A tale of the windy and VERY hot city.

Hello Chicago.

We flew out on an early flight, I didn't think that one through...see the flight time was 7:55AM. Which meant that we needed to be ready to go to the airport before 6AM. Which meant I needed to be a functioning adult by 5AM. Yeah, I hadn't thought that one through too well. The safety check point made me anxious, I was packed nice and neat. Then I was told I needed to dig out all my liquids. Which were neatly packed in my carry-on suitcase. It was not neatly packed after the check point! And can I just say :GROSS! to the floor and all the barefooted peeps. EWE! I wore shoes and socks and was grateful I did.

Is my lack of travel showing?

I am a nervous flyer.

We touched down and headed for the train.

That was an interesting ride.

Interesting people, smells, sights...

My first view of the city, Looked the same as any other city. There were buildings. There were people, lots of people and noise.

Lots of horns. Bunch of horny drivers. I saw two cars stop side by side in an intersection to honk at one another. Mkay.

Our hotel was nice. The Amalfi. We chose it because it had free continental breakfasts. The rooms were small, bed was comfy. I wish I would have had a fridge and microwave in our room.

Pets can stay in this hotel, so the carpet was pretty dingy, smell wise it was clean.

We were just off the river. our view wasn't good. But we were in a city and our hotel only had 6 floors.

Our first stop after checking in was the American Girl Place.

We bought Butter and her doll Ruthie matching shirts. I loved this store and can't wait to bring Butter. We have a store here in MN in the BIG Mall but this store was much bigger...

After that we headed over to Ghiradelli.

You know why we are smiling? Because this was just put in front of us!

I can still taste it's chocolaty coolness with the light crunch of nuts!

I ate dessert first.

After we finished our dessert we went across the street...to this place.

We figured it was a good idea seeing as dinner was at...

Hershey's is right across the street from Ghiradelli. Nothing like a chocolate high before dinner.

Speaking of dinner, it was time to head over for some Deep Dish Pizza!

Yes, I got lots of opinions on WHERE to eat deep dish. I chose Gino's East because of the reviews I read and the fact that you could write on there walls. So, the line had already begun to form at 4:30PM and we knew that it would take an hour for the pizza once the order was placed. We only had to wait a few minutes because we were a party of 2. They sat us in a back booth, like our own little nook. Guess what was written on the wall of our booth???

Yep, that says COX, and no I didn't write it. We did not leave our mark, but it sure was fun reading all the others. We ordered our pizza, sausage and green olives. I LOVE GREEN OLIVES.

And roughly an hour later I got this:

Oh, my word! Delicious!

Unfortunately the curse hit me and we booked it 8 blocks back to the hotel so I could have privacy.

I was reminded why I don't like traveling: The Curse.

I will tell you, it only hit me this one meal. So, maybe I should have gone to Giordano's?!?!

More to come...