Chicago with Shauna

A few months back, Shauna texted me and asked me if I wanted to meet her in Chicago for a fun weekend and to see Erasure in concert.  Duh!  Of course I said, YES!  So, the last weekend (Thursday) in July we reunited at the Midway Airport!  Here we are in our Uber headed to our hotel Downtown-

 We got to our hotel around 6:30 PM.  We got settled in our room...Here's our view-

 We grabbed some yummy falafel for dinner.  Then we just got in our pj's and watched HGTV until we passed out for the night!  We are such party animals!

Happy Friday!

Good Morning Chicago!

We slept in and took a nice stroll over the river to find breakfast.

 This place was delicious!  Brunch was just what we needed to fuel us for a jam-packed, fun-filled day!

 After Brunch, we met up with Shauna's sister and mom at the hotel.  Then we all walked down to our first tour stop at the Water Tower.

 We went on a Chicago Crime tour and learned all about the Mob History and other famous crimes in Chicago.

 It was pretty cool.

This is the alley where John Dillinger was gunned down...

 This was one of the speak easys found at the Harry Carey Restaurant...

It's been turned into a little mob museum.

The tour was pretty cool.  Not as cool as I wanted it to be.  But like the guide said, Chicago doesn't want to be known for crime, so alot of the famous sites have been torn down or removed.

After our tour, we really wanted to head up to the 360 deck.  But found out that there was a restaurant even higher that if we went to, and used the restroom, we could get an even better view.  It did not disappoint...

Kitty even ordered us some drinks and appetizers!

 The Bathroom view FOR FREE!

We got dessert...

 Then took a nice stroll down Michigan Avenue back to our hotel, the Hotel Allegro.

Kristin, Shauna and I got all freshened up and headed to the Chicago Theater for our Concert!

 The theater itself was magnificent.  And the concert was so much fun!

Shauna was in heaven!

Saturday - Kitty's Birthday!

Saturday was a beautiful day!  Did I mention that the whole weekend we were there, it was mid 70's and no humidity?  We started the morning with a delicious breakfast at a French bakery.  We were right across from Millenium Park.  So we decided to stroll through and check out the fountain and the "Bean".-

We walked along the waterfront to Navy Pier-

And got in line for our next adventure...

We rode a tall (pirate) ship on the lake-

It was so relaxing.  I literally laid down and took a nice little nap!

I Woke up as we were heading back to the pier.  I felt so relaxed and ready for more fun!  I went shopping!  Crazy, right?  But these ladies are serious shoppers.  So we hit up some of their favorite stores on the Magnificent Mile.  I only spent $30!  And I got some cute shirts and a pair of jeans for only $8 at the Gap!  How awesome is that?  Kitty wanted a fancy birthday dinner.  We ate at the Dearborn.  It was so good!

After dinner, Kristen ran and got us tickets to see "The Color Purple".  We changed REAL quick and ran many blocks, but got there in time, just before curtain...

It was beautiful and heart wrenching.  I cried most of the way through.  I loved it.  We were so tired, that we Uber'd back to the Hotel.  We passed out hard!  What a day!

Sunday-  Our last full day together!

 After sleeping in a little, we ate an amazing breakfast at Wildberry.  And I got the signature Wildberry Pancakes.  Wow!

 After we filled our bellies, we split up.  Kristen and Kitty went to see some museums, while Shauna and I did the Architectural River tour.  I have always wanted to do this!  Kitty got bored at the museum and got some pics of us on our tour boat from the bridge!

 We almost got sprayed...but didn't...dangit!

 I loved seeing all of the beautiful buildings this city has to offer from the river boat...

After our boat tour, we hopped on a double decker bus for a little tour around the city streets.  This was the view from outside the aquarium...

 And this was as close as we could get to Buckingham Fountain-

They were setting up for Lollapalooza the following weekend.  Wish we could have got a closer look.  But we had to get back to our hotel and freshen up for our next outing.  Kristen and Kitty checked out and we jumped in their car and headed to a little college to see-

 Kristen thought this was the national tour group, but it ended up being just a local production.  So, it was a little dumb and because we got 2nd row seats, we got slimed.  It was gross.  But we still made it fun.

After the show, Kristen and Kitty left us for their homes in Wisconsin.  Shauna and I Uber'd back to our hotel again and wanted to get ourselves some pizza on our last night.  We walked to Giordano's.  And Shauna did not want deep dish!  What?!  So, I decided to take one for the team and we just got a regular old pepperoni pizza.  It was good, but not awesome.  But I did get myself some amazing bruschetta for an appetizer!  Yummy!  We decided to walk back to our hotel, in the dark.  It was a little sketchy, but we made it back safely.

Monday-

Time to go home.

We got up early and Uber'd back to the airport.  We grabbed some breakfast at the airport and then said our goodbyes.  It was such a fun weekend.  I miss my friend.  I loved making this memorable weekend with her!  Can't wait for our next adventure!