Chi-Town Part 2

For those of you who haven’t been to Chicago, Michigan Avenue is filled with more than just expensive clothing shops.  Ally and I made sure we stopped at EVERY street act, vendor, statue…you name it.  In between looking at clothing we will never be able to afford, (and would never be caught dead wearing), we chatted with a magician, caught up with an oversized Marilyn Monroe, worked at the Hershey’s Chocolate Factory, and drank like queens at the top of the John Hancock building. 

Marilyn...apparently she had painted on
panties - I had manners and did not look

Jim the Magician! He let me keep my lucky card

At the Hershey's Chocolate Factory!

John Hancock was our last stop on Michigan Avenue.  By this time, I’d say we walked about four miles total (going in and out of shops, back and forth on Michigan Avenue, etc.).  I was pooped.  It was around 4 o’clock, and we had yet to have lunch.  We had heard that you could go to nearly the top, the 96^th floor out of 100, for free.  It was 15 dollars to go all the way to the top, and as cheap as Ally and I are, we opted for the 13 dollar alcoholic beverage on the 96^th floor as opposed to the top.  It was the best decision I made all day.

Hancock from the street. Straaaaaight up

We sat at the top of the world, sipping Cosmos and hard Arnold Palmers, and nibbling on finger food.  Forget the fact that we were sporting yoga pants and t-shirts, we were living the high life.  Looking out over the skyline and reminiscing about the internship, about life, and thinking about our futures.  I definitely wouldn’t mind making this a regular occurrence – living life like the rest of the 1%.  Not too shabby.

The good life

After pretending to be rich for a half hour, we headed to Navy Pier.  I have been there once before, but it was the middle of December and freezing, so there really wasn’t anything cool to be seen.  Not this time.  The pier was alive with action.  There were more people, vendors, and activities.  I know it’s not what it might look like in the middle of July, but it was a definite improvement from December.

Navy Pier!

Our first stop was a contest to win a three day two night stay to your choice of 20 different cities.  The only thing you needed to do was fill out your address and phone number and spin a color wheel.  We read the fine print, and there weren’t any obligations or payments, so we gave it a try.  I declared my color was green (my favorite color) and gave it a whirl.  It landed ONE AWAY from green.  Not just one color, one of the little pegs.  I think that is the closest I’ve come to winning anything.  Ally landed one away as well.  We thought luck wasn’t on our side…

My first spin took a lot out of me so I had to
carry my backpack in the front...what do you
call it then?  A chestpack?

There was another vendor representing the same thing farther down the pier.  We gave it another shot, and lo and behold, Ally won!! She chose her destination as Vegas, and so she has a free hotel stay for whenever she’d like to go to Vegas within the next year.  I went next, and for some reason I chose the color blue.

Now, at this point in the story, things could go either way….which way do you think they went?

Well, not my way, as it landed on green.  GREEN! My favorite color which I betrayed in order to keep things interesting.  So, sometime in the next year I will not be traveling to Las Vegas for a free three day two night stay.  But, I am happy that Ally gets the chance!  She’s never been to Vegas, and neither has her fiancé, so what better way to experience it than together?

After Navy Pier, Ally and I were starving and decided it was time to get some real grub.  Our tournament director Sam had told us about this one restaurant, Ed Debevic’s, where the waiters are supposed to be rude to you.  It is kind of like Dick’s, if you have ever heard of or been to that restaurant.  As soon as Sam described it, we were in!

From the entrance side

We trekked the 1.6 miles from Navy Pier to Ed’s, and boy, was it worth it.  We get there, and it’s a 50s style diner, where the waiters and waitresses dress like they just woke up, but with a 50s flare.  One of them even had curlers in her hair still! 

Loved the hats

I was a little disappointed in the service; my waiter was not NEARLY rude enough to me, and I let him know it.  I kept giving him jabs and he’d jab right back.  They would throw our straws at us, sound more than disinterested in what we were ordering, and yell at us from across the restaurant.  It was a lot of fun!  Ally and I also found a photo booth there – we definitely had some fun with that!

Probably our best photo yet

After dinner, we met up with our tournament director and assistant, and caught a ride home.  We were exhausted.  It is a lot of work having fun and sight-seeing!  I don’t think my legs have ever been so restless…

And so, that completes my day in Chicago!  Not sure when I’ll ever be back, but I’ll definitely remember by time in Chi-Town.

The most adorable thing I've seen yet