Chicago!
Ranger Chris and our client/friend Shellie, owner of Complement Design, recently took a business trip to Cincinnati. They went to provide Kroger with test market results and updates on Shellie’s vase & bouquet matching system that has been placed in many of Colorado’s King Spopers stores. Chris and Shellie met with the powers that be at Kroger, the parent company of our local King Soopers and City Market stores. Their meeting went really well, Joe confirmed that the Complement Design system was boosting their flower sales and the vases were selling better than they had anticipated. Chris and Shellie left Cincinnati with a smile on their faces. They headed back to the airport and hopped on a plane. Their adventure would continue – Chris and Shellie would be meeting up with Ranger Jenny and Shellie’s husband Sam in Chicago for a long weekend of amazing!
Chris and Jenny were super excited – they had never been without both of the kids for more than one night and hadn’t gone away on vacation, alone, since their Honeymoon. Dalton went to his dad’s house for the weekend (and his birthday! Sorry Dalton!) and Jenny’s mom took off work to watch Keagan… more on her adventure later.
Here is Jenny’s journal of our adventures:
Sam and I landed in Chicago safely and managed to meet up with Chris and Shellie pretty easily – thank goodness for cell phones, how else would you find someone at O’Hare? We decided to take a cab into the city (my FIRST cab ride, ever!) which proved to be a slow, hot trip! The cab driver dropped us off at the Burnham Hotel in downtown Chicago. It was pretty late so we quickly found our rooms, marveled at the hotel and hit the pavement to find some food. We landed at a great restaurant/bar just a few blocks from the hotel and enjoyed a great dinner of fish and chips and an ice cold beer. It had been a long day – so it was well deserved!
This is our room at the Burnham Hotel – Chris and I started out on the 3rd floor but…… this is what we heard out our window at midnight - jackhammers, backhoes, and saws.
By 1pm we were really tired and in desperate need of some sleep. Chris – being the tech genius that he is – downloaded some “white noise” from the internet, burned a CD, and played it on the room’s CD player. That was unfortunately not enough to tune out the construction and we called down for some earplugs. We finally got some sleep that night….
During an amazing breakfast in the hotel’s restaurant and amazing service by our waiter Keith, Sam started to talk about what he wanted to do that day (Friday).
#1. Go on the Architecture boat tour
#2. Have a nice dinner
#3. Go see Wicked – the broadway show about the two witches in the Wizard of Oz BEFORE Dorothy landed
We all thought it was too much to do in one day – Sam was sure it would all work out, so we headed off to buy tickets for the boat tour and Wicked. BUT before we could leave Shellie insisted on speaking with the front desk and asked them to move us to a different room. They were very accommodating and moved us to a different room.
While we were waiting for the boat tour we stopped by Millennium Park. This sculpture is called “the cloud” I believe. It was SO cool to see the reflection of the Chicago skyline all around “the bean” (what the locals call it we found out the next day). We then began to walk towards the water hoping to see Lake Michigan but took a few wrong turns and we ended up a bit lost.
We did find a great sandwich shop and the boat left just after we had lunch at “Brian’s deli”.
It was great to learn more about Chicago’s history and it’s architecture. We had a great guide and really enjoyed the tour! Chris and I have a much deeper appreciation for architecture now and a new view on how it relates to our field of graphic design.
After the tour Sam decided it was beer:30 and we set off to find some. We enjoyed our drinks on the outside patio at millennium park. We then decided it was time to head back, make a reservation at Nick’s Fish Market and get ready for dinner and our Broadway show!! We met Sam and Shellie in the hotel lobby and walked a few blocks to Nick’s – little did we know what we’d find inside 
Nick’s was beautiful inside, our table was right by a window that looked out at a lit fountain in the courtyard. Our waiter, Kenny, had worked at Nick’s for nine years and was VERY good at his job. He explained the Chef’s specials with such detail and excitement – I had a great appreciation for that being a former waitress. We all felt like if we chose the right special it might change our lives, little did we know it would really did happen!
We all decided to start with the lobster bisque (pictured above), it was, quite honestly the most amazing thing i have ever eaten! I cannot even explain it - creamy, sweet, a bit of zip, with chunks of lobster. This soup was heaven in a bowl! Shellie and I had the swordfish for our entree, Sam had scallops and shrimp, and Chris chose salmon. We drank two bottles of wine and also enjoyed dessert. Sam and Shellie shared the key lime pie and Chris and I shared the creme brule – another life changer!
WOW! after savoring this amazing meal we felt like we were running a tad late - Shellie and I took off our heals and ran down the next few blocks. Sam and Chris were wearing their “sensible shoes” and were able to walk at a brisk pace!
We arrived at the Oriental Theater right on time and we were immediately captivated by the interior. Very, very intricate work covering the walls and ceiling. They were extremely strict about NO pictures (the shot above is from the lobby) so we don’t have much to share with you, but trust us, it was AMAZING inside! “Wicked” began and we were immediately captivated! Chris and I had never seen a Broadway show and didn’t really know what to expect. Wicked is the story of the two witches of OZ before dorothy shows up – how they met and what leads up to Dorothy. It was so awesome and so emotional – i just couldn’t believe we were there getting to see such a great show. The costumes, the music, the set, the actors – wow! Chris and I were both in tears when the show ended – and not because it was a sad ending.
We walked back to our hotel after wicked and Shellie spotted the construction workers that had kept us up the night before. She ran over, while they were jackhammering, and began talking to them. They shut down their jackhammers and Shellie says “come on, let’s take a picture”. The foreman was not thrilled, but let us go under the yellow tape, another worker handed me his hard hat, and cheese!
