Chicago

I've stalled at posting for a few days because I can't *gulp* find my camera.  I'm trying to remain calm & collective about this.  I know exactly where I had it last and based on that it should be around the house.   So I just need to find it.  It has things on there that I want to post about.  However I realized I still have plenty other things to post so let's rewind about a month & re-visit my trip to Chicago with Angel.

This mother-daughter shopping trip was Angel's birthday gift from us.  Even though we live 3 hours from the "big city" we don't really take advantage of what it has to offer.  We went a few times when we only had a few kids and they were little.  Otherwise our trips to "Chicago", which at one time were numerous, were really trips to the suburbs to visit family.  We are not real big city or even massive suburb people.  We LOVE living where we do for a reason.  Anyway....

Angel's birthday was back in early September.  However finding a free weekend for us to go was a little tricky.  Finally two months later we had an open shot and hit the road.  We planned to spend some time at my girlfriend's house and otherwise shop, shop, shop.

Instead of driving into the city we had the experience of riding the train in.  A little snafoo had us miss our originally planned train so we milled around at these cute little shops near the train depot and found some cute things.  Once we got into the big city we headed for Michigan Ave. while doing some sight seeing along the way.  We had the whole day to ourselves and really just went where our hearts led us.  Some things we were purposely planning to come across, some not.  That was part of the adventure.

We knew our final destination was to get to the John Hancock Building on Michigan Ave.  Our plan worked out nothing less than perfect.  For when we arrived, got up to the 96th floor restaurant & got our table (which I helped nab when I saw the couple getting up and I asserted that we wanted to sit THERE) we sat looking directly out the the west & watched the golden sun set across the Chicago area.  I couldn't have asked for a better moment with my daughter.  One we will cherish forever.  Sure, we had a blast shopping and got a few good deals, but going on this birthday trip was just the thing we needed.  Just my daughter & me.

If you want to look at ALL of the pictures I took you can look HERE.  Otherwise you can enjoy a few that I post below.  It's hard to pick just a few. You know.....me & my camera!