The Windy City

October 3-5, Rob and I went to Chicago. It wasn't until we were pulling into the hotel parking lot that I realized we were there the exact same dates last year. I pointed this out to Rob, and we both made the wish that nothing as dramatic as last year happened again.

This year was a little less stressful. We arrived Friday in the late afternoon hours and checked into the hotel. After unloading and contacting the Lichner relatives, we decided to head downtown for dinner and just to poke around. I have to say that, while Chicago is a great city to visit, I am very happy I don't live there.

We had a wonderful train ride to downtown... and then ate dinner at a tapas bar called Cafe Iberico. It is one of my favorite places, and we have eaten there twice now. It reminds me of being in Spain. The food is amazing.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel and were stopped by a bum posing as a security guard to try to get money. He said that he lost his wallet and didn't have money for a train ticket, yet he was heading away from the train station in search of someone to fork over money. (My reasoning is that you would have much better luck if you went at least near the train station to find generous souls).

Saturday, we went to Indiana to geocache and then we went on an adventure. Rob and I were chatting and we missed our exit to I-80... so we took the next exit and ended up at an intersection that would take us either to Markham or Harvey. Rob turned toward Harvey and we almost immediately started looking for a place to turn around... talk about a rough crowd eyeing us like fresh meat!

After getting out of that area, we found some of Rob's old stomping grounds... and even drove to Frankfort to find his grandfather Bennett's grave (which we did end up finding, despite not knowing how to get there). Then we had dinner with the Lichner's at Aurelio's Pizza.

Sunday, we got loaded up for our trip home and went over to Uncle Steve's house to pick up a television for Rob's parents. Little did we know that they had forgotten to take one crucial measurement when we'd initially decided the television would fit in the Rav... they didn't measure the actual opening of the door, which the tv had to go through in order to make it into the car. So we ended up leaving after exhausting all efforts (including calling area car rentals to see if we could rent a vehicle large enough to haul the tv home)... without the tv.

All in all, the trip was a blast. I got several really fun pictures (I took a lot of pictures of signage this time... people will put anything on signs and post them on the street.) One of the pictures I missed was of a City Gas office with their sign standing next to a large cow statue... I'm not sure what type of "gas" they sell there, but I guess if it works, it works! LOL