Back from Chicago!

Well we are back from Chicago! Actually Eric came back on Monday and I stayed at the conference Monday through Wednesday. I went to attend the Internet Retailer Conference for my company. Since Eric's birthday was that week we decided to fly Eric up with me on Saturday and spend the weekend in the city before the conference started. We had alot of fun!

Our first day in Chicago we spent walking.... walking and walking around the Navy Pier and some of the city. The Navy Pier is really neat with lots of little shops and restaurants. We managed to fulfill every Chicago tradition in one weekend. At the Navy Pier we stopped at "America's Dog" and got a "Chicago Dog" and an "Italian Beef Sandwich" both of which Chicago is known for. The Chicago Dog was really good. The only thing strange about it was that it had a whole dill pickle cut up on top of it, which made it pretty hard to eat. But it was definitely yummy! The Italian Beef Sandwich (I got mine with hot peppers) was really like a glorified French Dip to me... like a French Dip Sandwich that had already been dipped. It was ok... but not nearly as good as the Chicago Dog.

After pigging out... literally! We decided to walk it off. We had a couple of hours to spare until the show we were going to see "Cirque Shanghai" (a Chinese acrobat show). So we walked more around the Navy Pier and the nearby parks and city. We got our picture taken with Bob Newhart (actually just the statue of Bob Newhart), and we tried on some really cool Afro wigs! I tried to convince Eric we should buy these but I guess we needed to spend that money on something better. (What could be better than some 70s afros? Really?)

So after walking the city we went to see the Cirque Shanghai show. It was absolutely phenomenol! I've never seen anything like it. They balanced tiny little plates on wires while doing cartwheels and making human pyramids. At one point a girl actually balanced 10 chairs on her knees while another girl balanced on top of them! It was crazy, but so neat. Kind of like Cirque de Soleil but this was called Cirque Shanghai. It was a really cool show and makes me want to go see the Soleil now.

After the show and the Navy Pier we headed to see a movie. Yeah I know why see a movie when you are in a town of all kinds of fun. 1.) it was pouring rain 2.) we never get to go to the movies together cause we have a 3 year old! So we went to see the movie - "Forgetting Sarah Marshall". Absolutely hysterical. I don't think either of us has ever laughed so hard at a movie before. We both recommend going to see this movie for some good laughs... but be warned of its funny yet graphic nature! (I can't say any more)

After resting our feet and laughing till our sides hurt, we took a cab back to the hotel and ordered a Giordanos pizza. Now my friend Mari told me we wouldn't be able to finish a "small" pie. But neither Eric or I believed this. Its a 10 inch pizza. Come on we could each eat two! Until we got the pizza and realized it weighed ten pounds! No joke! It was like 2.5 inches thick and filled with sausage and pepperoni and cheese and the sauce on top. Sounds weird like an inside out pizza, but it was AWESOME! (PS - just saw a sign for a Giordanos opening up here!)

Because this is getting so long, I will make the next day short. We went to the Lincoln Park Zoo - a free zoo imagine that?! Then we went to see yet another movie (tired feet). We went to see the Zohan movie with Adam Sandler (I'm a huge Adam Sandler fan).... and actually it wasn't that funny. The Sarah Marshall movie was much funnier and made with unknowns! :-)

So in short folks, on our trip to Chicago, we took the bull by the horns and had a lot of fun!

Here is a link to the rest of our pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/kayleasmom/Chicago