Chicago

We went to Chicago last weekend for a little vacay/ultimate frisbee tournament. It was so nice to get away. We didn't have a whole lot planned, which I've decided is the best way to vacation.

THURSDAY:
We landed at 8 am, so we had the whole day in Chicago. I quickly realized why it's called "the windy city", as my umbrella broke from the wind after about 10 minutes. I was very happy the hotel let us check in at 9 am, as well as providing a complimentary umbrella :).

We had lunch at Gino's, a local joint, for Chicago-style deep dish:

Did a little exploring in the rain.... Relaxed at the hotel and decided at about 7 pm to go find some sort of theatre. A local recommended a local theatre show, but it was booked, so we ended up going to the Oriental theatre to see Wicked, the Broadway musical. It definitely exceeded our expecations! I'm still singing :).

FRIDAY:I had been looking forward to sleeping in and getting to watch the "Today" show for weeks, so I loved sipping my coffee and having a lazy morning. We then had a full tourist filled day, with helpful hints from our "Chicago for Dummies" book...A riverboat tour of the city, pointing out all of the architectural landmarks. Although it was very interesting, I will not bore you with the 45+ pics of buildings that Caleb snapped (and this post is long enough as is!). Here's us on the boat:

Played in Millenium Park:

Had a Chicago-style hotdog picnic lunch:

Explored the Navy Pier. Caleb thought it was like a fair, so he wasn't a big fan, except for the mirrors outside the fun house
I enjoyed people watching, as well as the gorgeous view of the city:

We went to Kaminsky Park to watch the White Sox/Angels game Friday night. Just a side note, I'm not typically one to make stereotypes. However, just think for a moment of the type of people that typicallly wear White Sox paraphernalia.....that's right. So, let's just say, it was a pretty "rough" crowd and I was glad that the subway was packed on the way back to downtown :). We bought our tickets from a scalper and as Caleb was trying to "wheel and deal" I was just thinking "just give him what he wants and let's get out of here!" as I think it was an illegal practice to scalp, as these people were the emblem of SHADY :). Thankfully, our tickets weren't fake and we made it into the stadium safely...


We had a great time at the game :). Hot dog #2 of the day:
White Sox win! We are so COLD here (see how pale I am...I mean, I'm normally pale, but...) .....we are still loving vacation!SATURDAY AND SUNDAY:
After a little drama with subway constuction and trying to rent a car, we made it to Naperville, IL in time for Caleb to warm up and start playing in the "Chicago Heavyweights" ultimate tournament. Although the team didn't do as well as they hoped, they played and hung in with the best of 'em. I enjoyed getting to watch a full tournament, as I typically only go out for a couple of games due to the extreme heat that is Texas :). In this tournament, I was actually wearing mine and Caleb's jacket at some points :). The weather was GREAT!

When Caleb get's on the ultimate field, he is oh so serious!
Caleb says he's "not a handler" (interpretation: better at defense), so although I do have pics of him throwing and catching the disc, he wanted me to represent his great defense:

(They were grey on Sunday, red on Saturday)

And, that was it! We caught our flight at O'hare and hit reality on Monday.

PS- I now realize I am so bad at blogging because I make these posts so complicated! Plan on a simple post next time....