try them both. Giordornos on Thursday night was Blake's favorite because of the richer tomato sauce.

After driving around "Soldier Field," it was off to The Field Museum where the famous "T-REX - SUE" is. She is the largest and most complete T-Rex found in N. Dakota in 1990.
Then we had an amazing dinner at the hottest restaurant - AVEC! We had the best 2 seats in the tiny modern restaurant overlooking the chefs where we got to talk to them all night about the different entrees they were cooking. It was a perfect way to end our anniversary get-a-way.