Jesse and Leanne's Grand Adventure

About a year and a half ago my sister and her husband gave us two Southwest Airlines buddy passes. We could fly anywhere Southwest flies but had to use them by April 9, 2009. We have been so busy since I started back to school that we just kept putting off our trip. We had originally intended to visit Oregon but had discussed many options. The time finally came that we had to use these tickets because they are expiring. Unfortunately it's Spring Break for everyone in the country and these are non-revenue passes, meaning we are the last ones to get on the plane and only if there is room. As we are trying to figure out where to go and get the timing right so we aren't going on the most popular days, things got more and more complicated. I was really hoping we could get to San Francisco but we realized Sunday night that we couldn't get on any of the flights going to the west coast. We decided that we could just pack some clothes and get to the airport first thing in morning and make it as far as we could get. If that meant San Antonio or Lubbock so be it. But as luck would have it we were able to jump several different flights and maneuvered our way to Chicago!!! I have always wanted to go to Chicago so this worked out great. And the luckiest part was that on the day we were there the city had a record temperature of 72 degrees. The weather was fabulous the whole time. We got in Monday evening and took the "L" to downtown Chicago where we had booked a room at the Inn of Chicago. The location couldn't have been better. We were blocks from Michigan Avenue and what is famously known as the Magnificent Mile. The shopping along this street was incredible. We didn't go into many of the stores because it hurt just to look at the price tags but it was fun window shopping. We were only 10 blocks from Navy Pier. This was a fun place to walk to and look out over Lake Michigan. We were also only blocks from the Theater District. We got great tickets for a showing of A Bronx Tale with Chazz Palminteri showing at The Oriental. It was a lot of fun and a very different experience for Jesse. He's so anti-theater that I almost fell over when he said we could go see anything I wanted. I chose the gangster play over a musical because I didn't want to push my luck.
While in Chicago we had the best food I think I've ever had. We ate at a place called Rosebud on Rush. The pasta was handmade and just about melted in our mouths. It was incredible. The next day we had to have pizza and found a place called Giolano's (I think). It was the best pizza, oh my. We loved it. Later that night after our play we stopped in an oyster bar called Shaw's and had great seafood. There was a live blues band playing and it was so fun.

I LOVE Chicago. I can't wait to go back. What a fabulous city. I think it's my new favorite.

This is the only picture of us together in Chicago. Great, huh!

Looking at the city from the park at Navy Pier.



And then last night (or really early this morning)Kisha had her baby so when we came home we had a wonderful little niece to go visit at the hospital. What a wonderful Spring Break so far. Now if my kids were just home everything would be perfect.