Over St. Patrick's Day weekend Karen, Dani and I went to Chicago to celebrate Dani's 40th birthday. For kicks, we decided to take the train from Osceola. This would be my only regret of the entire trip. My recommendation? Do not ride the train. Ever. It is waaaaaay less charming and nostalgic than you think it will be. It is waaaaaaay dirtier and depressing than you think it will be. Here the three of us are just moments after boarding. We'd already learned all of the above.
And so did this guy, when I accidentally took his picture with the flash turned on while he tried to sleep.
We stayed at the
Amalfi hotel. I'd certainly stay there again. In addition to great location, nice rooms and continental breakfast, they offer a nightly happy hour with free drinks and appetizers, like the Amalfitini and antipasto pictured here.
Our first stop after check-in was a quick walk to
Portillo's so I could introduce Dani and Karen to the best hot dog of their lives. Honestly, we were all underwhelmed. Maybe it was an off day.
That night, we went to the chocolate buffet at the
Peninsula hotel. (I broke from Paleo eating several times over the weekend and paid for it when I got home.) Anyway, I highly recommend you do this at some point. Here's my first plate. That's right, my first plate. I am not ashamed.
On Saturday, we put on our green and went out to enjoy the parade.
And dyeing of the Chicago river. It was really green.
Due to holiday weekend crowds, we pretty much just wandered around, not seeing much of anything after the parade. We walked along the lake shore back to our hotel.
That night we had a four star dinner at
Spiaggia. Chef/Partner Tony Mantuano was on Top Chef Masters and Executive Chef Sarah Greuneberg was runner up on the latest season of Top Chef. We were pleasantly surprised when she came to our table. She was very gracious and charming, which I didn't expect based on her Top Chef experience. This will certainly go down as one of my top ten meals ever
On Sunday, we walked along Michigan Avenue and took the Chicago River Architecture boat tour. There are a zillion more pictures of that in my
flickr stream.
Afterward we had cocktails at the top of the John Hancock building. Amazing views of the city like this one can be seen from the ladies restroom.
From there we walked to the beach and stuck our feet in Lake Michigan. It was really cold.
Here we are soaking up the beautiful weather.
Sunday night we ate at
The Purple Pig. I think I was on non-Paleo-food overload so I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have. Still I ate pig's ear, octopus and razor clam plus a good amount of wine. First world problems, right?
On Monday, the girls went to the Shedd Aquarium and I treated myself to some alone time in the hotel room and a walk and some more picture taking.
It was a great weekend. I love Chicago and I love these girls.