Shellie was not ready for our crazy Friday to end so we took a cab to another part of town to find drinks and live music. we first stopped at Jilly’s Lounge which featured a man and a piano – singing Frank Sinatra songs. I had told Shellie earlier in the day that Chris and I had never had a martini so we decided on another first and ordered lemon drop martinis.
The lounge was very interesting people watching – lots of much older men dancing with much younger women. I felt like we were in a movie.
We finished our drinks and decided to go next door to The Back Room, they had a live jazz band playing – unfortunately we had missed most of their set but got to hear a few songs – they were very good! We all felt like it was time for the night to end and grabbed a cab. Our cab driver was from India and it was just a classic cab ride. Shellie said we needed to go to “Washington & State” (the cross streets of the Burnham Hotel) and he said in his indian accent “I cannot take you to washington state, that would take like 44 hours”. We clarified, and he drove us home. For the rest of the trip we kept asking Chris to do his impression (one of many other talents – impressions) of what the cab driver had said – it was really funny!
All in all – Sam was RIGHT. We did it all and had a day we will never, ever forget! Thanks Sam!
The next morning (it’s only Saturday!) we headed down for our delicious breakfast in the hotel restaurant, The Atwood Cafe. We were again waited on by our new friend, Keith. He was funny and sarcastic and very kind to us. We talked about our plans for the day. My good friend from high school, Amy lives just out side of Chicago and was going to ride the train in and meet Chris and I for lunch and some site seeing. We went to China Town for lunch with Amy and enjoyed sitting with her and catching up on what was new in our lives since 1991! Amy then took us around Chicago, I mean all around Chicago. One of the places she pointed out was the Chicago Tribune building – around the whole building there are pieces of other buildings or monuments inset in the wall – pieces of the Great Pyramids, the World Trade Center, the Great Wall of China, etc.
We walked to Lincoln Park and then along the shore of Lake Michigan. Amy has a wealth of knowledge and really loves Chicago, it was so great to see her, catch up and learn more about where we were. We said a very hurried goodbye to Amy as her train was leaving at 5:40 and it was nearing that time.
Chris and I walked back to our hotel and met up again with Sam and Shellie. We decided to go down to the John Hancock building. It has a lounge on the 96th floor and we headed that way for appetizers and drinks.
we waited about 1/2 and hour to get on the elevator to the 96th floor and then zoomed up. The elevator went so fast you had to pop your ears. We got there at a great time – the sun was just setting and the lights in the city had not come on yet. Chris found a great table RIGHT next to the window and we ordered brie cheese and crackers and some drinks.
We got to watch the skyline begin to light up – these are a few pictures Chris took from our table. We enjoyed the view, took the elevator down and then walked to The Wave, a restaurant Sam and Shellie had gone to with their kids the last time they were in Chicago – the inside was very shiny and modern, really cool. we ordered a great meal of Tapas and enjoyed some great conversation. We were all pretty worn out after that (still trying to recover from Friday!) and decided to head “home”.
On our walk home I received a call from my mom. Keagan was sick, again (he had be sick on and off, mostly on, since Labor Day. All those new Kindergarten germs were not being good to him). He was running a pretty high fever, and a terrible headache, and had kind of collapsed at the top of the stairs. I called the Dr. on call for his pediatrician’s office and she told us to continue with the ibuprofen and if his temperature got to 105 or didn’t go away in 3 days, to bring him in. It was so hard to be away knowing Keagan was so sad and sick. We went to bed missing our babies!
Keith had made us 9:30 reservations for Sunday Brunch so we all met up for another amazing breakfast. We were sad to be leaving Keith and I think he was sad to see us go he kept bringing out yummy treats – below are the homemade donuts we got to sample.
I asked Keith if we could take his picture so we wouldn’t forget him and all we gave him a big hug goodbye. We had to leave the city at about 3pm to ride the subway to the airport and come back to reality!
When we got back to our room we packed up and I called my mom to check in on Keagan. He was feeling quite a bit better, just a slight fever and headache. That made us feel better and we planned out our last day.
Above is a picture from our “quiet room” on the 12th floor. The tallest building in the distance is the Trump tower – how do they get those cranes up there? How do they get those cranes down?
It was also Dalton’s 13th birthday! We called him – he was at the bowling alley with his dad and friends having a good time. except he sounded like he was getting a cold……
Sam, Shellie, Chris and I walked out to Navy Pier and then around town some more.
We passed by the Hancock Building so I took a picture of it from the ground – yes, we were way up at the top just the night before! Sam and Shellie were really pleased at how Chris and I kind of knew our way around town – after having Amy as our tour guide the day before we felt like we knew a bit about where things were.
Just before getting back to our hotel to grab our bags and leave I saw this cab with the Wicked sign on top.
Maybe its just me. Small town girl in the big city. But I really felt like this trip was magical.
Chris and I caught the travel bug. And that’s exciting!
Chicago was a city of firsts for us – first really big city weekend trip, first cab ride, first lobster bisque, first martinis, first broadway show, first river boat tour, first long weekend out of the state without the kids in 8 years.
We cannot thank Sam and Shellie enough for asking us to come along. We will never forget Chicago!
P.S. I called my mom from the airport to check on Keagan – his temp was 104.8. I asked her to take him to the after-hours clinic. He was diagnosed with bronchitis. Dalton also came back from his dad’s feeling pretty crummy. They were both home sick from school for three days.
WELCOME BACK TO THE REAL WORLD – SORRY YOU WERE GONE!
