Good food and great views

Our stay in Chicago could be summed up at as eating good food and then taking in the great view.

Good Food - Brent and I caught the bus to Lou Mitchell’s for breakfast on our first morning.  We knew we had a lot of walking ahead of us so we decided to save ourselves 15-20 minutes.  Lou Mitchell’s was recommended by Keith as a hidden Chicago gem.  This must-see was pretty darn cool.  It was a little Mom and Pop diner located at the very start of Route 66.  Yes, THAT Route 66!  Insert history geek squee here.  I enjoyed a bacon and pecan belgian waffle and Brent had pancakes and ham.  Notice the Milk Duds in the photo??  A fun size box is given to every woman that walks in the door.  Why?  Not sure.  Warm donut holes are also handed out while you’re being seated.  Big basket of donut holes?? Don’t mind if I do, thank you!  

Great view - After eating some yummy breakfast food, we made our way through Union Station.  The main area was closed for renovation.  I was kind of bummed about that - I was looking for dramatic shots of me waiting on a big wooden bench.  We got to see where the Amtrak trains come in.  Damn Nebraska crane operator!  Anywho, check out the stairs...see next to the railing - the marble is worn down and warped from the millions of people stomping up and down them for decades upon decades!  Cool.

We followed up our visit to Union Station with an elevator ride to the top of the Sears Willis Tower.  It was so quick that we felt like we needed our ears popped by the time we were half way up.  The view was pretty darn cool!  It was kind of gray and polluted but it was still a good view.  We could see the Chase building, which houses the Chase Bank Auditorium where NPR’s Wait, Wait...Don’t Tell Me is recorded!

For some reason, I don’t have many pictures from the top of the tower.  A few, but not many.  It was kind of busy up at the top.  We did walk out on the glass ledge to look down.  I was a little hesitant at first - inside I’m still the teenager who refused to walk across the Royal Gorge Bridge.  It was a cool view!  We were suckered into buying the tourist photo ... Christmas card material???

                                

After scratching off the Sears Tower from our Bucket Lists, we headed down Franklin St to the Chicago Sun Times building to meet up with Keith.  He gave us a tour of his company’s office, which was really cool.  I don’t have pictures but just trust me, it was really cool.  There were stock traders making lots of cash at their desks, super fancy hardware making it all tick, a massive wall of TVs, and a gym to die for!!  We also wandered through the Merchandise Mart, two city blocks worth of shopping.  Brent drooled over the last plumbing fashions.  After working an update while touring the buildings, we headed off for more good food!

Good food - We walked about a block to Perry’s Deli, another suggestion by Keith.  The food was DELICIOUS!!  The sandwiches were bigger than our heads!  I had a Peter Panski, which included mayo, peanut butter, lettuce, tomato, ham, and bacon!  It was unreal!  And as a random side note - I ate half of mine the next day on the day to Ohio and it was even better the second day!!  I may have to try making one at home!!  I can’t remember what the boys had but they demolished their sandwiches and didn’t have leftovers!

After stuffing ourselves once again, we headed back towards the river.  We said goodbye to Keith and then wandered the Merchandise Mart again so Brent could drool some more over all of the latest and greatest plumbing fashions.  One quick stop at the hotel and we were off to take in more great views!

Great view - Brent and I decided the best way to view a lot of Chicago without exerting a lot of energy would be to take a boat ride.  Before we left on our trip I’d looked into the various boat companies and different tours.  From what I could find, the cheaper sunset tours ended on Labor Day.  We picked the Wendella Combined River and Boat tour, which was exactly that.  The Wendellla dock was a five minute walk from our hotel.  We travelled west down the river and then did a U-turn and went east down the river, through the lock, and out into Lake Michigan.

Along the way our tour guide gave us tons of architectural tidbits about the buildings lining the river.  We got a great view of the skyline and the Navy Pier while we were out on Lake Michigan.