Tuesday in Chi-town

Our friends, Lynn & Emily, flew out today. They are now in Provincetown on their own little get-away. Sounds gorgeous there! I think Hubby & I should plan a trip sometime there, too.
I forgot to say in Monday's posting that they took us upon our arrival to a delicious Italian restaurant. I forget the name already (unlike my Hubby's memory...see below), but it had an outdoor cafe. Wrought iron. Trees with leaves yellow with the coming winter. Burly "old world" Italian servers. Seems no matter what it is that Em & Lynn pick...travel, food, or entertainment... it's always interesting and/or delicious!

While they are away, we were given the gift of staying in their home while we pet-sit their two greyhounds, Spacely & a little foster guy, Cooper. He's named Cooper after the mini-cooper because he's such a small guy for a male greyhound. These two boys are sweethearts! We're partial to greys anyhow, but I've always gone goo-goo for the girl greys. That is, until I stayed with Spacely this past summer. At the time Power, Em & Lynn's other boy grey, was here. I was shocked & stunned to find he had to be put to sleep about a week after I returned home. He had cancer & one he was not going to have an easy time with. So the girls had to make the difficult decision of letting our Power "go on" while he was still in a better state. I miss seeing Power here. I've stopped myself numerous times from calling Cooper Power's name. Em thought she could never love another dog again like Power, but Cooper has helped her to see that she can, just differently. However, they've decided to continue Cooper as a foster & he will be going to his new home next week. He has a higher prey drive, normal for some greyhounds due to racing training, & the girls don't feel comfortable with that in their condo situation. I'm not sure how they & Spacely will feel when the time comes for Cooper to go to his new home. It may help that he's going to a new home that isn't too far down the road.

Tuesday: 4 a.m.CT- Em & Lynn get up & take the boys out for a walk, and then head to the airport. The little guys let us sleep in. When Hubby & I finally get up, we walk them again, and then head toward downtown. Along the way we stop at a great little restaurant called Meli's. Highly recommended if you're up this way. Very chic. Very delicious! Then we hiked down to Union Station. The architecture reminds me of Grand Central Station. We took some great photos, and if I get the chance, I'll post some upon our return.
From there we went a short jaunt over to the Sears Tower. I really wanted Hubby to see it. They show a very informative movie about how the tower came about & how it was built. Then you go up 103 floors to the skydeck. It has a 360 degree view of Chicago & all of the surrounding area, up to fifty miles away on a clear day. This was important to me as a visual learner. I was able to base everything we did & everywhere Em & I went this summer strictly on what I'd seen from so high up. And I'm sure my Hubby was glad I'd already been there before him. There is a lot of information to read, and I'm one of those folks who can spend all day in one part of a museum, reading every tidbit & detail of what is on display. Drives Hubby nuts sometimes! ha! What is so funny about it is that I won't remember all the details, even with all the careful reading I do. But my Hubby has one of those "sponge" minds...ya know...one of those people who can skim something & it becomes a part of his permanent knowledge base of experiences. He's the guy you can find at the party giving all the interesting facts about something, and everyone will be on pins & needles listening because he's so good at playing it back.
We left there & started our trek back "home", stopping along the way to get some more camera shots of archways, doorways, grills and columns. By this time it was time to walk the boys & feed them. After feeding them, we walked over to the Jewel Osco for some staple items. We decided to eat dinner in & bought one of their $10 baked chicken meals. We had to keep an eye on everything we purchased because we had to haul everything back while walking. We did very well considering we had only 5 bags to carry. It was nice to sit back, relax, watch some "House" on TV, do some reading & ...did I say relax???
I told my Hubby today. I'm so glad he is eleven years older than me. Actually I told him I'm so glad he's an "old" man. It's nice to go on vacation & have some "downtime". I don't like to rush so much over a vacation that you get back home more tired than you left.

Tomorrow: A Chi-town Wednesday
~sher
p.s...Almost forgot today's plug: Obama--because we can't take another McBush!:-)