• College
• Social Emergence
• Vacations
  • NYC 2003
  • Amsterdam 2006
  • Blue Ridge 2006
  • Chicago 2008
  • Busch Gardens - DC 2008
• First Home

For Easter weekend in 2008, Cliff and I decided to head to Chicago. Cliff has been a few times for work, and he has raved about the food. I've never been, and since I've only heard good reviews about The Windy City, I was game for sight-seeing. We picked the first day of spring to go thinking that maybe we would miss any bad northern weather that might have reared its ugly head in Chicago. Little did we know a snowstorm was brewing. But despite the less than perfect weather, we had a great time. Luckily, our flight up there wasn't among the hundreds of cancelled flights that happened that weekend. With snow, the beginning of the NCAA tournament, and no real set agenda, our weekend flew by. Here's a quick recap of what we did on our culinary adventure in The Second City (yes, we took a trip for food):

• After an uneventful flight that Good Friday, we landed in snowy Chicago.
• We took a cab to our hotel, Hyatt Regency which boasts the longest bar in North America. After a short rest in the room, we took advantage of the bar with drinks and lunch along with tips from the our bartender.
• We watched the Heels annihilate Mount St. Mary's in their opening game of the NCAA tournament, then went to Smith & Wollensky's for the best steak I've ever eaten.
• Saturday morning, we awoke to more driving snow and hopes that we wouldn't be spending our whole vacation in our lovely hotel room. By mid-morning, the sun came out and we hit Michigan Avenue.
• In search of the perfect deep-dish, Chicago-style pizza, we headed to Gino's East on the advice of the Internet, our bartender, and multitudes of other people. While the pizza was good, it just wasn't the greasy delight we find with our local establishment of Old Chicago.
• After taking in the sights, getting some pictures, and walking in the cold, we headed back to the hotel for a mid-afternoon nap.
• The evening brought us out of our lair to see what kind of nightlife we could find. Dinner at the House of Blues, a quick stop at a rock & roll bar called Rockit, and an awesome blues show at Kingston Mines. It was hardly the tip of the iceberg, but we had a great time anyway.
• Sunday left no time for Chicago sights, so we took a bumpy plane ride home to have a bit of vacation recooperation.

To see the pics we did manage to take, click here to see our slide show.