Saturday, October 29, 2011

site-seeing, eating in Chicago and beyond

best apple pancake at Walker Brothers Original House of Pancakes, Wilmette, IL
Just like my Sep 2009 trip, did a lot of shopping and eating last week in Chicago.  We (my husband Shane and I) had the best pancakes, potato soup, burgers and pizza to name a few...  (have I mentioned pizza is a food group in Chicago?)
in front of the Pickwick theater in Park Ridge, IL
We stayed with my sister in Park Ridge and took the Metra (best public train evah!?) down town.
sitting on 2nd level, up top on a Metra train heading into Chicago - fun way to travel!
We walked east to Michigan Avenue, past the Art Institute to Millenium Park.
view of Chicago River from Riverside Plaza in the loop
by the Sears Tower

in front of Chicago's Art Institute lions on Michigan Avenue
We stopped at "the bean" and took a stroll through Millennium Park.
Cloudgate aka "the bean" remains a popular tourist attraction in Millennium Park
Crown Fountain in Millennium Park, Chicago
on a walkway near Jay Pritzker Pavillion
We had lunch (best burgers!) at the Berghoff.

Berghoff's root beer

So we spent one afternoon doing the Chicago tourist thing.  Check.  We also went all over the suburbs visting family and friends - Wonder Lake, Aurora, Oswego, Wilmette, Winnetka, Mundelein, Addison and Glenview just to name a few. I grew up in Wilmette.  We drove by one of the prettiest churches there, the Baha'i Temple:

Up though Lake County and McHenry County, some corn fields awaited harvesting.

cornfield in McHenry County

old farm in McHenry County
by the Serbian Monestary "New Gracinica" in Lake County
family lunch at Houlihan's in Park Ridge, IL
drinks with friends at Dave & Busters in Addison, IL
Yes, a whirlwind trip indeed including some shopping at some great Chicago area stores like Best Buy, Target, Fry's and Walgreens.  Aaaaah, shopping in the Chicago area - awesome!

lunch of wings from Hooters one day
shopping at Fry's electronics - we were like kids in a candy store

in front of my old high school New Trier in Winnetka, Illinois... we got a tour
in a New Trier hallway, the east campus in Winnetka Illinois - 3100 students attend New Trier and 95% go on to 4 year universities...

We attended my high school reunion.  Here I am with 3 other girls who went through kindergarten with me.  We did girl scouts, too.  Was good to see everyone!  

About 200 people were at the reunion.

with my awesome sister in her lovely home in Park Ridge
See you later Chicago...  thanks for a good time.

4 comments:

  1. Great pics,and a lovely post! Going down Memory Lane can be...weird in itself,but even moreso sharing it with your now-mate,among kindergarten/girl scout friends.Pretty brave!Cool! you had a good time...ain't it nice to dip into the past waters?

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  2. btw,thanks for "icanhas cheezburger" link.It was a reminder to me of a funny site,andthe "PussnBoots" audition tapes were hysterical,and duly e-mailed."My" cat Butters enjoyed the auditions! Happy weekend!

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  3. Did a business trip in Chicago for a couple of weeks,back in 2003.Loved it,too. Turned out,my Grandpa lived there in the Capone 1930s,and in Buffalo before,where I went,as well,in the 1990's,and I felt a weird kinship of sorts.I do believe in genetic memory,if you get my drift..Lovely pics!

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  4. hi tjones, thanks for the comments... yep my high school reunion was fun but bit weird... funny how I can still remember the kids I went to grade school with, too...

    cheers mate

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