Bean Town

Last weekend I was in Chicago for an employment law conference.  One of the big reasons I chose that conference was that it was close enough to Rachel to allow her to drive over for the weekend!  She arrived hungry:

One of the highlights of the trip was Millennium Park, where we took a ton of cute/fun pictures.  Aren't we adorable?

It was kind of funny, but the next few hours were a colossal failure.  We were halfway back to our hotel when we decided that we wanted to go to the top of the Sears Tower and found, to our dismay, that it was back the way we came.  We decided the trek was worth it and went on our way.  Despite the forecast for sunny skies, the day got colder, cloudier, and then rainy as we walked.  We finally got to the Sears Tower and then waited in line for an hour to get tickets.  We were literally second from the front of the line to get tickets when they made an announcement that there was ZERO VISIBILITY at the top and that we could buy tickets if we wanted, but there was nothing to see.  We passed, and bemoaned our fate, thinking that we would have made it up in time had we headed straight to the Sears Tower from Millenium Park.  We then decided to take a cab to our original designation -- Navy Pier -- to enjoy a chocolate festival.  Once we got there, we were met with freezing winds and the realization that the chocolate festival was the NEXT WEEK.  Sigh.

We drowned our sorrows in some Pinkberry and then enjoyed a very hilarious comedy show at Second City (the second highlight of the day).  Sadly, our dinner with Rachel's friends was another fail involving serious delays in getting our mediocre food and some drama associated with that.  It really was quite amazing how we managed to have so much go wrong in one day but still had a lot of fun (right Rasey?)  

Sunday was a new day, which we started off on the right foot enjoying our 45th-story window seat view at the Four Seasons.  Rachel took me to Rock It to have Sunday brunch with mimosas (yes, I consumed alcohol each day I was in Chicago) and had THE BEST fries ever (cooked in truffle oil -- to die for!)  We ended our weekend together with an afternoon Blue Man Group show, which is always quite fun.  Thanks for the sister bonding time Rachel!