Chicago

Arturo and I were fortunate to take a quick vacation up to Chicago a few weekends ago. We were there for two reasons: 1) Arturo wanted to update his Peru ID and get a new passport, and 2) take our first trip together and see if we could survive. We did! :)

Since neither of us wanted to take our own cars (my 10-year-old Focus and his gas-guzzling Mustang) on the road, we rented a 2010 Dodge Caliber. I fell in love with that car, but I know I what I want, and I'm still saving for my new Focus.

We passed this bull on our ping-pong walk along Michigan Ave. It was sooooo hot and humid, and that did not help our situation. We could not find the right building for Arturo's embassy, and we literally walked the same few blocks 3-4 times until we finally realized we were at the point where the street numbers split North and South. Oh boy!

After tackling the city streets of Chicago and living to tell about it (don't I sound like a badass? :)), we made our way to the Navy Pier and spent the rest of the day here. I didn't realize there was so much to do here that would take the entire afternoon and evening--eating, Cirque show, eating, boat ride/tour, eating, shopping, eating,...did I mention eating?

The Cirque Cloud 9 show was good. I say good because it can't compare to the "real" Cirque de Soleil shows I've seen, but the acrobats could definitely put on a show.

This woman amazed me--she was literally standing en pointe on top of her partner's head!

When Arturo and I finally decided on a river architecture boat tour (after looking at the dozen or so offerings...), we had no idea we'd be in a torrential downpour in the middle of the Chicago River. At the point of departure, the weather was perfect--90 degrees or so, sunny, and hot. Within 45 minutes, the temp had dropped to the upper 60s and was raining cats and dogs!! See the pic below to see the rain clouds coming in.

I have no idea what buildings these actually are, but the riverboat docent aptly named these two the "Corncob" buildings. Are they condos? Offices? No idea other than if you look closely at the bottom of the picture, you can see cars parked in the circle too.

There's nothing really spectacular about this picture below other than the story behind the building. Apparently this was one of a couple of buildings in Chicago that was used to film "The Dark Knight" with Heath Ledger.

Two pictures I have (above and below) of the famous Sears Tower. We didn't have time to go to the top--on my list for next time--but I love this second pic of it. Does it look like it's flipping you off? :) I know...I'm sick.

Here comes the rain!!!! Once the downpour started, we all stayed in the lower part of the boat and bought $3.00 ponchos to get us back to dry land without soaking us through and through.

During the rainstorm, we checked out some of the shops at the Navy Pier. Lo and behold, look who I ran into--my other boyfriends Jake and Edward. Mmmm...

I hoped Arturo wouldn't get too jealous of this chef. He allowed me to share my kiss with him. :)

I thought we were going to eat at Hard Rock Cafe so I could add another glass to my collection, but when I saw Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. at Navy Pier, this was it. The food is good but nothing special, but I just love the atmosphere (plus the scrapbook collection I can add). And I was able to add one of their glasses to my collection!

You can't go to Navy Pier without riding the world-famous ferris wheel!

When we FINALLY returned to our hotel (the train was an hour delayed due to the storms), we noticed something peculiar about the area surrounding the hotel--everything was dark. Literally dark. Apparently we didn't care since we were so tired, but we used Arturo's cell phone to light the way to our room, then used mine as a flashlight so we could find our way around the room. Lights out (pun intended) for us! I do have to say, though, after talking to the manager upon our return home, although we won't ever stay there again, he was gracious enough to refund both of the two nights stay. And it's not his fault his hotel did not have any power, but I wanted him to know how we were treated by his employees both the night before and morning of checkout. Let's just say hospitable was not in either girl's vocabulary.

Instead of going back into the city for our last morning, we decided to head home and take in President Lincoln's home tour in Springfield, IL. I'm glad we did that--we didn't have to rush around, and now that I'm older and obviously more mature :), I tend to enjoy these types of tours more than when I was a kid.

Lincoln's front formal living room

Lincoln's only home office area (no real office for the President??)

Lincoln's bedroom--notice the wildly different patterns from the wallpaper, blanket and carpet

I love that Arturo can be playful and fun alongside me--he's trying to be a tough Union soldier here

and I'm just his damsel in distress...Save me Arturo!

An unfortunate incident from our vacation was the disappearance of my big Canon camera. Something happened (no details here...) while we were gone, and now I've had to replace it. I chose a different camera instead of just getting the same one--not that I don't want a new digital SLR, but I want a camera I can actually take with me that's not soooo bulky. I chose the Sony Cybershot HX1 and so far, so good. I've only played around with it, but I plan on taking it with me when Mom and I go see my brother later this month. A few aspects of the camera that I like so far--20x zoom, 1080HD video, tilted screen, the ability to turn off the screen and use the viewfinder (great for concerts and bright days), and easy access to change ISO, shutter speed, and aperture. Some of the cons I've noticed--I can't delete a picture right after taking it but instead I have to view all the pics and then hit delete, and too many "special" settings to figure out. ???