Chicago, Revisited

Back to Thursday of last week. I pulled out of Rochester in the early afternoon and headed east on I-90.

Somewhere in the middle of Wisconsin, I encountered a traffic back-up. BIG TIME. About 10 miles of vehicles at a virtual standstill.

Grrrrrr.... Construction, of course. After an hour, and a much-needed stop at Kwik Trip :-), I finally made my way past the one truck on the shoulder of the road that was causing the bottleneck (two guys, one with a shovel on his cell phone). Moving again. FINALLY. After arriving, what was the first stop? Pizza! Chicago-style, of course, at Giordano's.

What is Chicago-style pizza you may ask? Deep dish (very deep), cheese on the bottom, sauce on the top.

Worth every calorie. An unbelievable amount of calorie-laden cheese, but that's the way it goes. Plenty left over for breakfast for the next morning, and one more meal after that. I brought home a par-baked frozen "za" from Giordano's (thanks for the suggestion, Wanda!).

Friday morning brought a 4.40 mile run. Kinda chilly and lots of traffic, but it was good to be out in the cool, crisp air. The weather was beautiful, a perfect day to lots of touristy stuff downtown Chicago.

Me and my sister Alison

We stopped for lunch at The Berghoff, a historic eatery.

We ate downstairs at the deli, where the wait would be shorter as there was so much to see, and the weather forecast for Saturday was much less favorable.

Next stop, the views of the cityscape from the top of the Willis Tower.

There are several glass-floored boxes on the west side of the building which provide a spectacular, if not terror-inducing, view of the city. When first stepping out, I couldn't look down and was holding on to everything, and everyone, in sight. :-)

Quite the building. 110 stories up, a 60-second elevator ride.

Then it seemed like we ate our way through the city. Lots of running miles would be in order for the next couple of days! Next stop...Godiva Chocolatier, for a truffle. About $2 a pop.

I had a salted caramel truffle, which was divine. This was NOT a low-cal trip! I asked the "kids" working behind the counter if they could sample everything that came in the store. The answer ... yes. I also asked what were the best sellers, which I've since forgotten. Then ... we went to Cupcake Counter for a cupcake.

I asked the gal at the counter what were the best sellers. Red Velvet and Chocolate Chocolate (on the right above). Both flavors that I sampled were excellent. Then we continued walking the city. We walked a lot that day ... my legs were shot by the end of the day.

Next stop ... Millennium Park and "the bean".

The architecture of the bandshell is very interesting. Acoustics are supposed to be great.

Then we walked some more, and decided to ride the water taxi.

Then ... more walking and talking and a stop for ... popcorn. Alison and Charles said we had to try Garrett popcorn. We split a small bag of the classic mix (cheesy and caramel). The corn was delicious and the mix of salty/savory and sweet was just right.

Then we walked over to Niketown, three or 4 levels of Nike shopping pleasure. Didn't buy anything. Actually, I don't think I bought anything except food on this trip come to think of it.

More walking down Michigan avenue back to the car. Parking? $24. Between parking and tolls, I spent a fair amount on transportation too, I guess.

Then, off to Tecalitlan for Mexican food. I had a chicken burrito and could eat barely half. The rest had burrito dinners which came with beans and rice. I sampled the beans and rice and the beans were really good.

And that brings us to the end of Friday. I've had enough posting for today, so will continue with the rest of the weekend in tomorrow's post.

Back on the home front, my morning workout was run to the Y to lift and swim and then run home. It was 55 degrees this morning. Delightful, especially for mid to late October.

Toodles.