Windy City Part 2

Welcome back!  I was amazed by the number of people who checked in on my little blog and your kind comments!!

If you missed the first part of the story, click here to get caught up.

Let's get back to the story...
Day 2 was our only "full" day in Chicago, so we knew we had to make it matter.  After a morning of window shopping and pistachio cake-eating (there's no such thing as a diet on vacation), we were excited to meet up with our friend and Siggie sister, Jacquie.  She's a Texas-turned-Chicago-local and was sweet enough to meet us for lunch and show us the sights.  

Lunch was Giodarno's deep dish pizza.  Elaina will be the first to tell you that my Italian pronunciation is almost as good as my Spanish.  If Chicago were a food, it would be a deep dish pizza.  It was good.  I was unable to finish scarfed down two huge slabs of the cheesy goodness.  

We then waddled down to Willis' (Sears) tower, the tallest building in America.  Apparently everyone is more impressed by that fact than we were.  After hearing of the 2 hour wait and $20 price tag, we said, "Ain't nobody got time fo that!" and turned to go.  Thankfully our savvy shopping skills carry over to other states.  We took the train over to the other side of town to another very tall building.  This wasn't the tallest, and they knew that.  So they were only charging $18.  Score!  (After accounting for the purchase of the bus pass, this option was $.50 more expensive than the tallest building in the history of ever.)  Please!  Elaina's got some insider connections, so we rode the (FREE) elevator one floor under the observation deck and took in the sights.  Allegedly, the best view in the place is in the ladies bathroom.  Being the young adult ladies that we are, we took selfies in the bathroom like a bunch of middle school girls.

That night we had tickets for Second City.  This is where many Saturday Night Live performers got their start- Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Rachel Dratch.  It is a very small theater, so there is not a bad seat in the house.  We were on the third row, and I spent the night panicking that we might get hit up for audience participation.  (Thankfully, we escaped unscathed.)  It really is hilarious!  My favorite part was a third bonus act that was complete improv.  How they can think that quickly on their feet amazes me!  I definitely feel that Second City has to be a part of any Chicago adventure.

Day 3...whoa!  You didn't see that coming!

This section is my ode to The Bongo Room, our brunch destination.  

Also known as were I ordered this...

Lemon-blueberry pancakes with a lemon ricotta topping

I have a new hobby: calling The Bongo Room daily and asking if they deliver to Dallas.  Seriously!  There are no words.  Let's observe a moment of silence for the pancakes.

After wiping the tear that flowed from the completion of our brunch, we walked back through our favorite parts of the city.  Have I mentioned how b-e-a-utiful everything was?!  

Our first stop was Buckingham fountain, in the center of Grant Park.  It's one of the largest fountains in the world- thus saith Wikipedia.  Workers were already busy setting up for the Chicago marathon the next weekend.  Too bad we hadn't picked that weekend to be there.  Otherwise, we totally would have ran it.  Yep...bummer!

We then walked all the way up Michigan Avenue and over to Portillo's for a hot dog.  In my mind the hot dog is an iconic Chicago classic.  In reality, we nearly never found a place to get one.  Apparently they are more popular in the 'burbs.  

To complete our trip, our hotel sent us back to the airport in their black, Lincoln town car.  We looked like real somebodies until we had to fling our own baggage out of the trunk and onto the curb.   

To recap: Chicago is awesome.  I'm having separation anxiety over a stack of pancakes.  Claire, Elaina, and I make good travel buddies.  We'll be back in action in another city soon!